philly.com has a short writeup of Joey Chestnut’s appearance on the NBC game show “Identity”

PermalinkComments

LateNightPictures.com has some pictures of a competitor in the (London UK) All You Can Eat Breakfast Championship with two “breakfast-ettes” (Katie Downes and Malene Espensen) No results or other details are provided.

update The event was to announce the contest which will take place on May 29. Premier Travel Inns has a page about the contest. First place is 500 pounds.

PermalinkComments (2)

AICE news reports that Dave ‘US Mail’ Goldstein, who finished in 5th place in February’s Wing Bowl, will compete in the Windmill hot dogs qualifier on Sunday. If he enters that event, he will be the second eater (after Pat Bruss) to cross over to AICE after a strong performance in an IFOCE contest. Megamunch’s friend Carey Poehlmann is also expected to enter.

PermalinkComments (4)

japanprobe reports that the program “Dream Vision” did an episode about the science of competitive eaters. Gal Sone and Nobuyuki “The Giant” Shirota were given an MRI exam after eating over 100 sushi each. The body temperature after eating was also observed. Two clips from the program are available in the episode.

R Suzuki also has a blog entry about the program.

PermalinkComments (9)

A new blog, eat2pain.blogspot.com, has been started. The founder, Todd Charles, describes the focus of the website as “everything eating and running related.” There is currently only one brief entry.

PermalinkComments (2)

The two videos of Gal Sone’s karaoke performances on Japanese television can be seen at hoosoo.tv:

Singing “Boys & Girls” on Monomane Battle in a gold cowboy hat

Starsearch type contest (Gal Sone wins)

PermalinkComments

Yahoo News reports:

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank on Wednesday said he will introduce a bill this week to lift a ban on online gambling.

Online casino goldenpalace.com was a major sponsor of IFOCE contests before bank transactions for internet gambling were outlawed last October.

PermalinkComments (3)

There are two commercials for Axia3 on youtube with a lot of IFOCE footage on youtube: 30 seconds, 2 minutes 20 seconds

PermalinkComments (2)

According to this article in metropolis Japan, today (April 24) is the 5th anniversary of the death of a 14-year-old Japanese boy who choked on a piece of bread after challenging two classmates to an eating contest. The death resulted in the cancellation of Food Battle Club and a three year hiatus for all televised eating contests. It is interesting that the press conference announcing the formation of Gyaruru is the same day as that tragic event.

PermalinkComments (5)

From jinryuichi-hnph

In an event and press announcement in Tsuchiura – Tsuji Nozomi, Gyaru Sone and Tokito Ami will team up in a new Unit “Gyaruru”. It’s a ganguro fashion-based Para-Para gyaru unit, a trend that is popular in places like Shibuya, Tokyo. They each get a nickname for themselves – ‘Tsujiji’, ‘Amimi’ and ‘Sonene’. I think you can guess who is who.

Surprise #1[EDIT]: Guess what? Gyaruru will be releasing a new single produced by Tsunku, and fashion coordination will be handled by one Gyaru manager/entrepreneur – Fujita Miho of G-Revo. The single is called “Boom Boom Mecha Macho” c/w “Onna no urutora”, and will be released under TNX on 20th June this year.

The magazine spread in the previous blog entry was to promote the group. The upcoming single has a promotional page

Tsuji Nozomi is a former member of Morning Musume, which had the eating “contest” with Nobuyuki Shirota in their Christmas special.

Other sites: Hello Online, someboys, japtard

update: JPopMusic has a 14 page forum thread about the group. A live version of the single is available.

updated #2 A video clip about the press conference from a morning news show is also available

PermalinkComments (2)

If no new contests in May or June are added to the IFOCE schedule, then it will be over 6 months between IFOCE contests in the northeastern (or midwestern) United States which are open to all IFOCE members and offer cash prizes. The most recent contest meeting those criteria was the Chock Full O Nuts date nut bread contest at Madison Square Garden on December 20, 2006 and the next contest is apparently the Shoo Fly Pie eating contest on June 23. It will be almost 5 months (until the May 19 Hartford Nathan’s qualfier) between any open northeastern contests.

PermalinkComments (1)

(From Philly Guy) Heinz is now listed as an IFOCE sponsor on ifoce.com. Investor Nelson Peltz, who has obtained a seat on the Heinz board, was willing to pay $200,000 to cosponsor Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest last summer. The link goes http://www.topthistv.com/, a site for people who create their own Heinz commercials.

update The sponsorship was mentioned in a comment by Philly Guy and not Wing Tut

PermalinkComments (11)

EATORF.com has opened. They also have a cafepress merchandise page like the UEPa. The home page gives their mission statement:

E.A.T.O.R.F. is here to introduce and celebrate competitive eating on a consistent basis to the good people of NEPA. As one of the fastest growing sports in America, competitive eating offers the average character with a supernatural eating capacity and speed with which he or she eats a chance to shine and show off his or her skills in a way the typical family dinner frowns upon. If you’re one of the gifted then we have a special place for you where you’ll be honored, cheered for, and appreciated. And, if you’re one of the best, you’ll be rewarded with some cash and prizes, too!

PermalinkComments (3)

Wing Tut’s State of the Union Address has resulted in IFOCE rescinding his Nathan’s qualifier slots.

PermalinkComments (6)

A free preview containing clips from Brian Seiken’s pay per view show with Don “Moses” Lerman can be seen at http://hometown.aol.com/beautifulbrian43/perview.html

CompetitiveEatingNews.com has an article about Brian Seiken charging for his videos.

PermalinkComments (4)

(From R Suzuki) If you cannot find enough competitive eating material on the internet, you might want to check out Kana Kanisawa’s blog at http://ameblo.jp/kana-de/ She might have more entries than all other competitive eating blogs combined. She made 615 posts in March (there were 145 entries last month on this website)

PermalinkComments (5)

(From Rhonda Evans) The episode of Animal Planet’s “Most Extreme” titled “Battle of the Sexes” featuring a cheesecake eating contest between Sonya Thomas and Eric “Badlands” Booker will be rerun tonight at 7pm and 2am this morning (Both times eastern)

PermalinkComments (1)

Wing Tut has posted his address on the state of competitive eating which focuses on the difference between the two organizations.

PermalinkComments (3)

MorePunkThanU has a video in which he describes his completion of the 4 pound “Ethyl Burger” from R Place in Morris, Illinois The sandwich is probably the only type of food named after a type of gasoline.

PermalinkComments

A video clip of Natsuko “Gal” Sone competing against eaters in a Kanom Krok (coconut rice cake) eating contest in Thailand can be viewed at http://youtube.com/watch?v=S6al0incPBw The female Thai champion leads Gal Sone through much of the contest.

PermalinkComments (7)

USAToday.com reports that a planning subcommittee has recommended denying a permit to the San Gennaro Festival in Little Italy, which hosts an IFOCE cannoli eating contest. The committee has a second hearing on the festival tonight.

But last month the Street Activities Permits Subcommittee of the Traffic and Transportation Committee of Community Board 2 — one of hundreds of such neighborhood panels that influence everything from new skyscrapers to street names — took the unprecedented step of recommending against a permit for the feast.

“People use our hallways as toilets,” complains John Casalinuovo, a longtime resident who spoke at the hearing.

When festival officials did not attend the hearing — they say they weren’t notified — the subcommittee voted to recommend the permit be denied.

nytimes.com also has an article

PermalinkComments (1)

A clip of an egg eating contest from MTV’s “Adventures in Hollyhood” can be seen at http://youtube.com/watch?v=9IORDGSsIdY

PermalinkComments

Brian Seiken has switched his videos to pay per view. The cost is $2.99. Don “Moses” Lerman is the guest and he will receive some of the revenue. A free preview clip is available.

The new poll asks how likely are you to purchase Brian Seiken’s videos.

PermalinkComments (16)

NetFlix and Spike TV have been added to the sponsors list on ifoce.com, so there will probably be a contest sponsored by NetFlix in the not too distant future. The presence of SpikeTv probably implies that the series of Spike TV MLE contests will continue despite the current lack of a working MLE page on spiketv.com

PermalinkComments (1)

(From AICE News) ADLAW reports that the Federal Communciations Commission has fined CBS, the owner of 610 WIP of Philadelphia, $4,000 for banning Arnie “Chowhound” Chapman from competing in Wing Bowl 13 for being a member of AICE when no explicit rule prohibiting eaters from that organization existed:

The station said it disqualified him from competing in Wing Bowl 13 because he belonged to a competitive eating association, the Association of Independent Competitive Eaters (AICE). CBS stated that AICE is a rival of the group historically associated with the Wing Bowl, the Independent Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE).

CBS argued that Mr. Chapman should have known that he could not compete in the contest because members of IFOCE-rival associations previously had been disqualified from participating in the Wing Bowl 12 for the same reason. CBS also pointed to contest rules that allowed the station to disqualify contestants for subjective criteria, and a rule requiring contestants be station listeners. Mr. Chapman did not reside within the station’s broadcast area, so he could not be a listener, CBS argued.

The FCC noted that according to its rules, broadcasters are required to “fully and accurately disclose the material terms” of a contest. Further, such contests must be conducted “substantially as announced or advertised.”

The FCC concluded that CBS willfully violated these rules and fined the station $4,000.

update More information can be found in the document detailing Chapman’s complaint at fcc.gov CBS claimed that Joe Menchetti’s disqualification from Wing Bowl 12 should have made Chapman aware that non-IFOCE members were not welcome:

[Chapman’s] participation was incompatible with the IFOCE’s participation. Chapman had at least constructive or presumptive knowledge of this from the facts surrounding Gentleman Joe’s disqualification from Wing Bowl 12 and from the realities of the competitive eating world . . . In Wing Bowl 12, WIP established that with IFOCE eaters included as Wing Bowl competitors, professional eaters allied with national organizations that are active IFOCE rivals would not be welcome as competitors.

PermalinkComments (6)