NineMSN.com.au lists Joey Chestnut's 2011 competitive eating income as $205,000, a $20,000 decrease from 2010. The article also claims that Nathan's contract with ESPN has reportedly been extended to 2017. update Hmm noted the article has been pulled, it is still available in the Google cache. update #2 New link for article on msn.com
Spreadshirt has a line of Kobayashi T-shirts with a Philadelphia theme.
TheScore.com interviews Takeru Kobayashi
TheScore.com has an interview with Takeru Kobayashi (via FreeKobayashi twitter), who has the following things to say about his former organization:
He also says that MLE has a tendency to send packages of eaters to particular events, with an eye towards tilting the balance towards favoured competitors.
“If they want one character to win [a particular contest]… They choose which [other] players are going to go there… and they can prevent other players who actually want be at that contest from going,†Kobayashi said through James.
That said, he’s quite emphatic in stating that he’s not accusing the competitive eating circuit of being fixed, just that the deck is occasionally stacked in favour of certain eaters.
“No, it’s not [fixed], but in their organization, on their terms… it’s close to being that way. They control it the way that they want it.â€
The interview also mentions a thwarted deal with Johnsonville Sausages. (Kobayashi competed in an IFOCE Johnsonville bratwurst contest in 2006.)
“Johnsonville Sausages, for example, contacted Kobi and wanted to work with him… and he wanted to work with them, but he couldn’t,†James says. “They were holding him down, like ‘No… unless they go through us, you can’t work with them,’ which was heinous to him, because he had an agency in Japan that he was with… He didn’t belong to [MLE,] but they came up out of the blue and said ‘We own you, and we’re going to make people sign through us if they want anything to do with you.’â€
The article lists Don Povia of HHR Media Group as Kobayashi’s manager. The HHR stands for HuggingHaroldReyndold.com, which Povia co-founded.
The NY Times small business blog has an entry about grand openings reporting that the total budget for the "Hottest Dog" contest judged by Joey Chestnut at the Banfield Pet Hospital in Brooklyn was $10,000 (Joey Chestnut's appearance fee was not split out.)
Joe Menchetti sets NYC Dumpling Festival record
update 11:15 Ekavet has a flckr gallery. Will Millender has videos of the women’s contest and first heat of the male contest. Feeding the Dragon has a video of the second heat won by Joe Menchetti.
update 2:41 Miss Korea BBQ reports that Joe Menchetti won the men’s contest with a total of 69 dumplings, breaking his record of 66. Will Millender reports that he took 3rd w/ 45 and that Dave Brunelli was runner up with 60. Marcos Owens was 4th with 44.
update 2:30 Floria Lee has repeated as the women’s winner with a total of 37 dumplings.
update 2:20 Will Millender reports that Dave Brunelli is the current leader of the men’s contest with 60 and that Joe Menchetti broke the stairs to the stage, which others confirm.
Today’s eating contest at the NYC Dumpling Festival should start at 2pm. Will Millender reports he is at the contest site along with Joe Menchetti, Mike Longo and Marcos Owens. Floria Lee and Olia Zaitseva will attempt to fill the top two spots in the women’s contest for the third straight year.
The shirt Will Millender is wearing at the contest displaying Mike Longo’s severed head can be purchased online.
Pat Bertoletti & Tim Brown food truck web page
A web page for Pat Bertoletti and Tim Brown’s food truck has been set up at http://www.gluttonforcefive.com/ (Sir Snugglesworth, Partybot and Pink Unicorn are the other team members.) The truck is offering a sandwich eating challenge awarding $500 to a customer that can beat Pat or Tim’s time. A facebook with a picture of the back of the truck and twitter have also been started. (via RJOPhoto)
Minyanville has a video titled The Economics of Competitive Eating which asks Tim Janus and other competitors at the recent Nathan's weigh-in how rising food prices have affected their training.
IFOCE non-compete clause
The non-compete clause in the IFOCE contract appears in the video played at Kobayashi’s event on July 4 at the 3:30 mark and can be viewed after the jump.
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CNN.com has a video titled "Nathan's Marketing Genius" reporting that total sales of Nathan's hot dogs have approximately doubled since 2003.
Bleacher Report believes that the purse for the Nathan's contest should be much greater than the current $20,000.
Ken Hoffman of the Houston Chronicle calls Takeru Kobayashi's refusal to sign the IFOCE contract "union busting".
Business Week has an article about the financial side of competitive eating reporting that Joey Chestnut received over $100,000 from Pepto Bismol. Tim Janus says that he has not earned more than $35,000 in a year and wishes that compensation was distributed more evenly.
Grace Lee is looking for sponsors for her trip to the Nathan's finals.
The Daily has an article about eating challenges attempted by workers in Manhattan's financial district with a quote from former day trader Tim Janus. Ian Roncoroni, an energy options broker, won $3,500 after winning a bet that he could not eat 244 raw oysters.
"Furious" Pete T-shirts with the Peta (People Eating Tasty Animals) logo are available for purchase.
Kobayashi calls IFOCE contract a “slave contract”
AOL Weird News has an article about Takeru Kobayashi being removed from the Nathan’s “Wall of Fame” which includes the following statement from Kobayashi via his translator Maggie James:
By not signing their contract, they will erase you from the wall. They are not deep about the spirit of history. They do as they wish. They are not presenting a contract that protects the league as a whole. They only present individual slave contracts which control each player in their category of value. Nothing protects the sport.
A picture of the old wall with Kobayashi still appears on the Nathan’s Famous facebook page.
DonSturdy.com has started a merchandise page at http://donsturdy.storenvy.com/. One of the available items is a "Food Fighter" shirt for women.
Philly.com reports Wing Bowl 19 has not sold out yet and tickets are available on ComcastTIX.com Jon Squibb says 500 tickets are left.
Boston.com reports that Shaquille O'Neal has joined the Oreo Double Stuf Racing League and competed in a contest at the Prudential Center last night. A mystery competitor nicknamed "The Hooded Menace" will be revealed this weekend.
Patrick Michels wrote a blog entry for the Dallas Observer about the Wingstop wing eating contest containing a quote from George Shea attributing the discrepancy between total contest purses and claimed total compensation to competitors to endorsements and appearance fees.
The investment website Seeking Alpha claims that the intrinsic value of a share of Nathan's Famous stock is over five dollars more than its current market value.
CalorieLab lists Takeru Kobayashi's contract dispute with Major League Eating at #2 in in its list of top 10 Offbeat CalorieLab blog entries of 2010.
The Wall Street Journal reports that George & Rich Shea and Dave Baer have started a bedbug detection business.
DVDs of the second season of Man vs. Food is available for purchase today.
The new poll asks how many of the current IFOCE top 50 do you think have done non-IFOCE contests or challenges without approval after signing their IFOCE contracts.
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