Man dies trying to eat giant doughnut at Voodoo Doughnuts 'Tex-Ass' challenge turns tragic

In this file photo, a bacon chocolate doughnut is seen in a rotating display case at Voodoo Doughnut, January 18, 2013. In this file photo, a bacon chocolate doughnut is seen in a rotating display case at Voodoo Doughnut, January 18, 2013. Photo: Ricardo DeAratanha/LA Times Via Getty Images Photo: Ricardo DeAratanha/LA Times Via Getty Images Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Man dies trying to eat giant doughnut at Voodoo Doughnuts 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

A man who choked to death at a Voodoo Doughnuts shop in Denver was reportedly trying to wolf down a giant doughnut during a food-eating challenge.

Travis Malouff, 42, died Sunday while attempting to down a half-pound glazed doughnut. The cause of death was "asphyxia, due to obstruction of the airway," the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner said Monday morning.

Malouff was taking the shop's "Tex-Ass Challenge," which requires participants to consume the colossal doughnut — the equivalent of six regular doughnuts — within an 80-second time limit. Winners get a free meal and a button.

RELATED VIDEO: The "Tex-Ass Challenge" can be seen in this video around the 1-minute mark.

"It's tragic," Travis Malouff's father, Curtis Malouff, told NBC 9News. "It's a loss of life that shouldn't be."

The station said two people inside the shop at the time tried to help Malouff when they realized he was choking, but they couldn't perform the Heimlich maneuver.

A Connecticut college student also died Sunday in a food-eating contest. Caitlin Nelson, a 21-year-old Sacred Heart University student, was participating in a pancake-eating contest when she fell ill and began choking. She later was pronounced dead at a hospital.