Loren “Bubba” Yarbrough has emailed me that he appeared with Larry McNeil and Dale Boone on Fox 5 to promote the Atlanta Nathan’s qualifier. Yarbrough has uploaded a video clip of that appearance to youtube. Dale Boone does look notably lighter than he did last year.

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Philly.com has a few paragraphs on Thursday’s QVC studio Nathan’s qualifier. The article says that the contest will not be broadcast live. “Super” Paul Barlow and steakbellie are expected to compete.

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Kobayashi has started his blog with two entries. One is a report from the Nathan’s Tokyo qualifier, the other announces that he will appear on a baseball card.

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Liz has an interview with Pat Bertoletti after he was upset by Chip in the Mall of America Nathan’s qualifer, who had the second-best American result (38 HDB) of all time.

updated 6/20 1:11 am – changed Chip Simpson to Pat Bertoletti

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Liz announces that she will participate in Saturday’s Shoo Fly Pie contest, but not as an eater.

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The Philadelphia City Paper reprints Jason Fagone’s letter to the New York Times criticizing his book review.

Fagone has also set up a myspace site with excerpts from “Horsement of the Esophagus.” The page accepts comments if you have something about that book you would like to say.

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Steakbellie has uploaded his Wing Bowl pictures from February to http://www.flickr.com/photos/steakbellie/sets/72157594170484655/ There are 668 pictures in total. Some photographs of Wingettes are not safe for all workplaces.

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Blog entries about the Paw Food Battle Stadiums contest in Japan Sunday in which “Giant” Shirota, “Gal” Sone and Tomoko Miyake made guest appearances:

Toro
Shirota
yumita6

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The Scorecard section of this week’s issue of Sports Illustrated has a short article about Joey Chestnut which follows:

Joey says in a comment to this post that he was misquoted and that he can do 40 and not 50 hot dogs in a 9 minute training session. Joey also says the author excised his quotes praising other IFOCE members.

Weenie Boast

America’s new hot-dog-loving hope wants to restore the U.S. to competitive-eating glory.

Like any great sporting achievement, what Joey Chestnut pulled off on May 18 in Las Vegas required skill, drive and near-perfect-conditions. He had enough water. His body behaved exactly as he had hoped. And all his hot dogs were cooked exactly to his liking: not too hot, not too cold. In 12 minutes Chestnut, 22, a civil engineering major at San Jose State, downed 50 wieners at a qualifier for the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4. Chestnut shattered the U.S. record by 13 and set up a Coney Island showdown with the world-record holder, Japan’s Takeru Kobayashi.

A victory by Chestnut would return glory to these shores after six consecutive Nathan’s wins by foreigners, a sore subject for U.S. competitive eaters. “This is America, where people love to eat,” says Chestnut, who finished third at Nathan’s in 2005. “For us to keep losing on a day with some meaning, it’s almost humiliating.”

Chestnut knows he must improve to beat Kobayashi. He says he’s increased his capacity and speed (he can now consume 50 hot dogs in nine minutes) by practicing with a kitchen timer. A win might help curry favor with U.S. competitors, who resent his quick success. “A lot of the veterans hate me,” says Chestnut, who began eating competitively in 2005. “I’m sure I would make a few new friends.” Maybe he could take them out to dinner. -A.D.

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from supersizedmeals.com – The Palm Beach Bost has a multimedia presentation of the sweet corn contest won by Joe LaRue in April. supersizedmeals has taken video captures of the slideshow.

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from Brian Seiken

Shea Stadium, Queens NY Nathans’ qualifier results
1. “Humble” Bob Shoudt – 29 HDB – 11th qualifier is first victory – personal best
2. “Fast” Eddie Hardy 17 HDB – same debut amount as father Hungry Charlese
? “Beautiful” Brian Seiken 11 HDB – retired from Nathan’s qualifiers after contest

this myspace blog has an eyewitness account

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The Pioneer Press (St. Paul, MN) has an article about yesterday’s Nathan’s qualifier at the Mall of America won by Chip Simpson with 38 hot dogs.

Updated 6:27 pm – Brian Seiken has commentary

7:13 pm – a volunteer judge has a myspace blog entry about the contest

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Toro attended today’s Nathan’s Tokyo (Roppongi) qualifier, won by Kenji Oguni with 19 HDB, and wrote a blog entry about it. Oguni’s mark is the lowest winning qualifier amount so far. Miyuki Iwata placed second with 15.5 HDB.

This blog entry (in English) focuses on three martial artists who participated in the contest.

Updated 6/18 10:50 pm – Deresque debuted with 14 HDB and wrote a blog entry about his contest experience

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From IFOCE.com, Andrew Lane’s blog & Liz K.

Bloomington MN – Mall of America Nathan’s qualifier

Chip Simpson 38 HDB
Pat Bertoletti 32 HDB
Andrew “Skinnyboy” Lane 12 HDB
Kevin Carr 11 HDB
16 other locals

Chip is one of four people to eat 38 or more hot dogs (Joey Chestnut, Kobayashi & Nobuyuki Shirota are the others)

from Domenico Alesi’s comment:

Milwaukee Harley Davidson Johnsonville bratwurst qualifier
top 5 qualify for Johnsonville bratwurst finals in August

Tim “Eater X” Janus (NY)- 29 Brats
Frank Wach (Chicago)- 20 Brats
Tim Brown (Chicago)- 19 Brats
Crazy Legs Conti (NY)- 17/18 Brats
Jim “Hammer” Hammerick (Springfield, IL) -14 Brats
Domenico “The Sicilian” Alesi (Chicago)- 13 Brats

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Japan was not the only Pacific island in which a Nathan’s hot dog contest was held this weekend. A contest (presumably a non-qualifier) was also held in Guam.

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The Independent of London (UK) has an article about Sonya Thomas at the Baltimore crabcake contest (which does not mention that event took place two months ago) The author also witnesses Sonya’s post-contest meal.

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The Kobayashi segment of MTV’s True Life documentary highlighted the difficulty that Japanese competitive eaters preparing for Nathan’s have finding American style hot dogs. This plight appears to have lessened somewhat since that program was filmed. On a shopping trip, palpus discovered a restaurant selling hot dogs for only 100 yen ($0.87) or 200 yen with a drink. After opening at the end of April, the restaurant has already become the most popular in its chain in the world. A second Japanese location will open in Yokohama before the end of 2006.

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If you have ever wondered what exactly is urbanhonking.com, this article from Willamette Weekly will help inform you. Liz Kellermeyer has a captioned picture and praise for her (and Krista’s) article on the (February) grilled cheese contest in New York City.

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(Since some readers don’t care for posts about Japanese eaters not named Kobayashi, I will combine these links into a single post to make them easier to ignore)

Miyuki Iwata has an interview (in English) from after her victory in Shanghai.

Tomoko Miyake has a video (apparently some type of audition tape). Toro has a translation of the transcript.

Natsuko “Gal” Sone was crowned “King” after completing 5 eating challenges at gansotorokatsu curry. It took her only 2 days to complete all five challenges.

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The new poll asks what action judges should take when eaters have food outside their mouths after a contest is finished.

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Takeru Kobayashi has opened a web site at takeru-kobayashi.com (Translated version) The site has a blog, but no entries have been added to it. Kobayashi lists his current weight at 75kg (165 lb), about the same weight he received a major scare from Joey Chestnut at the Krystal finals last November.

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IFOCE announces that Cookie Jarvis’ embroidered jacket listing his eating titles will be retired on July 4 in a ceremony before the Nathan’s finals.

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Upcoming IFOCE ribs contests in July:

July 3, Memphis, TN – GoldenPalace.net World Series of Competitive Eating
July 7, Cherokee, NC – Harrah’s Rib Eating Contest
July 15, Lincoln City, OR – Chinook Winds World Rib Eating Championship

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The following video captures were taken from the video of the goldenpalace.net grilled cheese contest on the contest page at goldenpalaceevents.com after the contest timer expired (around 2:20 – 2:26 in the video)

It is obvious from the video captures that Sonya has a significant amount (probably 1/4 to 1/2 a sandwich) outside her mouth after the contest is finished. I assume that the man with sunglasses and a notepad is a contest official and he apparently took no action after he saw the amount of food outside Sonya’s mouth.

If the chipmunking rule is going to be interpreted liberally, then Sonya has every right to take advantage of that interpretation, but IFOCE should clarify the details of that rule so other eaters can take advantage of it as well.

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The San Jose Mercury has an article about Joey Chestnut’s record breaking performance at the goldenpalace.net grilled cheese contest Saturday which ends with a message to Takeru Kobayashi:

“I hope he knows I’m working hard, and if I do beat him, he’ll know I was coming to get him.”

(Does anyone know what the prize money for the grilled cheese contest was? Joey won $2,500, but I have been unable to find what the other prize amounts were.)

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