Kobayashi eating 58 bratwursts at the Johnsonville Bratwurst contest made the Sheboygan Press’ list of notable 2006 events. Clarence Mertz’s efforts to suppress that contest made the list of offbeat events.

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Brian Seiken has made available the long awaited New Year’s special featuring Crazy Legs Conti. Brian has a description of the episode on his website:

Some have accused Crazy Legs Conti of stealing a contest or two but this time he legitimatly stole the show in his latest appearance on Beautifulbrian’s corner. Emails flooded the box of Beautifulbrian demanding a reason as to why the promise of naked women on the show was vitrually abandoned. However the show was that entertaining, it didn’t need sex to spice it up. “Ive always viewed exploitation of adult content as making up for one’s inhibitions or lack of creativity” Seiken was accused of conning the public into thinking they were going to see porno and they got something totally different.”Hey , i never recieved the adult portion of the show. If and when i get it ill post it” Crazy Legs Conti was not only funny but informative as well. It appeared at times that Seiken & Conti took turns narrating the show. It was rumored that it was like pulling teeth to get Little Jmmy to re enact some of Seiken’s bits and pieces episodes. “They say he is one little tough dude to work with” The blend of Helen Haggerty Little Jimmy , Crazy Legs & Beautifulbrian was enough chemistry to make for one entertaining piece of history.

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DelcoTimes.com reports that Frank “DeFraud” Farrell won the Glen Macnow Wing Bowl qualifier at Slack’s Hoagie Shack by eating 20 2 inch pieces of buffalo cheesesteak in 15 minutes. Farrell showed up at the restaurant and requested entrance to the contest, which was granted.

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In his blog, Kobayashi offers birthday greetings to Tim “Eater X” Janus, who turns 30 today. In addition, the blog entry has a New Year’s message to the competitive eating community.

Kobayashi also has part 2 of his New York City trip report, which includes a visit to the zoo, Rockerfeller Center and a candy store.

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There are currently 20 videos about the Heart Attack Grill currently available on youtube, including a segment filmed for Japanese TV and “Dr. Jon” and “Nurse” Caterina’s interview on Fox News.

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AICE News announces that they will sanction “The Shank Off” at sSs Barbecue Barns in Australia. supersizedmeals.com will also be involved in the contest and they have a post about that event. The sSs “Big Shank” is probably the most famous Australian eating challenge and it requires eating a 2.5 kg (5.5 lb.) beef shank. The contest will have regional qualifiers.

AICE also announces that they will affiliate with the newly formed Canadian Competitive Eaters Association. The only information about that organization is that it is run by an 18 year old who calls himself “The Hungry Genius”

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Pictures of Joey Chestnut at the Heart Attack Grill when he broke the Quadruple Bypass Burger record, taken by Edward Delgado, are now available on that restaurant’s website.

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The Andrews Air Force base website has an article about Sonya Thomas, who manages the Burger King at that location. The article says that Sonya was filmed for a documentary to be televised on the National Geographic Channel in 2007 called “The Science of Speed Eaters” Tim Janus and Loren Yarbrough are also expected to appear in that program.

Updated Big Fish DC, the production company, has a program description:

In this thrilling hour, we’ll take viewers inside the bellies of competitive eaters and see how the human body can be pushed to its gastronomical limit. We will follow an up and coming southern eater, Bubba, a father of two, as he tries to reach the big time in speed eating. We’ll meet famed 105 lb. Sonya “Black Widow” Thomas – a woman who out eats men four times her size. We’ll follow a champion eater as for the first time, the medical community studies the physiological changes that allow a person to consume over 50 hotdogs in ten minutes, with no apparent ill effects. NCG goes inside the world of competitive eating and brings viewers what until now, has never been seen.

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Brian Seiken has uploaded his Christmas special to youtube due to problems some people had watching it on his web site.

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The website for the Rockford Corner Bar has been retooled. The hot dog “Hall of Fame” has been updated to list Tim Janus’ record breaking performance from March, but only three names are listed on that page. Janus is listed as the professional record holder while Balinda Gould is the amateur champion. Sharon VanDuinen’s (Scholten) 23 year reign is mentioned, but the article about her has been removed.

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Don “Moses” Lerman is not the only eater who likes to wear costumes. Tomoko Miyake (三宅智子) dresses as a Christmas elf, a French maid and a cheerleader in recent entries in her blog. We will have to wait and see if Tomoko receives any criticism from any maids advocacy organizations for wearing a maid’s outfit when she is not really a maid. 😉

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(From Liz) Liz & Krista report that Crazy Legs Conti purchased the set of eater magnets they put up for sale on ebay and also have a picture of the magnet they made at they buyer’s request.

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ibctoday.com has a video report produced by Reuters from the Chock Full O Nuts date nut bread sandwich contest held in New York City last week. Pat Bertoletti (now with a mustache) is interviewed.

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Steakbellie has a long post in which he describes his hopes and fears about competing in Wing Bowl 15.

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(from independentmail.com) Clemson defensive tackle Elsmore Gabriel required the Heimlich maneuver after getting a bone lodged in his throat during a rib eating contest held at the Music City Bowl (Nashville, TN) team welcome party. Gabriel continued eating after the bone was removed and Clemson lost the contest to Kentucky by two ribs. William “Refrigerator” Perry, who appeared in the 2003 Nathan’s finals and a Kobayashi cartoon on Saturday Night Live, also played defensive tackle at Clemson.

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John Stossel of ABC News “20/20” has written a column for the Jewish World Review about the Attorney General of Arizona’s attempt to prevent the Heart Attack Grill from outfitting its waitresses in nurses costumes.

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In his blog, Nobuyuki “the Giant” Shirota reports that he got married on December 24. No other information about the wedding or bride is provided.

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The new poll asks who you think will be the top ranked IFOCE member from the United States at the end of next year. The top 15 and Juliet Lee are listed. I will add any eaters to the poll you believe should be included.

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(From R Suzuki) “Horsemen of the Esophagus” has been translated into a Japanese version. The cover has been changed and now contains a photograph of Bill “El Wingador” Simmons at a Wing Bowl.

In other “Horsemen” news, the release of its paperback edition is scheduled for May 22, 2007.

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The British tabloid, The Sun, has a contest writeup of last month’s mince pie contest won by Sonya Thomas at Wookey Hole Caves. The author competed and finished with 9 pies.

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New clips of Natsuko “Gal” Sone’s Wednesday morning contests have been uploaded to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN2y50lFAUM and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf7Kju54kFw

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statesman.com has an article about the 8 lb. Big Kahuna Burger from Pancho and Lefty’s in Hare (suburban Austin) TX. The current award for finishing the burger in under three hours is $500. No eater has ever completed it. The article mentions Kate Stelnick’s reported completion of the 11 pound 96er and the skepticism it has engendered in the competitive eating community.

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Brian Seiken has a Christmas present for the competititve eating community in the form of his Christmas special video. Richard Shea, Arturo Rios Jr., Juliet Lee, Cookie Jarvis and others make appearances.

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Kobayashi did not compete in Wednesday’s Chock Full O Nuts date nut bread sandwich contest, but he attended as a spectator and has a writeup of that event in his blog.

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If you would like to watch a competitive eating themed Christmas program, the Christmas special produced by the girl group Morning Musume which Nobuyuki “the Giant” Shirota can be viewed in its entirety at http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=13nin+Xmas+&search=Search The segment where Morning Musume faces a giant lizard shows that Kobayashi vs. the Bear was not the most bizarre appearance of a wild animal in television history.

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