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.”

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.’”

The article lists Don Povia of HHR Media Group as Kobayashi’s manager. The HHR stands for HuggingHaroldReyndold.com, which Povia co-founded.

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Deadspin has a long piece about Kobayashi’s exile from Major League Eating. The most interesting in the blog entry may not be about Kobayashi, but about Joey Chestnut:

The Sheas have also rejected Chestnut when he’s wanted to branch out independently.

“They are hard to deal with at times,” he said.

The author sits in on a hot dog training session with Kobayashi, who hopes to have his own line of hot dogs. Kobayashi says that his “jawthritis” has prevented him from powerlifiting, leading to a loss of muscle mass.

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Summing the cash purses for the 2010 competitions listed on the IFOCE contests page results in a total of $138,250. In Patrick Michels’ article for the Dallas Observer, George Shea claims the total prize value is $550,000.

A breakdown follows after the jump
Read the rest of this entry »

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Ryan Nerz has sent the following email:

I am writing you at EatFeats to announce my retirement from the competitive eating game. It’s been a fantastic half-decade or so (for the most part), with over a hundred speed-eating adventures in dozens of cities, and I consider many of MLE’s competitive eaters to be among my best friends.

I would say that I’ll miss y’all, but I know I will see you in the non-eating contest world (which, it turns out, is pretty vast). Until then, may The Schwartz be with all of you out on the circuit, and may The Gods of Gurgitation shine upon you at every meal and every contest.

Cheers,

Ryan Nerz

(P.S. – For those of you closely following Hard White’s rap career, don’t fret…my retirement will not affect future cameos on wax with Badlands Booker. That said, this ain’t no Jay-Z publicity stunt “retirement”…I’m hanging up the boater hat for good.)

Good luck to Ryan in his future projects.

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Radio Ink reports that the FCC upheld the $4,000 fine it levied against 610 WIP in 2007 for not following its listed rules when Arnie Chapman was prevented from competing in the 2005 Wing Bowl.

update Radio-Online also has a post which claims that the Wing Bowl’s rival organization was “AISE”.

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