from IFOCE.com Congratulations to Joey Chestnut who set an American record of 50 hot dogs at the Nathan’s qualifier in Las Vegas today. Chestnut’s performance is better than 2 of Kobayashi’s winning marks and equivalent to one. Rich LeFevre set a personal best of 30.5 and Ron Koch did 15.

Note: The IFOCE report says that the previous American record was 42 when it is actually 37 (set by Sonya Thomas last year.)

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(Thanks Loren Yarbrough) A Japanese competitive eating website has been set up at http://www.d2.dion.ne.jp/~193cm/ which has galleries of Nobuyuki “The Giant” Shirota at the 2004 Nathan’s finals and Tokyo qualifier.

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The Hartford Courant has an interview with Connecticut native Tim “Eater X” Janus in advance of his appearance at the Hartford Nathan’s qualifier Saturday.

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Here are the top Nathan’s pound-for-pound performances in the finals since 2001 computed by dividing the amount eaten by the listed bodyweight of the competitor

1. 2002 Takeru Kobayashi 50.5 / 113 lb. = .447
2. 2004 Takeru Kobayashi 53.5 / 132 lb. = .405
3. 2001 Takeru Kobayashi 50 / 131 lb. = 382
4. 2005 Sonya Thomas 37 / 100 lb. = .370
5. 2005 Takeru Kobayashi 49 / 144 lb. = .340
6. 2004 Sonya Thomas 32 / 100 lb. = .320
7. 2001 Kazutoyo Arai 31 / 101 lb. = .30693
8. 2003 Takeru Kobayashi 44.5 / 145 lb. = .30690
9. 2005 Kenji Oguni 31 / 110 lb. = .282
10. 2003 Sonya Thomas 25 / 107 lb. = .234

CNN reports from 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 were used to compute these ratios

It is possible that Kobayashi’s 2002 weight is inaccurate since it is 18 pounds less than any other weight and the 2003 CNN article says that his current weight of 145 pounds is 15 pounds more than his 2002 weight. NY1 has an article from the weigh-in which reports that Kobayashi’s weight is 113 pounds.

If Kobayashi’s 2002 weight is correct, and Sonya retains her weight of 100 pounds, eating 45 hot dogs in the 2006 finals will produce the all-time best pound-for-pound result. (41 hot dogs will give Sonya that accolade if the 2002 weight is not accurate)

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The Memphis Commerical Appeal reports that a hot wing eating contest sponsored by Frank’s Red Hot will be held Friday at 5pm at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest along the Memphis riverfront. The prize was not listed, but last year’s contest awarded $150 and was reportedly had trouble getting enough entrants, so Mid-South eaters might want to look into this event.

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The blog for Gansotorokatsu Curry, a restaurant famous for its eating challenges, reports that Natsuko “Gal” Sone ate 8kg or 17.6 pounds of food at that establishment and still had enough room left over for ice cream. Tomoko Miyake, the 4th place finisher in the “Gluttonous Queens” contest, dined with Sone but could only eat 5kg or 11 pounds. Kenji Aoki, who arranged the sushi contest described in “Horsemen of the Esophagus”, was the third member of the party. Aoki has a very detailed website about oogui. Jason Fagone’s book states that Aoki was engaged as of early 2005. It would be interesting to learn how Aoki’s wife/fiancee viewed his dinner with Sone and Miyake.

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The AICE news page lists the expected contestants for the United Pickle contest that will be held May 24 at the Carnegie Deli. According to that roster, “Krazy” Kevin Lipsitz will attempt to reclaim the pickle crown that he won in 2000. Joe Menchetti has also apparently decided that the contest is sufficiently lucrative to enter.

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A headline on hugeeaters.com announces that Cookie Jarvis is retiring and more information will be available soon. (The announcement says that Jarvis will “put away his spoon”, so he could only be retiring from contests which use spoons 😉 )

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Nobuyuki “The Giant” Shirota has a blog entry with a ten part questionaire to help a reader determine if he or she is suited for competitive eating.

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Brian Seiken has uploaded his tenth video focusing on the Eats of Strength filming session. He does not have an official interviewee, but Crazy Legs Conti, Pat Bertoletti, Tim Janus and Don Lerman all make cameo appearances.

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The Northeast (China) Network reports that a noodle contest was held at a Beijing restaurant. The winner received a cash award after eating .5 kg (1.1 lb.) of fried noodles in 12 (?) seconds.

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The 11th Hour, a sketch comedy group, has uploaded a 6 minute “mockumentary” about a female competitive eater to youtube at http://youtube.com/watch?v=CZ2oZgtbpAg The video includes footage of last year’s goldenpalace.com grilled cheese finals at Venice Beach and Sonya Thomas and other IFOCE members make cameos.

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Liz attended the Feats of Strength recording session on Saturday and has a report and gallery from that event. Tim “Eater X” Janus (sporting a new haircut), Crazy Legs Conti and “Hungry” Charles Hardy all broke the records they attempted. Pat Bertoletti, Don Lerman, Brian Seiken, Allen Goldstein and Tim’s friend Joe (who looks like Joey Chestnut) attended as spectators.

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Kevin Carr interviews Ryan Nerz at http://www.7mpictures.com/inside/mp3files/profile_ryannerz.mp3 (about 40 minutes)

Michael Smerconish interviews Jason Fagone at http://podcast.thebigtalker1210.com/wpht/9582.mp3 (about 17 minutes)

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Both the Sunrise, Fl Nathan’s qualifier and the Houston tamale contest had reversals soon after the contest buzzer. The new poll asks if you think there should be a fixed period after a contest during which a reversal will result in a disqualification, and if so, how long?

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You Tube has a 9 minute video of the final contest of the “Gluttonous Queen” program broadcast last month at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAm8AJ-RMfk
Natsuko “The Gal” Sone claimed the crown by eating more bowls of spicy noodles than the other two finalists: Iwata and “The Nurse.”

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The East Hartford Gazette has details about the Nathan’s qualifier that will be held in Hartford on May 20.

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People attending Tim “Eater X” Janus’ “Eats of Strength” recording session tomorrow might be surprised at what they see.

In other “Eats of Strength” news, Brian Seiken has some pictures and a writeup of last week’s session with Don “Moses” Lerman

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Some pictures of the Houston tamale contest (and the contest afterparty) have been posted to Pat Bertoletti’s myspace page.

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As of May 12, 12:49 pm, two copies of “The Doughnut Dropout”, the book that inspired the eating career of Jed Donahue, are available on ebay (at prices of $7.00 and $4.85)

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The New York Times has a column about the trend towards extremism in gastronomic literature which mentions both “Eat This Book” and “Horsemen of the Esophagus” prominently.

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The Lefevres’ attempts to eat the famous 72 ounce steak at the Big Texan steakhouse recorded by Ripley’s Believe it or Not in 2000 will be rerun on the SciFi Channel at 4 pm (eastern) Friday This might be the first appearance of competitive eating on national cable TV. The steak contest segment will probably occur at the end of the show near 5pm.

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Rockvale Outlets has put out a press release about the 2006 Shoo Fly Pie contest that will take place on June 24. The contest has a website which has a gallery of the 2005 contest. Tim Janus is expected to defend his 2005 title. There will be an amateur contest before the IFOCE event which will award a $250 gift certificate to the winner. The website has shoo fly pie recipes if entrants want to make some practice pies.

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The Genessee (Michigan) board of commissioners decided to use $150 of county funds to sponsor a hot dog eating contest at Capital Coney Island in Flint Township despite Commissioner Rose Bogardus’ opinion that the contest promotes gluttony and eating disorders. The contest will take place on May 20 from 2-6 pm and an entrance fee of $10 will enable competitors to eat as many hot dogs as possible in 15 minutes. Unspecified prizes will be awarded to the best performers. Funds will go towards the Consortium on Child Abuse and Neglect. Hopefully Sharon Scholten will not show up or there might not be any money left for charity after hot dog expenses have been deducted.

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The No Name Ninja has started a fan blog for “Gal” Natsuko Sone at http://galsonelovery.blog.shinobi.jp/ (in Japanese)

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