Updated list of eating / drinking contest deaths
updated Dec 12, 2009
1983 North Carolina Marine dies in donut eating contest at the Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station
1999 Chicago, a 12 year old school girl dies playing “Chubby Bunny” in an unsupervised classroom. The goal of “Chubby Bunny” is to say “Chubby Bunny” after stuffing one’s mouth with as many marshmallows as possible.
2002 Japan, school boy dies in cafeteria after attempting a stunt seen on a televised eating contest.
2004 Canada man dies after choking in chicken wing eating contest held at Regina bar.
2004 Japan, housewife dies in bread eating contest in Fukusaki, Hyogo Prefecture
2006 Canada, woman dies in “Chubby Bunny” contest held at Ontario fair
2007 Sacramento, woman dies of water intoxication after competing in a bladder endurance contest sponsored by a radio station.
2007 India, man (believed to be epileptic) dies from breathing complications in an idli eating contest
2008 Wales, man dies in unplanned post party cupcake contest to use up left over buffet food. Articles about the contest do not make it clear if the contest was a mouth-stuffing contest or a speed eating contest
2008 Taiwan graduate student dies after victory in a steamed bun eating contest
2008 India, engineer at Nokia Siemens of India chokes after making a pastry eating bet at a company party.
2009 Kaliningrad, Russia Boris Isaev chokes in pancake eating contest
2009 Hyderabad, India Bandu Joshi dies after stuffing 6 laddus into his mouth
Of the above 13 deaths, 7 (Russia, India 2007 & 2009, Japan, Regina, Taiwan, North Carolina) occurred in scheduled conventional eating contests. It is not mentioned what medical personnel was on site at those events.
Taiwanese student dies in steamed bun contest
The Taipei Times has sad news about a steamed bun eating contest:
An eating contest at a local university ended in tragedy on Wednesday when a graduate student died after participating in a steamed bun eating competition.
Huang Te-hsiang (黃德祥), dean of the student affairs office of Dayeh University in Changhua, said yesterday that a 23-year-old student, surnamed Chen, from the Graduate Institute of Bioindustry Technology could not stop vomiting and fell unconscious after he began to feel uncomfortable during the school’s eating competition on Wednesday.
update ETaiwanNews has more information. An autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death.
Eating / Drinking contest deaths
Here is a list of all the deaths in eating/drinking contests I am aware of:
1999 Chicago, a 12 year old school girl dies playing “Chubby Bunny” in an unsupervised classroom. The goal of “Chubby Bunny” is to say “Chubby Bunny” after stuffing one’s mouth with as many marshmallows as possible.
2002 Japan, school boy dies in cafeteria after attempting a stunt seen on a televised eating contest.
2004 Canada man dies after choking in chicken wing eating contest held at Regina bar.
2004 Japan, housewife dies in bread eating contest in Fukusaki, Hyogo Prefecture
2006 Canada, woman dies in “Chubby Bunny” contest held at Ontario fair
2007 Sacramento, woman dies of water intoxication after competing in a bladder endurance contest sponsored by a radio station.
2007 India, man (believed to be epileptic) dies from breathing complications in an idli eating contest
2008 Wales, man dies in unplanned post party cupcake contest to use up left over buffet food. Articles about the contest do not make it clear if the contest was a mouth-stuffing contest or a speed eating contest
Of the above 7 deaths, 3 (India, Japan, Regina) occurred in scheduled conventional eating contests. It is not mentioned what medical personnel was on site at those events.
Man dies in unplanned Welsh cake contest
The Daily Mail reports that Adam Deely died after getting five fairy cakes lodged in his throat in a cake eating contest at the at the Monkey Cafe in Swansea, South Wales. The competition was not medically supervised or even planned; it was held after a party concluded and guests decided to clean out uneaten food left over from a buffet spread.
Death in Indian eating contest
newindpress.com reports that Sridhar, son of Shanmugham, a 29 year old from a village near Sathyamangalam in Erode district died from breathing complications after eating 20 rice cakes in an idli eating competition. Sridhar is believe to be an epilepsy patient.
10 employees fired following water drinking contest death
mercurynews.com reports that KDND fired 10 employees, including the three DJs who presided over the water drinking contest in which Jennifer Lea Strange died after drinking approximately 2 gallons of water.
startribune.com has more details about the contest including reports that the DJs were warned of the risks of the contest by a caller:
About two hours into the contest, a woman who identified herself as Eva called the show. She warned the hosts that “those people that are drinking all that water can get sick and possibly die from water intoxication.”
One host replied that “we’re aware of that.” Another said the contestants had signed releases, “so we’re not responsible.”
“And if they get to the point where they have to throw up, then they’re going to throw up and they’re out of the contest before they die, so that’s good, right?” one host said. One of the hosts then asked a DJ stationed in the kitchen with the contestants, “Is anybody dying in there?”
“We got a guy who’s just about to die,” he said.
“Make sure he signs the release,” the host replied.
Woman dies in bladder endurance contest
(Thanks Brian Subich) MSNBC.com reports that a woman died after competing in a contest in Sacramento where the objective was to avoid going to the bathroom while drinking a 8 ounce bottle of water every 15 minutes. The winner would receive a Nintendo Wii.
Slashfood thread about “Chubby Bunny” fatality
(Thanks Brian Seiken) Slashfood has a post with currently 100 comments about the death in the “Chubby Bunny” marshmallow stuffing contest in Canada last week.
Ontario woman who choked on marshmallow dies
The London (Ontario, Canada) Free Press reports that a woman who was in critical condition after choking on a marshmallow at the Western fair died. The woman was participating in a contest in which the objective was to stuff as many marshmallows as possible into one’s mouth and then say the words “Chubby bunny” The woman’s family did not release her name.
Updated 1:56 am The Globe and Mail has a long article about the death which includes the woman’s name. The “Chubby Bunny” game killed a 12 year old schoolgirl in Illinois in 1999.
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