Archive for January, 2007
Kobayashi declines Japanese contests
In a recent blog entry, Kobayashi denies rumors that he signed a contract with the Tokyo Broadcasting System and apparently says he will pass on all Japanese contests for the forseeable future.
Angelo Cataldi Wing Bowl 15 FAQ
Angelo Cataldi answers some commonly asked questions about Wing Bowl 15 in his blog.
Q. Why do you allow professional eaters into Wing Bowl?
A. There’s really no choice. This is an open eating competition, with the best prizes in the history of competitive eating. I guess we could discourage the pros if we didn’t offer a free car to the winner, but that might not even work anymore. Winning Wing Bowl is a big deal in itself these days. It gets national coverage. It draws 20,000-plus spectators every year. Since WIP is a radio station, we are governed by the FCC, which requires very specific rules for all contests. Excluding the pros is pretty close to impossible. We thought we got around it last year with the Virgin Wing Bowl, but two pros who had never gotten in before jumped at the chance.
Insite Austin article about Bikini String Fry contest
Insite Austin has a preview of the french fry contest to be held at Bikini’s Bar and Grill on January 27. The article is not available in HTML form, but can be viewed in the pdf for the current issue or in this screen capture. 6 of the top 10 IFOCE members, including Joey Chestnut, Tim “Eater X” Janus, “Humble” Bob Shoudt and Chip Simpson, are expected according to the article. Bikini clad waitresses will be present at the contest.
New Poll: AICE eater of 2006?
The new poll asks who you think was the top AICE eater in the previous year. AICE has a list of its most memorable moments in 2006 to help you remember who won what contest.
Erik “The Red’s” NFL playoff hot dog challenge
After trying to eat 40 hot dogs during Super Bowl XL, Erik “The Red” Denmark will attempt a challenge with more complicated rules during the Seattle Seahawks / Dallas Cowboys playoff game tomorrow evening.
Gal Sone & Yamamoto try to bankrupt buffets
R Suzuki has a summary of a program in which Natsuko “Gal” Sone and Takuya Yamamoto went to Japanese buffets. The total a la carte price of the food they ate was kept track of and the buffet cost was subtracted from that amount. Gal Sone saved 81520 Yen ($689) and Yamamoto saved ($788) The weight gain was also computed. Gal Sone gained 7 kg (15.4 lb) and Yamamoto gained 9.2 kg (20.2 lb) The calorielab blog also mentions the program
Rio Wraps Burrito Bowl
Rio Wraps is holding the Burrito Bowl, a contest similar to Moe’s Burritos for Life. 14 restaurants in Michigan will host a first round contest later this month and the winners of those events will advance to the Burrito Bowl finals in Dearborn, MI on February 2 to compete for a $7,500 prize package. 5 contestants for each preliminary contest will be chosen at random. The contest rules ban eaters ranked by an eating organization for a mininum of one year.
Humble Bob breaks Jim’s Steaks record
wcbstv.com has an article and video about “Humble” Bob Shoudt breaking the cheesesteak record at Jim’s Steaks in Philadelphia. Humble Bob ate 13 sandwiches in about an hour to break the record of 12 set by Alex Friedman set in 2001 in a Wing Bowl qualifying stunt. Freidman broke Lynda Kuerth’s 1977 mark of 11 cheesesteaks, which remains the women’s record.
Pat Bertoletti breaks Acme Oyster House record
IFOCE.com reports that Pat Bertoletti broke Sonya Thomas’ Acme Oyster House record by eating 53.5 dozen oysters in 48 minutes. Sonya Thomas set the previous record when she ate 46 dozen in a 10 minute record, then ate an additional 6 dozen following the awards ceremony.
Krispy Kreme Challenge – Raleigh, NC
(Thanks Jed Donahue) Eaters whose new year’s resolution is to exercise more might want to consider entering the Krispy Kreme Challenge in Raleigh, NC, on January 27 as it is the first contest I am aware of to include eating & cardiovascular activity. The contest will involve running from the NC State Bell Tower to a Krispy Kreme about 2 miles away, eating a dozen Krispy Kremes at that location, then running back to the bell tower. Regurgitation is frowned upon, but will apparently not result in disqualification. The race will be timed like a typical road race and proceeds will benefit the North Carolina Children’s Hospital.
Philly.com Wing Bowl page not being updated
I thought that the philly.com Wing Bowl videos page was not being updated because qualification attempts went on hiatus for the holidays, but qualifying stunts have apparently continued. Philly.com Wing Bowl notes says that “Obi Wing” recently qualified for the Wing Bowl. Obi Wing’s video cannot be found on philly.com, but it can be seen on youtube: Part 1, Part 2.
In other Wing Bowl news, “Dr. Martin Luther Wing” will try to qualify for the Wing Bowl tomorrow by eating chitlins. “Dr. Wing’s” manager is Wing Bowl 14 entrant Adam “Hungry Hungry Hebrew” Taxin says “Black history will be made this month of February.”
Pat from Moonachie wins wackbag.com “Pest of the Year”
Pat “from Moonachie” Philbin has won the Opie & Anthony “Pest of the Year” for 2006 voted on by readers of the wackbag forum.
CanadianCompetitiveEaters.com opens
The website for the AICE-affiliated Canadian Competitive Eaters Association, canadiancompetitiveeaters.com is now open. The organization’s founder is In-Ting Ho, also known as the “Hungry Genius”
Steakbellie makes News of Delaware Co. 2006 list
Eric “Steakbellie” Livingston’s 6th place finish in Wing Bowl 14 made The News of Delaware County’s list of 2006 headlines.
Preliminary Pretzel Twister roster
CompetitiveEatingEvents.com has the preliminary roster for the Pretzel Twister pretzel eating contest in Miami on January 20. Sonya Thomas, Joey Chestnut, Tim “Eater X” Janus, Humble Bob Shoudt, Dale Boone and Florida residents Hall Hunt and Jammin’ Joe LaRue are listed as expected entrants.
Erik “The Red” Denmark’s NYC trip report
Erik “The Red” Denmark has posted a trip report and gallery from his trip to New York City last month to compete in the date nut bread sandwich contest. Erik also went to the pizzeria Tim Janus works at where he met with Kobayashi.
updatedI misread the “one should never pass up this opportunity” as the opportunity to appear in a commercial with Kobayashi and Sonya Thomas instead of the opportunity to dine with Kobayashi. The entry has been corrected.
Joey Chestnut has yet to receive Wing Bowl slot
philly.com reports that Wing Bowl 14 champion Joey Chestnut has yet to receive one of the five slots in Wing Bowl 15 for IFOCE out of towners. If invited, Joey Chestnut hopes he has the same Wingette he had last year.
Happy 2007 from Tomoko and Natuko
Tomoko Miyake and Gal Sone wish their fans a happy 2007 on Tomoko Miyake’s blog. Gal Sone’s first name is spelled “Natuko” instead of the more conventional “Natsuko”
USC defeats Michigan in Beef Bowl
realfootball365.com reports that the USC football team defeated the University of Michigan’s team in the Beef Bowl prime rib contest, 630 pounds to 612 pounds. The contest is held at Lawry’s in Beverly Hills and teams dine in separate sessions. Freep.com has a report on Michigan’s trip to Lawry’s. Teams that win the Beef Bowl win the Rose Bowl 70% of the time, which held up when USC won the Rose Bowl yesterday.
Think You Can Compete’s 10 soft taco challenge opens
thinkyoucancompete.com has opened registration on its first video based contest. Entrants will record videos of themselves eating 10 soft Taco Bell tacos. Registration is January 5 and all videos must be uploaded by January 10.
Japanese New Year’s Day competitive eating
R Suzuki reports that team eating contests were held during a New Year’s Day television special. The West team had Gal Sone and Takuya Yamamoto while the East team had Nobuyuki Shirota and Tomoko Miyake. The teams also contained some other celebrities. Men’s, women’s and mixed gender contests were held. The mixed gender contest was a 30 minute sushi contest which was won by the Galsone (154 pieces) / Yamamoto (174 pieces) team.
Tomoko Miyake reports about competing in the event in her blog.
2006: The Year in Competitive Eating
Here are some of the top stories in the world of competitive eating from 2006 ranked in no particular order. The new poll asks what you think is the most significant event.
Joey Chestnut emerged as the top American eater, becoming the first American to scare Kobayashi and break the 50 HDB barrier.
Kobayashi continued his winning streak and competed in four contests in the United States in 2006, up from three last year.
Sonya Thomas had several disappointing contests in the second half of 2006, resulting in her dropping to the #4 ranking. Sonya’s frustrations resulted in her walking off the awards presentation at the meatball contest.
Pat Bertoletti, Chip Simpson, Bob Shoudt and Tim Janus improved to the level where they could challenge for first place in most contests on a good day.
Natsuko “Gal” Sone established herself as not only the top female Japanese eater, but also as a celebrity in general with numerous television appearances.
IFOCE stalwarts Badlands Booker, Cookie Jarvis and Don “Moses” Lerman retired (Lerman claims his retirement will be temporary) Dom Cardo and Scott Soiffer retired from AICE. “Theeta” Rappai, probably the world’s top non US/Japanese eater, retired and died several months afterwards.
IFOCE lost two major sponsors: GoldenPalace.net, when Congress passed a law banning transferring funds to online casino and Alka Seltzer when company’s German bosses cancelled the US Open of Competitive Eating II.
Tom “Goose” Gilbert was probably the top eater in AICE as 2006 closed despite competing in that organization for only half a year.
Pat Philbin was expelled from the IFOCE after appearing in a video which IFOCE management considered in bad taste. Philbin’s membership was restored after Opie & Anthony listeners voiced their disapproval.
Dale Boone returned from India and was suspended for undisclosed reasons soon afterward. After the suspension was lifted, he established himself as one of the top southern eaters.
Several notable non-IFOCE & non-AICE contests were held including Moe’s Southwest Grill’s Burritos for Life, a tournament in which every franchise held a contest.
Several IFOCE rookies, notably Seaver Miller, Arturo Rios Jr., Erik Denmark and Juliet Lee, established themselves as eaters to watch in 2007.
Three IFOCE contests were televised on ESPN. MTV’s True Life documentary was another notable progam about competitive eating.
Competitive eating appears to have started to take root in China. At least five contests were held in Chinese-speaking country in which a foreigner competed.
The Heart Attack Grill received loads of publicity, more for its waitresses nurses outfits than it Quadruple Bypass Burger eating challenge.
The rise of youtube greatly facilitated viewing eating contest and other competitive eating videos. Brian Seiken produced a lot of non-contest competitive eating programming.
Joey Chestnut makes Vallejo Times Herald 2006 list
Joey Chestnut’s close loss to Kobayashi in the Nathan’s finals made the Vallejo Times Herald’s list of notable events of 2006.
Kobayashi reference in “Ricky Bobby” on youtube
Andrew “Skinnyboy” Lane has uploaded the clip from the Nascar parody “Ricky Bobby” in which the protagonist refers to Kobayashi at http://youtube.com/watch?v=uyVj0FFL-Pw Kobayashi is not mentioned by name, only as “that Asian guy who holds the world record for eating all those hot dogs in a row” Ricky also mentions two other great champions: Don Shula and Rue McClanahan.
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