Eric “Badlands” Booker has informed me that his second rap CD, Hungry & Focused II - The Ingestion Engine will be available on Thursday December 1. I hope to have samples of that CD available on this site tomorrow.

Information about the CD:

-Hungry & Focused II - The Ingestion Engine.
-Release Date: 12/1/05
-Available Online At: IFOCE.COM & BadlandsBooker.com
-Album features 18 tracks of competitive eating hip hop, Hotter Production, More Topics, and A who’s who of celebrity guest appearances including:
-Crazylegs Conti
-Eater X
-The Godfather
-Don “Moses” Lerman
-Beautiful Brian Seiken
-George Shea,
Takeru Kobayashi, and many others.

The album contains 18 Tracks Featuring:
-Back In The Flesh. Featuring George Shea,
-Buffet Crashers Feat. Crazylegs, Eater X, and The Godfather,
-Greetings from NY. Featuring Lil. Bran & Primo, and
-That Eating Thing You Do Which pays homage to the IFOCE’s female eaters,
Carlene “Pop” LeFevre, & Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas.

Less than two weeks after their long profile of Sonya Thomas, the Washington Post has another lengthy article about competitive eating focusing on the anatomical aspects of competitive eaters. Don “Moses” Lerman, “Crazy Legs” Conti, Arnie “Chowhound” Chapman, and AICE rising star Ian Hickman are all quoted. Hickman moved to Sterling in northern Virginia to be closer to more eating contests which is interesting because the AICE schedule around the DC area does not seem full enough to justify a relocation.

Corrected 11/29 10:53 pm - Ian Hickman states in the comments his main reason for moving east was not to be closer to eating contests.

(Thanks Patrick Bertoletti) GoldenPalaceEvents.com has a page about their turkey eating contest held on Thanksgiving eve with a video clip and a few pictures.

On the turkey contest page goldenpalace.com announces their intention to sponsor future eating events. They should probably either schedule the final for the grilled cheese eating contest or distribute the promised $20K in bonus money before they set up any other future contests since it has been over a month since the last grilled cheese qualifier was held.

There is a long and interesting thread from last year on a Christian message board about whether competitive eating (or eating occasional large meals) is prohibited by the Bible.

The UPI has a short article on Chip Simpson, the physical therapy student from Slippery Rock University in western Pennsylvania who has made rapid ascent in competitive eating a this fall.

Two articles about the Verizon VoiceWing Buffalo wing finals in Boston have come out almost two weeks after the contest. The Christian Science Monitor has a general overview of competitive eating centered around that event. The Medford Transcript has an interview with Matt Kelley, who appeared in the finals without qualifying thanks to a exemption reserved for locals.

Reuters has an article and video about Wednesday’s goldenpalace.com turkey eating contest in New York City which was won by Sonya Thomas. Sonya claims the wings were quite dry. Joey Chestnut came in second and Chip Simpson continued his impressive debut with a third place finish.

IFOCE.com has full results of the contest.

Updated 11/24 9:12 AM

The Pittsburg Post-Gazette has an article about the contest focusing on Quaker Staters Chip Simpson and Bob Shoudt.

An AP video of the contest is also available from the Virginia-Pilot (I am not sure if it is the same as the Reuters video.)

Updated 3:18 PM
AP article and photo available (from abcnews.com)

Updated 11/25 12:04 am
Channel 4 (UK) video clip available

Commenting by unregistered users has been reinstated, but all comments must be approved before they appear. I will try to approve comments as quickly as possible, but I am not sure how frequently I will be able to access the internet the remainder of this week.

I hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving.

(from speedeat.com) Thursday’s episode of CSI, “Dog Eat Dog” focuses on the case of a dead competitive eater. The eater had Prader-Willi Syndrome, a genetic disorder in which the afflicted indivdual experiences hunger regardless of the amount recently eaten. There is no word on whether IFOCE provided any assistance, but it is unlikely they did since one of the characters is a shady competitive eating promoter.

New York Magazine has a short preview of Wednesday’s goldenpalace.com turkey contest in New York City.

Sunday’s Washington Post had an excellent and rather long article about Sonya Thomas and her victory in the Bethesda Verizon VoiceWing qualifier at the end of last month. Registration or bugmenot.com is required.

Yahoo news has an AP article about Joey Chestnut’s near defeat of Kobayashi at the Krystal Square Off finals. After being tied at 60 Krystals with 37 seconds remaining, Kobayashi consumed 7 burgers while Joey Chestnut only managed one, which he blames on failing to immerse one of the burgers in water. Kobayashi claims he had difficulty moving his arms fast enough despite his muscularity.

A video of that contest is available on the article page.

Bret Douglas has a very nice photo gallery of the 2005 Krystal finals. Sonya does not look extremely happy with her third place check.

The turducken blog on foxnews.com has a quote from Sonya Thomas about the turducken contest she won in 2003.

Krystal Square Off finals, Chattanooga, TN
1. Takeru Kobayashi, 67 burgers
2. Joey Chestnut, 62 burgers
3. Sonya Thomas, 56 burgers
4. Bob Shoudt, 51 burgers
5. Rich Lefevre 42 burgers
6. Tim Janus 41 burgers
7. Eric “Badlands” Booker 40 burgers
8T. Ron Koch 37 burgers
8T. Pat Bertoletti 37 burgers
10. Sam Vise 35 burgers

more complete results from beautifulbrian.com added 11/20 11:36 pm

For the first time in his competitive career, Kobayashi trailed for a longer period in a contest than he was ahead for. He was able to overcome a deficit in the final minute which at one point was six burgers. Kobayashi’s mark is two less than the 69 he ate last year.

AFP article about the contest
WDEF article about the contest

Pound for pound results:
1. Sonya Thomas 56 / 100 = .56
2. Takeru Kobayashi 67 / 170 = .39
3. Joey Chestnut 62 / 210 = .30

(From IFOCE.com) Kobayashi weighed in at 172 pounds. His added mass is surprising as he blamed increasing his weight to the 140s from the 130s last year for his not breaking the record at Nathan’s in 2005. Kobayashi’s weight increase makes Sonya Thomas the world’s greatest eater pound for pound by a considerable margin.

A third wild card slot was added to the field, enabling Hall Hunt to compete. Jane magazine writer Claudine Ko will also appear thanks to a sponsor’s exemption.

WJZ has an article and video of the Baltimore Pancake Eating Contest at Pete’s Grill. The year of the college student in competitive eating has apparently extended to non-IFOCE events, as Johns Hopkins students Johnny Chang and Emma Gregory won the men’s and women’s divisions. Emma Gregory is also a member of the Johns Hopkins swimming team.

(from humblebob.com) “The Whaler” has set up a tribute blog to Tim “Eater X” Janus at eaterx.blogspot.com. It is one of the more humorous sites on the internet.

Other competitive eating fan sites

Sonya Thomas Fan Club rather minimal
“Krazy” Kevin Lipsitz Fan Club Yahoo group with a lot of articles not necessarily about Krazy Kevin

CBS News has a video of the Verizon VoiceWing finals held in Boston Saturday.

Ruby Tuesday has a competitive burger eating online video game at chompchamp.com. Flash 6 required.

The Elk River (Minnesota) Star has a profile of Jenny Olson who is not only a volleyball star, but also a pudding eating champion, consuming 16 plates of pudding in 3 minutes.

From IFOCE.com:

Patrick Bertoletti 30 burgers
Don “Moses” Lerman 26 burgers
Shawn Kessler 25 burgers

All qualifier winners:

Joey Chestnut and Loren “Bubba” Yarbrough are the wild cards and Takeru Kobayashi returns as defending champion.

from “Beautiful” Brian Seiken:

1. Joey Chestnut 4.2 lbs
2. Cookie Jarvis 3.7lbs
3. Bob Shoudt 3.4.
4. Sonya Thomas 3.2
T4 . Chip Simpson 3.2

Sonya Thomas finishes out of the top three for the first time since Nathan’s 2003 I believe and is beaten by Cookie Jarvis for the first time in over a year. With her loss to Badlands Booker in the Buffalo Wing Festival Labor Day weekend, I wonder if the trauma of the 2005 Wing Bowl has resulted in psychological difficulties in chicken wing contests for her.

The Boston Herald has an article about the contest but does not give many results.

Updated 11/15 11:56 pm. Boston Globe article

ESPN.com’s Page 2 has a list of its top five articles for 2004-2005 which includes an article on the 2005 Wing Bowl, “The Worst Event Ever” by Jim Caple.

The Boston Herald has a preview of Saturday’s Verizon VoiceWing Buffalo Wings finals consisting mainly of “bib sheets” for Joey Chestnut, “Badlands” Booker and “Crazy Legs” Conti. Conti’s appearance implies that Kevin Lipsitz has definitely vacated his spot for Conti since Conti finished in the sixth position in the DC qualifier and only the top five will advance.

Updated 11/12 12:48 pm - The Boston Globe has an interview with Rich LeFevre about the contest (No questions about Carlene’s status are asked)

The expected contestants for the contest are
Seattle (Everett, WA) qualifiers:
1. Joey Chestnut, 4.5 lb.
2. Eric “Badlands” Booker, 3.6 lb.
3. “Humble” Bob Shoudt 3.5 lb.
4. Patrick Bertoletti 2.93 lb.
5. Jason “The Erbivore” Erb 2.9 lb.

San Francisco qualifiers:
1. Rich LeFevre 4.92 lb won in double OT
2. Cookie Jarvis 4.92 lb lost in double OT
3.-5. ? (Does anyone know who else qualified)

DC (Bethesda, MD) qualifiers:
1. Sonya Thomas, 5.75 lb
2. Tim “Eater X” Janus, 4.0 lb
3. “Krazy” Kevin Lipsitz, 3.85 lb
4T. “Big” Brian Subich, 3.2 lb
4T. Chip Simpson, 3.2 lb
6. “Crazy Legs” Conti, 2.9 lb. (will appear due to Lipsitz missing)