There will be a new competitive eating video game released in time for the Nathan’s finals. Page 2 on ESPN.com has a flash based game which involves clicking and dragging hot dogs moving at variable speed into an eater’s mouth.

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EDave.com has a page about the bacon eating contest between “Super” Paul Barlow and Loren “Bubba” Yarbrough tomorrow morning on the Zakk Tyler show.

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Wiiware-World.com reports that this week’s new download for the Wii will be the marble game, Magnetica Twist, making July 7 the earliest possible release date for the Major League Eating video game.

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There are two short competitive eating articles in current magazine issues. I do not believe either article is online:

1. Maxim has a mini profile of Joey Chestnut in the notes section at the start of the magazine
2. National Geographic has an article about Coney Island which mentions Nathan’s hot dog contest

update Skinnyboy has a scan of the National Geographic article

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According to Zap2It.com, ESPN’s telecast of the 2008 Nathan’s finals will rerun immediately after the original program. This will be the only additional showing in the week following July 4.

The 2007 Nathan’s finals were rerun 7 times between July 4 and July 12.

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The eating contest held at the Collegiate Nationals in San Diego in April will be rerun on CSTV tonight at 10 pm (all times eastern) and also the following dates and times:

Wed 6/25 7:00 PM
Fri 6/27 11:00 PM
Sat 6/28 5:00 AM

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The blog for Penn Live has an entry about the movie “Nacho Mountain”. Filming locations are currently being scouted in the Lehigh Valley. The film’s IMDB page lists Joey Chestnut, who will be performing as himself, as one of the stars. The release year is projected as 2009. Producer Dan Maher gives the following description of the plot:

He describes it as a quirky comedy about a fellow named Keefer who starts an underground food-eating competition. “When the town’s health-crazed mayor threatens to shut the tournament down, Keefer and his buddies fight to keep the contests going,” Maher explains.

A PG-13 rated teaser (probably NSFW) is available on youtube and a page for the movie has the following casting call:

NOW ACCEPTING HEADSHOTS AND PICTURES OF ANYBODY IN LEHIGH VALLEY WANTING TO PLAY EXTRAS, OR FILL CHARACTER ROLES! PLUS SIZES ARE GOOD, OBESE IS GREAT. ANy deformities (missing limbs, little people, etc.) are guaranteed screen time.

A craigslist posting has additional job information and says that principal photography will take place from July 21 to 27.

update The star of the movie, Jay Larson, has a page on ComedyCentral.com

A movie poster can be seen on the movie’s myspace page

The lead female role has yet to be cast

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(Via Deadspin) A website for the G4 Network’s competitive vomiting deferral show, Hurl has been set up. A trailer and gallery are available. The show will debut on July 15.

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Zap2It’s schedule for ESPN now has information about its broadcast of the 2008 Nathan’s finals. As in previous years, the programming will start at noon eastern and last an hour. The program will be rerun immediately after it concludes.

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A listener to yesterday’s Steve Dahl show called in about AMC’s showing of “Stand By Me” with on screen trivia:

6:25 Caller Ken thinks he has something to cheer Patrick up with. He was flipping through channels and came across Stand by Me. It was an enhanced version that featured trivia flashing on the screen, because the regular movie isn’t good enough?
6:26 During the pie eating scene they put up an explanation of how Anthony “Deep Dish” Bertatelli widens his esophagus for competition. Did they really call him Anthony Bertatelli or does Ken just have the name wrong?

Steve Dahl mentions the possibility of unionizing competitive eating after Pat says he has yet to receive the $500 fee from the Major League Eating video game.

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• July 12 Fort Wayne, IN hot dog eating contest, $850 purse ($500 first place), 3 qualifiers, $10 entrance fee
• 15 second podcast about the Dover, DE BBQ sandwich contest
• Video of Crazy Legs Conti and Tim Janus playing the MLE video game
• Video from 2001 Nathan’s finals
• Video of Stevens Point, WI pizza challenge, $500 prize for finishing

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Kotaku reports that this week’s new downloadable games for the Wii are My Pokemon Ranch, a port of the 1980s arcade game Dig Dug and Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa, a less famous game from two decades ago. There are three more possible Monday release dates for the Major League Eating WiiWare game before the Nathan’s finals.

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Gal Sone had a book signing in Tokyo for her autobiography today and she has a blog entry about the appearance. Tomorrow, she will sign autographs in Osaka. The autobiography is currently #131 on the amazon.co.jp rankings (The Japanese translation of the final Harry Potter book, which will be released next month, is #1)

Tomoko Miyake’s book of photographs is now available for preorder on Amazon of Japan. The release date is June 28.

update June 9 Gal Sone’s book is currently ranked #97 on Amazon of Japan, which place it on the bestseller list. A screen capture has been uploaded (click the thumbnail below).

Gal Sone’s blog has a report about today’s Osaka book signing

Yama3 went to the Tokyo autograph session.

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(from Steakbellie comment) The Onion has an article about a competitive eater who gets banned from the IFOCE after throwing a mayonnaise eating contest and has to resort to winning impromptu unsanctioned contests. The picture used for the article is from the Trip Rewards wing eating contest last year.

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A German novel about the 2001 Nathan’s contest was released last year. The book is titled Die Wetteser (The Competitive Eaters). The novel has the following description on amazon.de (automatically translated)

4 July 2001 was the day, which umstürzte the world of the meal: Takeru Kobayashi, schmächtiger Japanese, plugged in 12 minutes of more Hot Dogs in itself inside than ever humans before it and humiliated with it, just at the independence day, its American competitor. OD Krachie, “the animal”, a white automobile engineer, and Charles Hardy, “the hungry one”, a black improvement officer, two simply knitted Kolosse, both sunk in self-pity and hate on their Japanese opponents: Kazutoyo Arai, “the hare”, a complacent medium star, and Kobayashi, “the prince”, a good-looking Dandy. While for these four men the Hot Dog Wettessen is the most normal thing of the world, Sandra and their clique can imagine hardly something Perverseres. As radical Veganer they fight to spread their message from the animal-suffering-free life to. With the world championship of the meal before Nathan’s nearly Food restaurants hit these two worlds finally one on the other. The Wettesser tells embittered competition, of love in hostile times, of records, low impacts, of counter and other worlds, of strange alliances – and of the normality of the insanity.

LiteraturHaus also has a review

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• Short preview of New Orleans qualifier: Juris “Dr. Bigtime” Shibayama, Chris MacVicar and Steve Ulness are expected
• Final batch of bios for MLE game characters – also includes profile of bunnette and paramedic. Juliet Lee’s nickname is listed as “The Lovely”
• End of school year White Castle eating contest for Kentucky teachers. Joey Chestnut is listed as the White Castle record holder
• Pancake contest for Cincinnati area high school students – contest video
• Eating contest from Hey Arnold cartoon (Kobayashi has called Hey Arnold his favorite American TV show
• Tomoko Miyake videos on yahoo: at the department store buffet promo, wearing bikinis with friends, eating big burgers with friends

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(from Nate Biller) The latest episode of A Shot of Love with Tila Tequila had a hot dog consumption contest. Labeling eaters who do not adhere to picnic style rules “food drinkers” was not an exaggeration in this competition:

The next day, everyone is chilling poolside when TT comes out of the house with another challenge: a hot dog eating contest. But there’s a twist! Because Bo’s jaw is still recovering, he’s had to eat virtually all his food blended. Well, “what’s good enough for Bo is good enough for everyone,” according to TT, and she begins blending a disgusting concoction of bread, hot dogs, relish, ketchup, and mustard. According to Jay it looked like Tila had eaten something, thrown it up, and then said, “here! have some!”

From May in the Bay

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The episode of “Without a Trace” in which a competitive eater disappears after winning a chili eating contest will air tonight on CBS at 10 pm.

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Pat Bertoletti visited Steve Dahl’s radio show this morning. Pat’s appearance was recorded and will appear on the Food Network in an upcoming episode of Roker on the Road.

The two competitive eating organizations might face competition from an unlikely source:

8:05 And then last year he raised his game up and came in 3rd place, officially. He should have come in second place because Kobayashi should have been disqualified for puking.
8:06 Steve can’t believe the IFOCE didn’t step in and overrule it and give Patrick second place. They should do that if they are any sort of legislative body.
8:07 Every time Steve talks to Patrick he wants to start up his own competitive eating league. He would be much stricter about policing it and he wouldn’t allow foreigners. Let’s keep it in America where competitive eating started with the blueberry pie contest.

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The next press release for the Major League Eating video game is now available and contains mini-biographies of four of the game characters. El Toro’s career has the following synopsis:

El Toro has a big mouth, although it doesn’t seem to serve him well in competition. Fond of extravagant claims, personal attacks on other eaters and all sorts of theatrics, he is usually at the bottom of the pack at the end of any given contest. Other eaters see him as abrasive, offensive, and void of talent. He does, however, contribute to the sport by setting an example of what not do

A video from the watermelon contest promoting the MLE game containing an interview with Badlands Booker was also released today.

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WiiWare World has uploaded a new trailer of the Major League Eating video game to youtube.

Filefront has a video of people playtesting the game at Tuesday’s promotional event at Rockefeller Center. The blog entry says the game will be released in early June.

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Gal Sone’s autobiography is now available for preorder on Amazon of Japan. Amazon claims the book will come out on Saturday, the previously announced release date was May 27.

Sports Hochi announces that Gal Sone will be acting in the upcoming movie based on the television show Masked Rider. The website for the program has a short interview with Gal Sone about her movie debut.

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(from an email) Crazy Legs Conti and Tim Janus appeared on this morning’s edition of “The Today Show” and competed in a one minute watermelon eating contest and then demoed the Major League Eating video game. The video can be viewed online.

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(From io9) The Hollywood Reporter has an article about the start of production on Hot Tub Time Machine. HTTM was written by Josh Heald, who also wrote the screenplay for All You Can Eat, a movie set in the world of competitive eating. Production of All You Can Eat appears to currently be on hiatus.

io9 notes similarities between Hot Tub Time Machine and a previous work:

Sadly, this won’t be the greatest time traveling tub movie of all time.

That honor belongs to College Humor’s series Clock Suckers, which is about a group of friends that link a Simon Says toy to a bath tub, which allows them to travel in time. It’s an animated short (with a lot of bad language), in which our heroes go back and mess with Al Capone, Elvis and other historical figures.

The rights to All You Can Eat are now controlled by Rogue Pictures, which made the ping pong comedy Balls of Fury and the direct to video American Pie sequels. The website for Rogue Pictures has not been updated since 2004.

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The blog for the Village Voice has an entry about this afternoon’s watermelon eating contest at Rockefeller Center between Tim Janus and Crazy Legs Conti. Conti won the six minute contest by one bite. After the first contest completed, Conti and Janus had a virtual watermelon eating contest by playing the Major League Eating video game. The blog entry closes with an announcement that an article about Tim Janus and Crazy Legs Conti will appear in the Village Voice this summer.

IFOCE.com also has a report about the event.

update AppScout has a blog entry about the event with pictures and videos, including a recording of the performances of Beautiful Brian and Badlands Booker.

update #2 Serious Eats has a gallery and MTV has a blog entry.

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