WTKR has a preview of Saturday’s Nathan’s qualifier at the MacArthur Center in Norfolk, VA which reports that Sonya Thomas is expected to compete. No other entrants are listed. The article says that truncating the qualifier to 10 minutes could work in Sonya’s favor.

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The New York Daily News reports that 2005 and 2006 Brooklyn pizza champion Will Millender, who appeared on the weight loss reality show “Fat March”, will attempt to regain his title today from the 2007 winner Salvatore Carbone. Millender’s current weight is listed at 375 pounds.

update Results from WCBS

1. Salvatore Carbone just over 15 slices
2. Will Millender 12.25 slices

update #2 Jill Stoler attended the contest as a spectator and NY1 has an article with video Joel Podelsky was third.

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HoumaToday.com has an article about James Howell preparing for the June 7 Nathan’s qualifier in New Orleans by eating hot dogs at Big Eddie’s Café. The article has the following information about the field for that contest:

The Metairie competition pits Howell against eight other Louisiana residents as well as sport eaters from Alabama, Florida, Texas, Ohio, Tennessee and New York, Reed said. The contest includes first-time sport eaters like Howell as well as experienced competitive eaters like Juris “Dr. Bigtime” Shibayama of Murfreesboro, Tenn.

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I have not been able to find any information online about Saturday’s Kansas City area Nathan’s qualifier, but commenter ticate Munito says an article about the contest appeared in the Overland Park, KS newspaper and listed expected entrants as Pat Bruss, Erik Denmark, Chris Abatsas, Andrew Lane and Jason Erb.

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AZReporter has a preview of Saturday’s Nathan’s qualifier at Arizona Mills Mall in Tempe. The field is listed as: Tim Brown, Erik Denmark, Kevin Ross, El Toro, Russ “The Mad Stork” Witzke, Jesus Cabrales, David “Conan” Cohn and Wallace “Bye Bye” Beisel. The article contains the following prediction:

Richard Shea, president of Major League Eating, the group that governs the Nathan’s Famous contest circuit, said: “I believe an unknown eating champion is walking the streets of Hartford, a champion who possesses the pride of Connecticut and the stomach capacity required to set a new world hot dog eating record.”

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Pizza Marketing Quarterly has a press release about Saturday’s contest at Three Brothers Pizza in Greenbelt, Maryland. There will be no amateur competition this year; the undercard will consist of a contest between two local high schools. Pat Bertoletti, Tim Janus, Bob Shoudt, Sonya Thomas, Juliet Lee and 13 unnamed professionals are listed as expected entrants. There will also be an autograph session for eaters along with a pizza tossing exhibition.

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The blog for Philly Burbs has a preview of Saturday’s Nathan’s qualifier that will be held at the Independence Hall Visitors Center. “Humble” Bob Shoudt, Russ Keeler, Pete Miernicki are listed as expected competitors along with the husband and wife team of Olivia and Reginald Pascual. If Sonya Thomas does not compete, it would break a two year winning streak at the Philadelphia Nathan’s qualifier.

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The East Hartford Gazette has a preview of tomorrow’s Nathan’s qualifier. The listed expected entrants are Arturo Rios, Russ Keeler, Pete Davekos and “Hungry” Heather Breslin.

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The date of the 2008 Shoo Fly Pie contest was announced as June 21 and some calendars still list that event, but the contest website says that no contest is currently scheduled.

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107.7 FM will sponsor a hot dog eating contest and a pasta eating contest in Brunswick, GA on May 17. Both contests will have $1,000 prizes. Call the radio station starting May 12 to obtain one of the 10 slots for each contest.

(From the Hangman, who will serve as a guest judge)

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A press release on gonintendo.com announces that a watermelon eating contest between Tim Janus and Crazy Legs Conti will take place at the Nintendo World Store at Rockefeller Center in New York City on May 20.

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The web site for the Hot Dog Safari announces that a hot dog eating contest between Crazy Legs Conti and two couples will take place at that event on June 1 at Suffolk Downs in suburban Boston. The entry form states that the couple must be married or engaged and that the accepted pairs will be notified by May 15. The winner will receive $1000 in gift certificates, the loser will receive $500 in gift certificates.

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A press release announces that the five recently added Nathan’s qualifiers will take place at Sam’s Clubs to promote the addition of Nathan’s hot dogs to the menu of Sam’s Clubs’ in store restaurants.

May 17 Chicago
May 24 Pittsburgh
May 31 Overland Park, KS (Kansas City)
June 4 New Orleans
June 21 Dallas

In additional upcoming contest news, the IFOCE strawberry shortcake eating contest returns to Mattituck, NY on June 15. Registration opens tomorrow at noon eastern (from the Sicilian)

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BeautifulBrian.com has a preview of today’s Nathan’s qualifier focusing on Ron Koch’s comeback to face his rival Rich LeFevre.

The Las Vegas Review Journal also has a short preview which says that LeFevre and Koch will compete. It says nothing about Joey Chestnut.

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(from Hangman comment) An IFOCE gyro eating contest sponsored by Niko Niko’s Greek American Restaurant will take place at the Festival of Greece in Houston, TX on May 17. The purse is $4000 and registration opens on Monday April 28 at noon eastern.

Results from Broadway at the Beach have yet to be posted on IFOCE.com. Beautiful Brian speculates that the lack of coverage could be due to dissatisfaction with Badlands Booker’s comeback.

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RecordNet.com has an article about Saturday’s eating contest at the Stockton Asparagus Festival.

Erik Denmark announces in a blog entry that he will be competing in the contest. This makes the known field:

Joey Chestnut
Pat Bertoletti
Erik Denmark
Juris Shibayama
Nathan Biller (from comment)
Eric Louie (reporter)

Other possible entrants:
Rich LeFevre
Kevin Ross
Jason Erb
Shawn Kirby
El Toro

Deadspin has a post about Joey & Pat’s new blog.

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Bruce “the Hangman” Pobanz has emailed a potential roster for Saturday’s contest at Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach, SC.

Juliet Lee
Eric “Badlands” Booker
“Super” Paul Barlow
Bruce “The Hangman” Pobanz
“Nasty” Nate Biller
“Beautiful” Brian Seiken
Dave “US Male” Goldstein
Rick Petralia

possible
Micah “Wing Kong” Collins
Arturo “The Natural” Rios

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(From comment) The third 3 Brothers Pizza eating contest will take place in Greenbelt, Maryland on May 31. Registration will open on April 11. The previous two contests took place in August.

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(From Bruce “The Hangman” Pobanz) Some information about Saturday’s oyster eating contest is available on acmeoyster.com (no direct link, click on contest, then “oyster eating”) The contest will begin at noon at the French Market.

There is also a link to a contest entry form, but it appears to be for the 2005 contest.

update from SykoBozo (who will also be competing) comment – NewOrleansMagazine.com has a possible field:

Nipping at Bertoletti’s heels will be Eater X, a face-painting burrito champ out of New York City’s who is ranked #4 in the world. Also competing is Crazy Legs Conti who is perhaps best known for launching his eating career by winning the first Acme World Oyster Eating Championships in 2002. Baltimore’s Julie Lee (ranked 10th), Seattle’s Erik “The Red” Denmark (ranked 12th), Chicago’s Gravy Brown (15th) and Birmingham’s Chip Simpson (ranked 6th) will also compete.

Louisiana’s top eater, Damon Serignet of Baton Rouge, has promised to defend the honor of the Pelican State in this competition.

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AICE News reports that the even-year Carnegie Deli pickle eating contest will take place on May 21.

PressConnects.com reports that Joe LaRue will attempt to defend his pancake eating title in Marathon, NY on April 5.

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Registration is now listed as closed for all four April contests on the IFOCE calendar. The purse for the Acme Oyster contest is announced at $1750.

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A spaghetti eating contest will be held at the Italian Festival of Mississippi on Saturday in Cleveland, MS. The first prize is $1000 and the entrance fee is $50. Applications are accepted on a first come, first serve basis.

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(From Domenico Alesi comment) An oyster eating contest at the Acme Oyster House in New Orleans has been added to the IFOCE schedule on April 12. Registration opens Thursday and prizes have yet to be determined.

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The contest schedule at IFOCE.com announces that this year’s edition of the eating contest held at Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach, SC will take place on April 19. The purse is $500 and registration starts “Wednesday, March 10” (which probably means March 12, registration is not currently available). The announcement says there is a possibility that the five traditional rounds could be fused into a single round with five different types of food.

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InsideBayArea.com reports that Pat Bertoletti will attempt to block Joey Chestnut’s quest to “four-peat” the deep fried asparagus eating contest held at the Stockton Asparagus Festival. This will be their third meeting this year. Joey currently has a 4 contest winning streak against Pat, who had a 4 contest streak prior to Joey’s streak.

Pat Bertoletti has a jalapeno contest and Escoffier Dinner report in his myspace blog. A gallery of that contest is also available (from a Pat Bertoletti comment)

A full list of Chestnut vs. Bertoletti matchups since the start of 2007 is available after the jump:
Read the rest of this entry »

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