update #5MLE have made their first social media update since Tuesday’s tragedy with an Instagram post about Badlands Booker’s new video. The Sacramento Bee has an article The family has set up a fundraising page on facebook

update #4 Yahoo.com has an interview with the family of the deceased. The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office announced that choking was the cause of death.

Another tweet promoting Tuesday’s contest as a MLE qualifier has been deleted (Original URL) Here is a screen capture:

update #3Saturday’s contest has been removed from the MLE schedule.

update #2 Saturday’s MLE contest has been cancelled (Fresno Bee article)

The Fresno Grizzlies have deleted the June 26 tweet promoting last night’s contest as a MLE qualifier. Here is a screenshot:

update The Fresno Grizzlies have posted an official statement which denies that last night’s contest was MLE sanctioned or a qualifier for a MLE event. The contest was promoted as awarding a spot in Saturday’s MLE contest. The Fresno Grizzlies held qualifiers in 2017 and 2018. Both competitions were won by Zach Armas, who took 6th and 5th place in the MLE events.

The Fresno Bee reports that a competitor in last night’s taco eating contest at the Fresno Grizzlies ballpark passed away. The competition was to have awarded a spot in Saturday’s MLE contest. I believe this is the first fatality connected with a sanctioned event in American competitive eating history. Details about the incident:

Fans at the game said a man collapsed to the ground in the middle of the taco eating contest. Emergency medical technicians then attempted the Heimlich maneuver and CPR before paramedics arrived in an ambulance and tried to resuscitate him, fans added.

It wasn’t immediately clear why the man collapsed.

PermalinkComments (62)

Here are the top debuts in Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contests according to the database for totals 10 or higher. “Beard Meats Food” and Steve Hammond made the top 7 with their initial amounts of 32 this year.

Read the rest of this entry »

PermalinkComments

Japan Times has an interview with Takeru Kobayashi about The Good, The Bad, The Hungry. He says that while he is pleased with the film, it did not fully convey his side of his dispute with MLE.

The documentary showed my rivalry with Joey Chestnut, but I had more of a problem with George Shea,” he says. “He used Joey Chestnut to conceal the fact that he had a problem with me. George Shea was employed by Nathan’s, so if you look at the bigger picture, the problem was really between me and Nathan’s. That doesn’t come across in the documentary.

PermalinkComments (8)

Today is the 50th anniversary of a conversation about a porridge eating contest between mission control and the crew of Apollo 11:

Bruce McCandless in Houston: And in Corby, England, an Irishman, John Coyle, has won the world’s porridge eating championship by consuming 23 bowls of instant oatmeal in a 10-minute time limit from a field of 35 other competitors. Over.

Astronaut Michael Collins: I’d like to enter Aldrin in the oatmeal eating contest next time.

McCandless: Is he pretty good at that?

Collins: He’s doing his share up here.

McCandless: Let’s see. You all just finished a meal not long ago, too, didn’t you?

Aldrin: I’m still eating.

McCandless: Okay. Does that — that —

Collins: He’s on his — He’s on his 19th bowl.

A recording of the conversation was used in a commercial for Quaker Oats UK starring Buzz Aldrin.

PermalinkComments (2)