• Drew Cerza, founder of the Buffalo Wing Festival, to be emcee at Wing Bowl 17
• Report on Tuesday’s Wing Off
• L & L Corned Beef Musubi eating contest February 15. First prize includes a trip to Hawaii
• Skinnyboy’s report from the KBPI Wing Bowl semifinals
• Moses News has a lot of new material, including a review of Katz’ Deli, featured in last week’s Man vs. Food
• Picture of the Big Texan 72 ounce steak finishers list from 2007. Kevin Carr is one of the finishers.

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The website for the Big Texan Steak Ranch has been updated. A page about Joey Chestnut breaking the 72 ounce steak record has been added. The foreword of the Story of the Free 72 oz. steak, which is now available at Barnes & Noble, can be read online. The webcam for 72 ounce steak attempts remains, but the finishers database, which was removed in 2005, has not been restored.

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• (from Pierre Abry) Food Network page about tonight’s episode (at 6:30 pm) of My Life in Food starring “Crazy Legs Conti , a dreadlocked veteran, Lovely Juliette [sic] Lee, a petite 100lb female rookie, and Patrick Deep Dish Bertoletti, a talented up-and-comer”. The episode will not be rerun in the near future and the series is not available online, so watch it when it is televised if you want to see it.
• Segments from the new tracks on the Best of Hungry & Focused are available on Badlands Booker’s myspace page
• Wing eating contest at the Den Again in Racine, Wisconsin January 25 $500 first prize
• Facebook page about the Seaside, Oregon mayoral campaign of “Consumption”
• Blog entry about Frank Pastore, former Big Texan record holder, from a resident of Pastore’s hometown
• Video of Joel Podelsky’s cheeseburger eating contest at a Newark Beaks game
• Wing eating contest in Beijing
• Don Lerman’s baked bean record (but not Lerman by name) was mentioned on Who Wants to be a Millionaire recently according to a Ray Meduna email

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Here is some additional information about the challenges featured in the Man vs. Food episodes which debuted on December 3:

Big Texan Steak Ranch 72 ounce steak Amarillo, Texas

• BigTexan 72 ounce steak statistics home page
• 72 ounce steak challenge webcam
• List of all finishers 1991-2005 in the eatfeats.com database
• BBC article about the Big Texan Steak Ranch
• Amarillo.com article about Joey Chestnut breaking the Big Texan’s 72 ounce steak record
• News video (without audio) about Joey Chestnut breaking the record
• Former Big Texan record holder Frank Pastore’s blog entry about Joey Chestnut breaking his record. Pastore was a Cincinnati Reds pitcher when he broke the record for the seventh time in 1987 and is now a conservative talk radio host.
• Video clip from 2000 episode of Ripley’s Believe it or not about the Big Texan starring Rich & Carlene LeFevre

Big Foot Lodge Sasquatch Burger Memphis, TN

update Dec 22, 2008 The Big Foot Lodge changed its name to Kooky Canuck and its challenge burger is now called the Kookamunga Challenge to settle a lawsuit with a California restaurant

• The Big Foot Lodge’s page about the challenge
• The Big Foot Lodge’s Hall of Fame and Hall of Shame. Joey Chestnut is the current record holder at 7 minutes 36 seconds. Roger Robinson has completed the challenge 3 times in 2008.
• Memphis Commercial Appeal article about Jeremy Payne becoming the second finisher of the challenge
• Memphis Flyer article about Pat Bertoletti becoming the first person to finish the challenge
• The picture of the burger below was photographed at a ball in Memphis, so it is probably the Sasquatch Challenge burger. According to the photographer, the woman holding the burger completed it.

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(From Kevin Ross email) A web page has been set up for the Travel Channel series Man vs. Food. The program will feature Adam Richman traveling around the country to attempt restaurants’ eating challenges. The first two episodes will be televised on December 3 and the locations will be Amarillo, Texas (Big Texan Steak Ranch) and Memphis (The Big Foot Lodge). A list of all locations is available on the website.

Earlier this year, a producer placed a casting call on eatfeats for a host for the show.

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• Joey Chestnut to appear at Edmonton Oil Kings minor league hockey game on Friday
• Badlands Booker to perform “Mamma Mia” rap before Famous Famiglia pizza contest
• Hall Hunt’s Krystal performance mentioned in jacksonville.com
• Big Texan Steak Ranch to appear on the Travel Channel in December
• Wichita State professor has won a local jalapeno eating contest five times

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Route 66 News reports that a book titled “Story of the Free 72-oz. Steak” about the Big Texan Steak Ranch’s signature meal has been published. The book contains a list of a challenge finishers since 1990. (Records before that year have been lost)
The book is available through mail order.

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The BBC’s website has an article about the 72 ounce steak challenge served at the Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo, Texas:

Americans, of course, are not completely insensitive to those global challenges, and they are not entirely immune to the effects of them either. But it certainly doesn’t look as though the appeal of the steak challenge is flagging. This year has been one of endless bad news for the American economy but the challenge is more popular now than it was last year.

The American appetite for escapism, here at least, outweighs any moral squeamishness people might feel at this grotesque, but compelling, display of excess.

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Amarillo.com has a column about Joey Chestnut breaking the 21 year old record for eating the Big Texan’s 72 ounce steak meal in March. The steakhouse has no plans to start a televised contest despite the fame of its eating challenge.

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• Video of the end of the Apple Ugly eating contest (the trophy was a mounted toilet seat)
• Ian Hickman beats Elizabeth Canady in overtime at Bowie burger contest
• Detailed review of MLE game by Platform Nation
• Skinnyboy eats 8/9 of Big Texan 72 ounce steak
• Gallery of 2008 Philadelphia Nathan’s qualifier
• Picture of Samantha Brown at Italian sausage contest
• MissBusyLady describes her start in competitive eating fandom
• Juris Shibayama sends a letter to the editor about last week’s column (from Crawfish comment)
• Boston hot wing eating contest Thursday
• Donut eating contest in Pittsburgh Friday
• Full results for the Singapore qualifiers on MLE.asia
• Vietnamese sub eating contest in Ho Chi Minh City

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The blog for the Team Emerica skateboarding team reports that several team members attempted the Big Texan 72 ounce steak challenge last night. Danger Ehren from the MTV show Jackass also tried to win a free meal.

Skinnyboy caught the webcast of their attempt last night and has some video captures. He thinks the mohawked diner looks like Pat Bertoletti, but apparently does not eat like him.

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• Charlotte qualifier to take place at Concord Mills Mall parking lot
• Singer/pianist Dr. John competes in a chile pepper eating contest
• Hall of Fame Thurman Thomas to help judge hot dog contest at Watkins Glen
• Video from 2003 Nathan’s finals
• News video of Kansas qualifier captured by Skinnyboy
• Erik Denmark’s Kansas City qualifier report
• Arena Football kicker completes Big Texan 72 ounce steak
  
• Results of Denver hot dog contest qualifier
• Nanticoke PA pierogie eating contest this weekend (date unspecified)
• Steakbellie & sons run in 5K race
• Fake inspirational poster (in the style of despair.com) using a picture of a hot dog eating contest

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(From BaseballThinkFactory) Susan Polgar, the first woman to obtain the rating of chess grandmaster in regular competition, recently dined at the Big Texan and wrote about that restaurant’s signature meal. According to the blog entry, Joey Chestnut was not the first Nathan’s champion to attempt the challenge:

Former Cincinnati Reds Pitcher Frank Pastore did it in a record time of 9 ½ minutes, and held that record for 21 years until Joey Chestnut took the title on March 24, 2008 with a time of 8 minutes and 52 seconds. Another famous person who tried this was Takeru Kobayashi, the six-time hot dog-eating world champion.

It is not clear from the blog entry if Ms. Polgar attempted the 72 ounce steak. She is currently the chess coach at Texas Tech so it was not that long a trip for her. (Picture is from chessphotography)

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Local news video broadcast March 24 on KAMR about Joey Chestnut breaking the Big Texan’s 72 ounce steak record has been posted to youtube.

Andrew “Skinnyboy” Lane has a blog entry and gallery about his attempt at the Big Texan.

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Andrew “Skinnyboy” Lane announces in his blog that he will attempt the Big Texan’s 72 ounce steak at approximately 4:30 pm eastern, which can be viewed on the restaurant’s webcam.

update Skinnyboy reports that he had about 7 ounces of steak remaining along with the potato when an hour elapsed.

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• Eater X & Seaver Miller on the Tyra Banks show
• Kristy Yamaguchi claims to be regional hot dog winner on April 1 “Dancing with the Stars”
• Pat Bertoletti and Damon Serignet and expected Acme Oyster entrants
• Video from Sutter’s Mill burger contest in Albany, NY
• Cincinnati Reds forum thread about Frank Pastore’s Big Texan steak record
• Battle of the Bone Week 3
• Mio “Sakura” Takahashi dines in Hong Kong

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(From anonymous comment) A youtube video of Joey Chestnut setting the Big Texan 72 ounce steak record is available. The video appears to be taken from the Big Texan webcam and lacks audio.

update The 72 ounce steak videos from Joey Chestnut and “Furious” Pete are embedded after the jump
Read the rest of this entry »

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Frank Pastore, former Cincinnati Reds pitcher and current radio talk show host, reports in his blog that Joey Chestnut broke his record for the Big Texan’s 72 ounce steak and side items. Chestnut’s mark was 8 minutes and 52 seconds, breaking Pastore’s 21 year old record of 9 and a half minutes.

update A podcast of Frank Pastore’s appearance on the Hugh Hewitt show is available. Pastore’s segment starts around the 18:50 mark.

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A new show on the Travel Channel called “Food Paradise” has started production by recording trips to the Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo, Texas and the 17th Street Bar & Grill in O’Fallon, Illinois. I am not sure if this is the same show that is currently seeking a host.

In other television news, AICE news reports that a film crew from the History Channel will be present at the burger contest at the Clinton Station Diner on Saturday.

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Curtis Sliwa is not the only competitive eater who works as a talk radio host. Adam “Hungry Hungry Hebrew” Taxin, who will attempt a Wing Bowl stunt competing against a dog on Tuesday, has a one hour radio show on Tuesday afternoon on WNWR. Frank Pastore, who set the Big Texan 72 ounce steak record of 9.5 minutes in 1987, has a Christian talk show in Los Angeles.

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The website for the Big Texan steakhouse now has a webcam pointed at the table reserved for diners who attempt the restaurant’s 72 ounce steak.

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The following names appear three or more times in the database of finisher of the 72 ounce steak from the Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo, Texas. The database is incomplete before 1991 and after early 2005.

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Natsuko Sone is not the only petite Asian “Gal” attempting huge meals. Youtube has a clip of 5’0″ 95 lb. Chinese-Australian Lynette Chiang battling the 72 ounce steak challenge at the Big Texan Steak Ranch while on a Route 66 bicycling tour. She wrote a blog entry about her meal which says that diners ordering the steak must sign a contract saying they will not split the steak inside the restaurant.

There is additional information about her trip, including a DVD documetary for sale, at http://www.galfromdownunder.com/route66 The video clip can be downloaded directly from that website and there is a gallery (Page 1, Page 2, Page 3) of her meal. One of the picture’s captions says a waitress claimed a 110 pound woman ate the steak last week.

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The Big Texan steakhouse in Amarillo, TX, famous for its 72 ounce steak challenge, has updated its website hosted at bigtexan.com. Unfortunately, the online database of steak finishers is no longer available at that URL (It had not been updated since early 2005). The database can still be viewed at http://www.houseofapps.com/bigtexan/view.php

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Thanks to supersizedmeals.com for making video captures of the video clip of the LeFevres at the Big Texan steakhouse.

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