Eric “Badlands” Booker sent me the following email:

I would like to select 3 Competitive eating fans from the Eat Feats site to make an appearance on “Gimme A Call III” and make Competitive Eating History! The track is called “Gimme A Call III” and it’s basically a skit in which i’m checking my voicemail. I’ve attached a mp3 of “Gimme A Call II” from the Ingestion Engine album to give you an idea of how the song will go. 3 fans will be selected at random, and if you’re interested, send a email to badlandsbooker@aol.com . Registration will end Friday Oct. 6th at 8pm. and the results will be announced on Friday the 13th. (10.13.06). Hungry & Focused III - The Reframing will be in stores Thanksgiving. Thanks for all of your previous posts regarding the happenings of Badlands Booker and Take Care.

Stay Hungry & Focused:
Eric “Badlands” Booker

GimmeACall2.mp3 4.89 MB

(from The Observer) Tom Parker Bowles, son of the wife of Prince Charles, Camilla Parker Bowles, has a written a book called The Year of Eating Dangerously, which he describes as a “travel book about weird food”. The book describes his participating in a chili eating contest in New Mexico.

krystalsquareoff.com has a report on today’s 2 minute prequalifiers. Arturo Rios, another northeastern eater heading west, had today’s best mark of 21 burgers. Rich LeFevre managed 18. The strength of the field makes conceivable that all four wild card entrants could come from Memphis.

updated - the full Memphis roster is now available

The Washington Post reports that a measure banning US banks from making payments to online casinos was attached to a Senate port security bill that passed today. The House passed a similar measure earlier this year so the bill awaits presidential approval. The prohibition will not take effect until after a 270 day window for the financial industry to figure out how to prevent transactions to online casinos. Internet gamblers will still be able to use foreign financial institutions. The online casino / card game site GoldenPalace.com/.net is a major sponsor of IFOCE events.

Megamunch has a report from today’s hot dog eating contest in Lancaster, PA where he finished 5th. Sean Gordon from Philadelphia won the contest.

The Whaler has moved his Eater X tribute site to urbanhonking.com/eaterx/ from blogspot. Hopefully the new address will see a higher frequency of posting than the old site recently did.

The final round of last year’s “Gluttonous King” contest where Shirota, Yamamoto and Nishikawa competed to be champion is available on youtube: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

Last night’s episode of “Mind of Mencia” on Comedy Central featured the “Stereotype Olympics”. An eating contest was one of the competitions. nochelatina.com has a summary of that episode.

IFOCE.com has a list of the expected out of town eaters at Sunday’s Krystal qualifier in Memphis which include:

Tim Janus
Rich LeFevre (will compete in 2 minute contest Sat.)
Seaver Miller
Sam Vise
Eric “Steakbellie” Livingston
Chris “the Mad Greek” Abatsas
Jim Hamrick

Updated krystalsquareoff.com has a preview mentioning Steakbellie and Wing Kong of Drexel Hill, PA

T-Bell Nation has set up a website promoting Taco Bell challenges involving teams eating all 69 Taco Bell menu items. They have proposed a contest for 8 person teams. Hopefully any Taco Bell contest will be run smoother than the Moe’s Burritos for Life contest.

speelmee.nl has an online Flash hot dog eating game. Before you can eat the hot dogs, first you have to cook them.

(From tcnewsnet.com) There will be a wing eating contest at the New Carlisle (Dayton), OH Festival of Flight October 7. The first place prize is $100.

Steakbellie has a post about how competitive eating, or more specifically, making analogies between wrestlers and competitive eaters, has improved his relationship with his youngest son.

Geva has an account of an eating contest at the Hometown Buffet in his myspace blog which ended with the entire party being banned from that restaurant for life for transgressions other than eating too much food. (The entry has adult language and content, so be warned)

(from “the Hangman”) Two contests have been added to the goldenpalace.net World Series of Competitive Eating:

Oct 13 fried chicken strips, South Carolina State Fair, Columbia, SC
Oct 16 pickles, North Carolina State Fair, Raleigh, NC

IFOCE.com announces that Eric “Badlands” Booker will appear on “Wifeswap” on Monday October 9 at 8 pm eastern.

According to the Yahoo TV description, the Booker family will swap spouses with the Alcorns, one of whom is a boxer:

“Alcorn/Booker”
A former undefeated champion boxer trades families with a mother who champions competitive eating.

Booker will apparently live with Jenifer Alcorn, who retired from boxing without a loss in 2004. The (The only undefeated male championship boxer I am aware of is Rocky Marciano)

ABC has a press release about the episode. Eric’s wife, Regina, will take over Jenifer’s fighter training while Jenifer will try to get the Booker family to adopt healthier habits.

AICE News announces that they will hold a contest at the Clinton Station Diner in New Jersey in honor of that restaurant’s 1000th day on October 28. The size of the burger in that contest has not been determined yet. A team contest for the 50 pound Mount Olympus burger is a possibility.

From Hall Hoover Hunt blog comment

Hall,

My name is Tim Ahn and I would like to invite you to compete in the inaugural Checkers Burger Bowl on Saturday, October 7 at 2:00pm at the Pike house across from Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at UF. The top prize is $250 cash. Please feel free to contact me with any questions at 407-310-3024 or reply back to checkersburgerbowl@gmail.com. Thanks, and I look forward to your response!

Regards,
Tim Ahn

The Asahi Shimbum has an article about the current state of Japanese competitive eating containing a preview of Sunday’s “Gluttonous King” contest. The article says an eating contest took place in 1817.

Brian Seiken sent me the following trivia question:

Which person encouraged or pressured the following eaters to enter competitive eating?

• Ed Jarvis
• Charles Hardy
• Brian Seiken
• Don Lerman

I will post the answers in a few days.

Jed Donahue announced in the comments that he broke the record for the Quadruple Bypass Burger at the Heart Attack Grill with a time of 5:39. Jed’s claim was verified by Dr. Jon of the grill. Joey Chestnut announce that he expects to visit the grill in October, so Jed’s record might not last an extremely long time. The grill’s website should have more information soon.

(From krystal-lovers) Videos from the Chattanooga, Jacksonville and Nashville qualifiers are now available at krystalsquareoff.com The other qualifiers and Bob Shoudt’s 2 minute record attempt should be online in the near future. I am looking forward to seeing the end of the Atlanta qualifier.

Updated 12:30am - truefan has an Atlanta video and gallery - thanks steakbellie

The Bellevue Leader has an article about the 30th ranked IFOCE eater.

Be on the lookout for whaling boats on the Mississippi. IFOCE announces that Tim Janus will compete in the Memphis Krystal Square Off qualifier Sunday despite being virtually guaranteed a wild card entry into the finals.

IFOCE also warns that the 5 second dunking rule might be more strictly enforced in future Krystal contests.

A pizza eating contest with a 1st prize of $100 will be held at Jo-Jo’s Original Pizzeria in Toledo, OH on Oct 13. Qualifiers will be held Sept 28 and Oct 5. A $8 entrance fee is required.