When asked about Joey Chestnut in an interview for PennLive, Bob Shoudt calls him "highly overrated" and says "It’s time that guy gets knocked down a peg. Hopefully I’m the guy to do it."
NY1 has an article and video of today's weigh-in for Nathan's competitors at City Hall where the women's championship belt debuted. (A picture four females at the weigh-in) update July 2 The New York Daily News has an article and the New York Post has a video of the weigh-in with interviews of Joey Chestnut, Tim Janus, Sonya Thomas and Larell Marie Mele.
The Los Angeles Daily News reports that female winners of Nathan's qualifiers who ate less that 10 hot dogs will not receive all-expenses paid trips to Coney Island for the finals, so Hawthorne, CA qualifier winner Christine Kitchenmaster will not compete.
Sean "Flash" Gordon conducted a wine tasting for Slate.com to determine what type of wine goes best with Nathan's hot dogs.
Michelle "Cardboard Shell" has a report on competing in the Nathan's qualifier at Arizona Mills where she ate 21 hot dogs with no practice. Michelle is raising money for clean water wells at MyCharityWater.org update July 2 AZ Daily Star has an article about Michelle.
Food Republic has an interview with Tim Janus. .
In an article on IFOCE.com, Brian Subich responds to Crazy Legs Conti's comments in a FoodRepublic post about the Concord Mills qualifier.
Ken Hoffman of the Houston Chronicle calls Takeru Kobayashi's refusal to sign the IFOCE contract "union busting".
Patrick Michels has a preview for Grantland.com of the Nathan's womens division containing a history of Sonya Thomas' competitive eating career. The Wall Street Journal also has a preview of the women's contest along with mini-profiles of 14 finalists. Michels says that nine women will compete in the contest leaving two unknowns besides the 6 women to break 10 hot dogs in qualifying and Laura Leu.
The Washington Examiner has a short article about Sonya Thomas' quest to be the first winner of Nathan's female division.
The new poll asks what streak do you think is most likely to end at the 2011 Nathan's finals.
Food Republic has a post by Crazy Legs Conti (via comment) about the Concord Mills qualifier in which he compares his career to Shaquille O'Neal's and an interview with Pat Bertoletti. (Conti claims that the second best remunerated IFOCE member received $40,000 which would make the total earnings for the rest of the IFOCE besides Joey Chestnut ($218,000) $332,000 if George Shea's claim of $600K in total compensation is accurate.)
NewYorker.com has an interview with Luci Gutiérrez showing her illustrations of the Nathan's finals appearing in this week's issue of the magazine.
Johnnie Excel has a report on the Nathan's qualifier held in Hawthorne, CA won by Damon Wells.
Time Out NY has short profiles of 20 competitors (13 men, 7 women) in the 2011 Nathan's finals. (Matt Stonie and Maria "The Incredible Sulk" are missing.) (via Erik Denmark)
Time Out New York has an interview with Takeru Kobayashi about spending the night of July 4, 2010 in jail and his event on July 4 this year. updated with link to original interview
AOL Weird News has an article about the Nathan's women's division with quotes from Larell Marie Mele confirming that the female contest will not be televised on ESPN; live coverage will be available online on ESPN3.
Former Sports Illustrated writer Frank Deford has a column for NPR about Nathan's Famous hot dog eating contest calling it "pornography of sport".
The women's contest at the Nathan's finals may not appear on ESPN. IFOCE.com lists the start time of the female division at 11:30 am eastern and the ESPN broadcast will start at 12 noon eastern. (Grace Lee has planned a watch party, hopefully the women's contest will appear on some channel)
Mickey Duzyj has produced "A Patriot's Guide to the Hot Dog Eating Contest" with graphics inspired by the 1980s video game Mike Tyson's Punch Out.
A press release announces that comedian Nick Cannon will serve as grill master for the Nathan's finals on July 4. The husband of Mariah Carey will also dispense Pepto Bismol to competitors if requested.
Don Sturdy has a profile of Erik "The Red" Denmark.
With Crazy Legs Conti's streak of Nathan's finals stopped at 9, here are the current longest qualification streaks:
- 9 Sonya Thomas
- 7 Joey Chestnut, Tim Janus
- 6 Pat Bertoletti, Erik Denmark, Bob Shoudt
- 5 Tim Brown, Juliet Lee
- 4 Pete Davekos
Don Sturdy has a blog entry about the male competitors in this year's Nathan's finals. update A post about the women's division has been added to Don Sturdy.
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