After years of coming in second place, 32 Chunk has finally been crowned the champion of Fat Bear Week .

The nearly 1,200-pound brown bear has been a regular at Brooks River in Alaska's Katmai National Park since 2007, when he was around two years old.

Chunk has come in second place for the last three years of the virtual competition, but his persistence — and appetite — finally paid off.

Officials said he came to the river this summer with a broken jaw, something he likely got during a mating season fight. But that didn't stop him from bulking up on the river's plentiful supply of sockeye salmon.

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"I think his story of perseverance and resilience really resonated with the voting public,"

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