AICE has updated their rankings (only the top 23 have been changed, #24 and below are exactly the same as the October rankings) and eaters to watch with profiles of Michael “The Mongoose” Dodd and Angela Michaud. Ms. Michaud was the only female to crack the top 3 of an IFOCE or AICE event in 2005 (at last month’s hot dog contest in Ontario) other than Sonya Thomas and Carlene LeFevre and she will compete in tommorow’s latke contest in Long Island. There is also a profile of Joel “The Cannon” Podelsky from the New Jersey Jewish News.

Joe Menchetti will not appear at the latke contest (he will be reselling tickets for the UConn-UNH game) or the zucchini contest next month and casts doubt on whether he will compete in any AICE event in the future.

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New York Magazine has a short preview of Wednesday’s goldenpalace.com turkey contest in New York City.

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(From IFOCE.com) Kobayashi weighed in at 172 pounds. His added mass is surprising as he blamed increasing his weight to the 140s from the 130s last year for his not breaking the record at Nathan’s in 2005. Kobayashi’s weight increase makes Sonya Thomas the world’s greatest eater pound for pound by a considerable margin.

A third wild card slot was added to the field, enabling Hall Hunt to compete. Jane magazine writer Claudine Ko will also appear thanks to a sponsor’s exemption.

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The Boston Herald has a preview of Saturday’s Verizon VoiceWing Buffalo Wings finals consisting mainly of “bib sheets” for Joey Chestnut, “Badlands” Booker and “Crazy Legs” Conti. Conti’s appearance implies that Kevin Lipsitz has definitely vacated his spot for Conti since Conti finished in the sixth position in the DC qualifier and only the top five will advance.

Updated 11/12 12:48 pm – The Boston Globe has an interview with Rich LeFevre about the contest (No questions about Carlene’s status are asked)

The expected contestants for the contest are
Seattle (Everett, WA) qualifiers:
1. Joey Chestnut, 4.5 lb.
2. Eric “Badlands” Booker, 3.6 lb.
3. “Humble” Bob Shoudt 3.5 lb.
4. Patrick Bertoletti 2.93 lb.
5. Jason “The Erbivore” Erb 2.9 lb.

San Francisco qualifiers:
1. Rich LeFevre 4.92 lb won in double OT
2. Cookie Jarvis 4.92 lb lost in double OT
3.-5. ? (Does anyone know who else qualified)

DC (Bethesda, MD) qualifiers:
1. Sonya Thomas, 5.75 lb
2. Tim “Eater X” Janus, 4.0 lb
3. “Krazy” Kevin Lipsitz, 3.85 lb
4T. “Big” Brian Subich, 3.2 lb
4T. Chip Simpson, 3.2 lb
6. “Crazy Legs” Conti, 2.9 lb. (will appear due to Lipsitz missing)

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November is appearing to shape up as an exciting month in competitive eating. The action will begin the first day of the month with the Smirnoff Twisted V Wild Grape World Grape Eating Championship at Grand Central Station in New York City. Most of the top eaters from the northeast are expected to attend including Badlands Booker, Cookie Jarvis and Tim Janus. No word on whether Sonya Thomas will compete, but the $2,000 first prize would apparently make it worth her while to appear.

On November 12, the finals for the Verizon Voicewing Buffalo wing contest will be held in Boston in which the top five finishers from the three regionals will appear. Sonya Thomas and Joey Chestnut will face off for the first time since their series of four epic contests held over August and Labor Day weekend. While Sonya bested Joey Chestnut’s mark from the qualifying round by more than a pound, comparing results from the qualifiers is difficult since each sportsbar hosting the contests apparently used their own recipe for Buffalo wings.

One week later, the Krystal Square Off finals will be held in Chattanooga in which Kobayashi will defend his title from 2004 and face Sonya Thomas, Joey Chestnut and other top eaters. It is conceivable that the Tsunami could be vanquished if he does not bring his A game as a result of Joey Chestnut’s meteoric rise and Sonya Thomas’ steady improvement. If Joey Chestnut beats Sonya in this contest and the Verizon wings final, he can make a legitamite claim to being the top American eater.

In addition to the scheduled contests, the finals for the GoldenPalace.com grilled cheese contests are expected to be held at an currently undetermined date and place.

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gazette.net has a preview of Saturday’s Verizon voicewing qualifier which will be held in Bethesda on Saturday containing brief interviews of Sonya Thomas and Tim Janus. Sonya self-confidence does not seem to be affected by her recent struggles with Joey Chestnut.

Bethesda is also the home of the National Institute of Mental Health. Determining which, if any, of the entrants should check into the institute after the contest will be left as an exercise for the reader.

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The site for the DC Verizon VoiceWing qualifier has been set at Union Jack’s British Pub in Bethesda, MD. Sonya Thomas will make her first contest appearance since Labor Day weekend. “Beautiful” Brian Seiken also expects that he, Pat Philbin, Don “Moses” Lerman, “Big” Brian Subich, “Krazy” Kevin Lipsitz, Tim”Eater X” Janus and Allen “Shredder” Goldstein will compete, giving the contest the most ranked IFOCE members since the US Open in July. Philbin will begin his campaign to win Wing Bowl 14.

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The Arizona Republic as a preview of Friday’s grilled cheese contest focusing on two local eaters.

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WLTX has a video of ultramarathoner/competitive eater Ray Krolewicz competing against one of its anchors.

The Durham Herald sun has a general preview of the fair mentioning that Joe LaRue will attend the grilled cheese contest.

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The San Jose Mercury has an interview about Cookie Jarvis in conjunction with the Verizon Voice Wing chicken wing contest to be held Saturday. The contest will be held at the Hyatt at Fisherman’s Wharf, which seems a more apt location for a seafood eating contest.

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This column by G. D. Gearino at newsobserver.com laments the replacement of last year’s sweet potato contest at the NC State Fair with a grilled cheese qualifier.

This article profiles an ultramarathoner, Ray Krolewicz, who plans to compete in the South Carolina State fair grilled cheese qualifier and then run a 50K (31 mile) race the next day.

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The Seattle Times has a preview of Saturday’s Verizon VoiceWing chicken wing qualifier focusing on expected entrants Joey Chestnut and Eric “Badlands” Booker. The training methods of both competitiors are described. The article incorrectly states that Booker holds the Buffalo Wing Festival contest record (which was set by Sonya Thomas in 2004). It is surprising that Joey Chestnut would make the trip north when he has a qualifying contest in his hometown in two weeks. “Humble” Bob Shoudt states on his website that he and Patrick Bertoletti are also planning to compete. The top five competitors in the three qualifiers (also in SF and DC) will make the finals in Boston.

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Friday September 16, Cannoli Eating Championship, Little Italy, NYC
Eric “Badlands” Booker will defend his title. Brian Subich will also compete. The Black Widow might want to avenge her defeat to Booker at the Buffalo wing contest, but no mention of this contest is on her website. I am not sure what prizes, if any, will be awarded for this contest.

(Updated 9/15 10:41 pm) NY1 has a video of a previous cannoli contest and a short article

Saturday September 17, GoldenPalace.com Grilled Cheese qualifier, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma State fair
There might be a possibility for a lower ranked eater to reach the finals at this contest because I am not sure if any top-ranked eaters will attend.

Sunday September 18, Krystal Square Off qualifier Gwinnett County Fair, (North Atlanta, GA)
The IFOCE returns to the suburbs of North Atlanta for the second time in two weeks. Tim Janus will compete. Will he have another breakthrough technique like he did at the Nebraska Grilled Cheese contest?

Sunday September 18, GoldenPalace.com Grilled Cheese qualifier, Salt Lake City, Utah State Fair
Brian Subich will compete in this contest. Carlene LeFevre would probably enter if she was not recuperating from her hospital stay.

(Updated 9/15 10:52 pm) Salt Lake City Weekly has a preview of the contest focusing on Brian Subich

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The Buffalo News promotes this weekend’s Wing Festival. No new information is provided about the eating contests.

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The Atlanta Journal Constitution has a short preview of Sunday’s Waffle House World Waffle Eating Championship. The contest will be 10 minutes long. Sonya Thomas is the only listed expected entrant.

With $5,000 for first place, it might make financial sense for Kobayashi to put the “world” in World Waffle Eating Championship, as that prize could pay for a transpacific flight and have a considerable amount left over.

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The Buffalo Wing Festival has the expected entrants list for Saturday’s Buffalo wing contest. Most of the top IFOCE members from the northeast will attend, but Joe LaRue is the only competitor listed from outside that region. I am not sure if that is the final list or if other eaters might show up. No information is available about Sunday’s buffet contest, but I assume that some gurgitators will hang around for that event. Brian Subich is back from a two week hiatus with additional information about the wing contest.

Sonya Thomas appears to have a quite stern challenge preserving her almost seven-month non-Kobayashi winning streak this holiday weekend when she competes in three contests in three different cities. First she will match up with Tim Janus coming off a record smashing performance in grilled cheese along with a resurgent Cookie Jarvis in Buffalo and then face a rested Joey Chestnut in waffles in Atlanta Sunday. On labor day in Chattanooga she will face off with Joey Chestnut again in the Krystal burger qualifier.

(Thanks Sonya for the website compliment on sonyatheblackwidow.com)

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The Fremont Tribune has a preview of Saturday’s Grilled Cheese contest at the Nebraska State Fair, focusing on Mike Nafziger, who finished 5th at last Sunday’s smoked pork contest. It does not mention if any top ranked IFOCE members are expected. It also says that the grilled cheese finals will be held in Los Angeles.

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Articles mentioning the (Camden) New Jersey Tomato Festival Pizza Contest

• nj.com 8/19
• nj.com 8/20
• northjersey.com
• philly.com

There will also be a tomato throwing contest. Perhaps teams of IFOCE members and AICE members could compete in that.

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delawareonline.com has a preview of tomorrow’s crabcake contest. Sonya Thomas hopes to consume 50 3 ounce crabcakes in 12 minutes, which will contain 6,603 calories. Sonya says she will practice eating crabcakes before the contest, which I do not think she did with bratwurst. There is also some information about what Sonya experiences post-contest.

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The expected roster for the Smoked Pork Eating Championship at the Bluffs Run Casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa has been released. The LeFevres are expected to attend and will face a less than overwhelming lineup. Fast-rising Patrick Bertoletti, who beat Carlene at the Chicago pizza championship, will probably be the Lefevre’s sternest challenge. Kevin Carr is the only other ranked IFOCE member competing. Several unranked IFOCE members from the east will appear, which is surprising since there are three other closer contests they could enter. The cancellation of the Saratoga Nathan’s qualifier might improve the field.

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The Buffalo News has a preview of the Chicken Wing Festival to be held at Buffalo’s minor league stadium Labor Day weekend. There will be a wing eating contest Saturday of that weekend in which Sonya Thomas will attempt to break her record of 161 wings in twelve minutes. There will also be a buffet contest on Sunday, but since it just pays out $500 to the winner, Sonya and the other top eaters might opt for the waffle contest in Atlanta, which will pay out $5,000 to the victor.

If Sonya enters two contests Labor Day weekend, she will appear in twelve contests between the 4th of July and Labor Day if each round of the US Open is counted as a separate contest. This is a considerable increase from her planned goal of 12 to 18 contests a year which is found in her website’s FAQ.

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The Delaware State News has a preview of Sunday’s crabcake contest at the Delaware Slots online with some quotes from Sonya Thomas. Sonya states she lived in Georgetown, Delaware in 1996 and managed a Burger King there so the contest will be something of a homecoming to her.

Joey Chestnut states he will travel across the country to compete, setting up the possibility of a repeat of the dramatic finish at the bratwurst contest in Wisconsin. The URL for Joey’s upcoming website will be futureofeating.com. We will see on Sunday if the future starts August 21.

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The World Lobster Eating Festival, to be held in Kennebunkport, Maine on August 13, has updated its website for 2005. A photo gallery of the 2004 competition is online. Entrants in the lobster eating competition include Sonya Thomas, Cookie Jarvis, Badlands Booker (Booker will rap from his new CD) and Crazy Legs Conti. The entrants page has not been updated from before the 2004 contest and lists Kevin Cross as the record holder. No major western eaters are listed as competing, which is understandable considering the difficulty travelling to Maine from the West Coast. Competitors will attempt to break Sonya’s record of 9.76 pounds (equivalent to 38 lobsters) in 12 minutes set last year.

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The Sheboygan Press has an article about the Johnsonville Bratwurst contest in which Sonya Thomas will compete in on Saturday. There are a few quotes in the article, one in which Sonya claims that big guys still doubt her capabilities.

This will be the third type of sausage that Sonya has eaten competitively in a little over two months. She ate Vienna sausauges in Charlotte in late May and hot dogs at Nathan’s on July 4.

The only other top eater listed as having committed to the bratwurst contest is Tim Janus, setting up a rematch of the US Open semifinal.

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signonsandiego.com has an article promoting Sonya Thomas’ appearance in a grilled cheese sandwich contest at the minor league Surf Dawgs game Wednesday. There is not really any new information in the article. Sonya will attempt to break her record of 25 sandwiches in 10 minutes which she set in Venice Beach in February. There will be 15 (!) grilled cheese sandwich contests in the circuit, the next one located in South Dakota next week. If there are no limits on the number of contests an eater can enter, Sonya could really rack up some frequent flyer miles going to grilled cheese sandwich contests. All time leading run-scorer and base stealer Rickey Henderson plays for the Surf Dawgs, so if there was a Hall of Fame for competitive eating there would be two future Hall of Famers at the Surf Dawgs stadium Wednesday.

Pictures of Sonya and Carlene LeFevre at the last grilled cheese contest can be found at:
http://www.virginmarygrilledcheese.com/welcome.php?pf=%2Fstory_eating_contest.php

ESPN.com takes note of the US Open two days after it is televised in this column which solely consists of praise for Kobayashi.

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