Articles mentioning the (Camden) New Jersey Tomato Festival Pizza Contest

• nj.com 8/19
• nj.com 8/20
• northjersey.com
• philly.com

There will also be a tomato throwing contest. Perhaps teams of IFOCE members and AICE members could compete in that.

PermalinkComments (1)

delawareonline.com has a preview of tomorrow’s crabcake contest. Sonya Thomas hopes to consume 50 3 ounce crabcakes in 12 minutes, which will contain 6,603 calories. Sonya says she will practice eating crabcakes before the contest, which I do not think she did with bratwurst. There is also some information about what Sonya experiences post-contest.

PermalinkComments (4)

The expected roster for the Smoked Pork Eating Championship at the Bluffs Run Casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa has been released. The LeFevres are expected to attend and will face a less than overwhelming lineup. Fast-rising Patrick Bertoletti, who beat Carlene at the Chicago pizza championship, will probably be the Lefevre’s sternest challenge. Kevin Carr is the only other ranked IFOCE member competing. Several unranked IFOCE members from the east will appear, which is surprising since there are three other closer contests they could enter. The cancellation of the Saratoga Nathan’s qualifier might improve the field.

PermalinkComments (4)

“Humble” Bob Shoudt, winner of the Illinois State Fair Grilled Cheese qualifier, has just started a website at humblebob.com His website is especially welcome when it is considered that humility is not an overabundant commodity on all competitive eating websites. (The female competitor in the grilled cheese contest picture, Amy Bergseth, looks a little like Angelina Jolie. I wonder how she finished?)

PermalinkComments

The Washington Times has an interview with Sonya Thomas titled Consumed with Winning

Some interesting facts from that article:

• Sonya’s age is listed as 38, so she must have had a birthday recently
• She was inspired watching the 2002 Nathan’s contest. She must have seen highlights, because I don’t think the whole contest was broadcast before 2004.
• She says her doctor claims she will not suffer any health problems from eating contests as long as she does not enter too many competitions. I hope her recent increased contest frequency is below that threshhold.
• Her one big Burger King meal, if it is all she eats days she is working, is not that overwhelming if is divided by three.

PermalinkComments

“Fabulous” Floria Lee took fourth place in Sunday’s AICE dumpling contest at Flushing Meadow Park despite a weight less than 100 pounds. Her result of 33 dumplings in two minutes was just two behind second place finishers Arnie “Chowhound” Chapman and Angel Chiriboga who tied with 35 dumplings. “Gentleman” Joe Menchetti took first place with 47 dumplings. Floria Lee won a $500 bonus for breaking the women’s record of 27 which she set last year. In the next AICE rankings, Ms. Lee should at least appear ahead of Christina Gumola, who has only appeared in a radio station’s women-only contest closed to the general public.

PermalinkComments

The Buffalo News has a preview of the Chicken Wing Festival to be held at Buffalo’s minor league stadium Labor Day weekend. There will be a wing eating contest Saturday of that weekend in which Sonya Thomas will attempt to break her record of 161 wings in twelve minutes. There will also be a buffet contest on Sunday, but since it just pays out $500 to the winner, Sonya and the other top eaters might opt for the waffle contest in Atlanta, which will pay out $5,000 to the victor.

If Sonya enters two contests Labor Day weekend, she will appear in twelve contests between the 4th of July and Labor Day if each round of the US Open is counted as a separate contest. This is a considerable increase from her planned goal of 12 to 18 contests a year which is found in her website’s FAQ.

PermalinkComments (1)

The Delaware State News has a preview of Sunday’s crabcake contest at the Delaware Slots online with some quotes from Sonya Thomas. Sonya states she lived in Georgetown, Delaware in 1996 and managed a Burger King there so the contest will be something of a homecoming to her.

Joey Chestnut states he will travel across the country to compete, setting up the possibility of a repeat of the dramatic finish at the bratwurst contest in Wisconsin. The URL for Joey’s upcoming website will be futureofeating.com. We will see on Sunday if the future starts August 21.

PermalinkComments

Sharon Scholten, who ate 42.5 chili dogs in four hours at the Rockford Corner Bar in Rockford, Michigan in 1982 despite weighing only 110 pounds and eating a large Mexican lunch earlier, appeared at that establishment’s annual chili dog competition on July 23, but did not compete. No pictures or quotes of Ms. Scholten are present in the article. Over 5,000 eaters have attempted to break her record. The mark of 42.5 hot dogs is believed to be the most hot dogs consumed by a female in a single session, but Sonya Thomas appears on track to surpass that total in a future Nathan’s contest. If Sharon Scholten is considering a return to eating competitions, she can take inspiration in the fact that Carlene LeFevre is more than a decade older than she is.

PermalinkComments

Kobayashi was victorious in two contests in Hong Kong this weekend. On Saturday, he ate 83 steamed vegetarian dumplings in eight minutes (the runner-up Johnny Wu ate 76, probably the closest anyone has come to beating Kobayashi). On Sunday, he ate 100 pork buns in twelve minutes (Johnny Wu finished 2nd again with just 47)

PermalinkComments (1)

Sonya Thomas appeared on ‘The Situation with Tucker Carlson’ on August 11. She ate at least four bratwurst on the show. She claims that she can’t really taste the food she eats in competitions, but says the bratwurst she ate (at contest speed) during the broadcast were delicious. She announces her expectation of surpassing Kobayashi near the end of her appearance.

MSNBC has a transcript of that appearance at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8925269/ Sonya does not show up until the end .

PermalinkComments

from http://www.sonyatheblackwidow.com/:

Lobster-Eating Championship (12 minutes), 13 Aug 05, Kennebunkport, Maine.

1. Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas, 44 Lobsters (11.4 lbs) (New World Record!)
2. “Crazy Legs” Conti: 32 Lobsters
3. Eric “Badlands” Booker: 25 Lobsters

Unlike last week, Sonya’s victory was never in doubt. Despite not being challenged, she easily breaks the record she set last year of 9.76 pounds (38 lobsters), an (11.4 – 9.76) / 9.76 = 17% increase from last year.

The crabcake contest to be held at the Midway Slots at the Delaware State Fairgrounds in Harrington August 21 will probably be Sonya’s next contest (There are several IFOCE contests next weekend). This will give her the chance to set shellfish eating records in consecutive weeks . The contest will be the closest event to Sonya’s hometown of Alexandria, VA that she has competed in quite a while. Brian Subich’s website says that Joey Chestnut will probably travel across the country to appear in this contest, setting up the possibility of a repeat of the dramatic finish at the bratwurst contest last week.

Updated 8:59pm The AP has put out an article on the lobster contest (from boston.com) It gets the date of the grilled cheese contest wrong like the AP article on the bratwurst contest.

Updated Aug 15 1:03am
Portland Press article
New Zealand Herald article

PermalinkComments (3)

Kieran Darcy has a list of the top 10 gluttons in sports on ESPN.com’s Page 2 in which Kobayashi is ranked #1. William “Refrigerator” Perry is #6, which is probably unmerited based on his quitting the 2003 Nathan’s Hot Dog Contest after 5 minutes having just eaten four hot dogs. Darcy also has a list of the top 10 most non-gluttonous athletes. A claim could be made that Sonya Thomas belongs on that list because she eats just one meal a day, exercises 2 hours a day and weighs less than 105 pounds.

PermalinkComments

From the February 2, 2004 The Daily Texan (UTexas school paper) Defensive Stopper by Elizabeth McGarr:

“She [Kala Bowers] eats more than anybody I’ve ever been around,” Schreiber said. “Pretty much every two or three hours, she has to have a meal. Before practice, she’ll eat a buffet meal, then she’ll eat after practice, then she’ll eat again that night.

“At halftime, she’ll eat a Power Bar or something. In the four hours between pre-game and game time, she’ll go get McDonald’s because she’ll just get so hungry.”

You wouldn’t know it to look at Bowers’ trim six-foot-two-inch frame.

“I can eat probably all day, every day,” she admitted. “I don’t know what it is – I guess high metabolism – but I love to eat. Make any bet with me about food, and I’m going to be excited.”

PermalinkComments

From the steak finishers database at bigtexan.com

The database claims there have been 1686 successful attempts at the 72 ounce steak since 1991 with 23 having been performed by women. This gives females just 23/1686 = 1.36% of the finishes. It is really surprising that this fraction is that low given that Sonya Thomas and Kate Stelnick have accomplished feats that no male American competitive eaters have matched.

Carlene LeFevre has accounted for 9 of the 23 completions by women, almost 40% . Richard LeFevre is listed as having finished the steak 10 times, giving the LeFevres more than 1% (19/1686 = 1.12%) of the total completions. The LeFevres first bested the Big Texan’s challenge in 1985, so some of their finishes will not be in the database.

All but 4 of the female finishers have their weight listed. The heaviest listed weight is 160 pounds.

The LeFevres’ January 2000 attempt was filmed for Ripley’s Believe It or Not television show. From amarillo.com (Google cache)

On Jan. 22, six people attempted to consume the Big Texan’s signature stunt of a 72-ounce steak plus a baked potato, salad, roll and a shrimp cocktail. The contest was recorded for the television show Ripley’s Believe It Or Not.

Richard LeFevre, a 135-pound resident of Henderson, Nev., nearly toppled a record held by a man four times his weight. LeFevre consumed the first steak and trimmings in 19 minutes, then asked for a second steak. He was unable to finish the second, but ate about 134 ounces of meat. …

LeFevre’s wife, Carlene, was next person to finish the feast, needing 32 minutes.

Two women from Houston, Tammy Hooker and Annette Havard, both won a radio contest to compete in Amarillo. Both women finished their meal in the allotted time. Havard, whose announced weight was 95 pounds, joked after finishing the meal that she was ready for dessert.

PermalinkComments

From July 10 AberdeenNews.com

Sophia Chavira of Phoenix, Ariz. took home the championship in the adult custard eating contest that was sponsored by Culver’s. She was visiting family in Aberdeen.

“I tried to mix the custard to get it to melt so it would go down faster,” Chavira said. She won the contest in just over two minutes.

PermalinkComments

The World Lobster Eating Festival, to be held in Kennebunkport, Maine on August 13, has updated its website for 2005. A photo gallery of the 2004 competition is online. Entrants in the lobster eating competition include Sonya Thomas, Cookie Jarvis, Badlands Booker (Booker will rap from his new CD) and Crazy Legs Conti. The entrants page has not been updated from before the 2004 contest and lists Kevin Cross as the record holder. No major western eaters are listed as competing, which is understandable considering the difficulty travelling to Maine from the West Coast. Competitors will attempt to break Sonya’s record of 9.76 pounds (equivalent to 38 lobsters) in 12 minutes set last year.

PermalinkComments (1)

The AP has released an article about the bratwurst contest over 24 hours after the contest finish. It exhibits the sloppiness often found in AP articles, claiming the grilled cheese contest was the day before when it took place three days earlier.

PermalinkComments

From www.sonyatheblackwidow.com:

Johnsonville Brat-Eating World Championship, 6 Aug 05, Sheboygan, WI 10 minutes

1. Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas, 35 Brats
2. Joey Chestnut: 34 ½ Brats
3. Rich “The Locust: LeFevre: 30 Brats

Update 10:44pm Article from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Update August 8 9:57pm Article from Green Bay Press Gazette
Update August 9 9:00pm PhillyBurbs.com column

Sonya had to come from behind to defeat Joey Chestnut (and Rich Lefevre in the San Diego grilled cheese contest) . This makes it six months since she has lost a contest to someone besides Kobayashi. Her defeat at the February 4 Wing Bowl was marked by controversy and it may have been due to incorrectly judging the amount of wings she ate. The only other contest she has lost to someone besides Kobayashi in the past twelve months was a baked bean contest in November in which the beans were overheated. You have to go back to Nathan’s last year to find the last instance someone besides Kobayashi (Nobuyuki Shirota) defeated Sonya in a non-controversial contest.

Sonya and Joey Chestnut broke IFOCE’s bratwurst record of 19.5 a little after the midway point in the contest. She was in good enough condition at the end of the contest to eat an additional bratwurst after time expired (the same could not be said for Joey Chestnut)

Sonya’s next contest will probably be at the lobster festival in Maine August 13. This will give her contests in two of the four corners of the country in ten days.

PermalinkComments

I have added a section on giant cheeseburgers, including information about Kate Stelnick’s feat, to the Wikipedia entry about cheeseburgers

PermalinkComments

From eating.typepad.com:

Kobayashi’s organization, the United Food Fighter Organization, has a home page (in Japanese) at http://www.food-fighter.com/index_index.htm

An English translation of this page can be viewed at http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.food-fighter.com%2Findex_index.htm&langpair=ja%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools

PermalinkComments

Jason Fagone, who has an upcoming book titled Insatiable Appetites: Competitive Eating and the Big Fat American Dream has a blog at http://eating.typepad.com/ The blog is updated about once a month. The book is not scheduled to be published until 2006.

Fagone has written a preview of the 2005 Wing Bowl containing a profile of Bill “El Wingador” Simmons available at
http://www.phillymag.com/ArticleDisplay.php?id=485 El Wingador does not have very nice things to say about Sonya Thomas.

A few interesting notes from the blog:

• The Japanese competitive eating scene has all but disappeared since a school boy died imitating the eaters in 2002. Claims that Kobayashi earns a six-figure amount annually from eating in Japanese contests are almost certainly untrue.
• Japanese eaters (besided Kobayashi) would like to compete in US events other than Nathan’s .
• The 2005 Wing Bowl should have gone into a second overtime at a minimum and Sonya Thomas might have won outright in the first overtime period.

PermalinkComments

Sonya Thomas won the San Diego grilled cheese contest August 3. Her total of 21.5 sandwiches was a considerable dropoff from the 25 she ate in February. Rich Lefevre was second with 20 and Carlene LeFevre took third place with 15. Over the past month, Rich Lefevre has participated in eating contests in every region of the country except for the gulf coast.

There are 14 remaining grilled cheese sandwich contests in the Golden Palace circuit, the next one taking place at the famous motorcycle rally in Sturgis, SD on August 10.

PermalinkComments

The Sheboygan Press has an article about the Johnsonville Bratwurst contest in which Sonya Thomas will compete in on Saturday. There are a few quotes in the article, one in which Sonya claims that big guys still doubt her capabilities.

This will be the third type of sausage that Sonya has eaten competitively in a little over two months. She ate Vienna sausauges in Charlotte in late May and hot dogs at Nathan’s on July 4.

The only other top eater listed as having committed to the bratwurst contest is Tim Janus, setting up a rematch of the US Open semifinal.

PermalinkComments (1)

signonsandiego.com has an article promoting Sonya Thomas’ appearance in a grilled cheese sandwich contest at the minor league Surf Dawgs game Wednesday. There is not really any new information in the article. Sonya will attempt to break her record of 25 sandwiches in 10 minutes which she set in Venice Beach in February. There will be 15 (!) grilled cheese sandwich contests in the circuit, the next one located in South Dakota next week. If there are no limits on the number of contests an eater can enter, Sonya could really rack up some frequent flyer miles going to grilled cheese sandwich contests. All time leading run-scorer and base stealer Rickey Henderson plays for the Surf Dawgs, so if there was a Hall of Fame for competitive eating there would be two future Hall of Famers at the Surf Dawgs stadium Wednesday.

Pictures of Sonya and Carlene LeFevre at the last grilled cheese contest can be found at:
http://www.virginmarygrilledcheese.com/welcome.php?pf=%2Fstory_eating_contest.php

ESPN.com takes note of the US Open two days after it is televised in this column which solely consists of praise for Kobayashi.

PermalinkComments