Chosun.com has an article about the decline of mukbang and big eating challenges that opens with the recent retirement announcement of Yuka Kinoshita.

One major reason for mukbang’s decline is the controversy over allegations that mukbang YouTubers secretly spit out or discard food instead of actually eating it. As suspicions arose, some viewers condemned the practice as deceptive, fueling negative public sentiment, especially over food waste. Moreover, while early mukbang content felt fresh, its appeal has faded as countless creators continue to recycle the same formats.

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Madison.com has an article about the choking incident at a Lake Mills, WI hot dog eating contest on February 2. The victim, Tim Vogel, was intoxicated with a blood alcohol level of .32. (Turn off JavaScript to bypass paywall)

Vogel’s ribs, some of which had cracked under the weight of compressions, held lungs filled with fluid, and an oxygen machine was doing at least 60% of his breathing for him, Dorn said. He was coughing up blood.

“I didn’t even know for probably about 15 hours if he was going to make it,” Dorn said.

Once he was conscious and showing signs of improvement, doctors placed Vogel on a temporary liquid diet due to the trauma in his throat; he jokingly lamented that he hadn’t been able to finish his hot dogs.

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NJ Arts has an article about the new documentary, “No One Died: The Wing Bowl Story” which includes an interview with contest co-founder Angelo Cataldi. He discusses the medical personnel (or lack thereof) at the event:

Which was a good thing because, until 2007, the only medical personnel at Wing Bowl was Dr. St. George Hunt, a local veterinarian. “He couldn’t Heimlich anyone,” says Cataldi. “Basically, he neutered cats. I ended up with two of them.”

He laughs. “It was a joke.”

Yes, a big ha-ha, until Ice Cream Man showed up. “A guy came in for an eating stunt. He wanted to eat two gallons of ice cream, and we thought that was cool,” says Cataldi. “So, the guy ate the first gallon of ice cream fine. He was feeling good.”

But a few spoonfuls into the second gallon, his lips started turning blue. “By now, the guy is shivering and he’s moving slower. We ended up calling 911. He was in some physical jeopardy at one point. And that was the day we were told all eating stunts had to be approved by the legal department and that there had to be doctors on duty at the event — things we should have been doing all along.”

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Time Magazine has an article about competitive eating health risks which also offers an update on Tim “Eater X” Janus.

Tim Janus, a 47-year old ex-competitive eater who Metz has studied in scientific research, quit the sport in 2016 after 11 years “out of an abundance of caution” partly based on Metz’s findings about the risks. He was also concerned about the harms of throwing up following competition, a practice that he describes as widespread. “When you’re eating that much food, you can’t digest it all,” he says. “Your stomach is too full to move things along. Throwing up after the contest is a necessary part of the sport.”

Janus tried to collaborate with other pro eaters to share and track their health to better understand the effects of competing, but he couldn’t rally their interest. He’s now a foreign service officer in Mexico City in good health. Most of his former competitors say they’re healthy, too, but he “didn’t want to continue and realize I made a mistake.”

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Takeru Kobayashi is one of four subjects in the new Netflix documentary, “Hack Your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut”. His segment focuses on his inability to feel hunger after a 20 year competitive eating career. He decides to retire from eating contests to improve his gastrointestinal health: (youtube trailer) (transcript)

After analyzing Kobayashi’s poop and also performing other tests, including scanning his brain’s responses to images of different foods, doctors informed him that his microbiome was actually in good shape, but his brain scans were abnormal. This revelation means that getting to the bottom of Kobayashi’s lack of hunger will be more complex, and in order to focus on restoring his health, he’s decided to quit competitive eating. He has “mixed feelings” about it, but after years of ignoring his body’s signals, he’s eager to see if he can repair his gut-brain connection.

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