Lapham’s Quarterly has an article about the history of pie eating contests.

At the same time pie-eating contests were taking place in working-class saloons and between black performers, the events were also popular with men of means as head-to-head matches. After the turn of the twentieth century, “gourmandizing” competitions became the vogue among the wealthy, expanding beyond pie-eating to a new world of competitive consumption. In one 1909 competition at the Fat Men’s Club in Manhattan, the winner ate two hundred and ten oysters, six pounds of steak, nine rolls, ten cups of coffee, and three large pies. Such extravagant consumption was connected to wealth; it was expensive to be fat at the turn of the century. Food costs were high enough that most middle-class Americans couldn’t afford the foods consumed by most Fat Men’s Club members, who weighed two hundred pounds on average. But as cheap food became more readily available by the 1920s, and as ideas about body image changed, the Fat Men’s Clubs died out.

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The Tennessean has a report on how Vanderbilt lineman Adam Butler credits his grievances at a rib eating contest held at the 2012 Music City Bowl for his switch from offense to defense. His coaches thought his complaints about his opposition from North Carolina State cheating showed a combative nature.

“For some reason, the judge voted that we lost the rib-eating contest, and I stood up and argued with the judge,” Butler said. “(The judges) were counting the bones. But (North Carolina State players) had ribs on their plate that didn’t have a bone in it, which means they just took the bones out of the ribs and threw them in the tub.”

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A timeline listing the intersection of the worlds of competitive eating and the 2016 Republican presidential candidate follows:

• 1966 Fred Trump, father of Donald, has the Steeplechase demolished. The Coney Island amusement park had earlier rejected a purchase offer from the Handwerker family, founders of Nathan’s Famous.
• 2005 Sports Illustrated has a blurb
  about filmmaker Michael Tollin’s plans for a fictional movie based on
  Bill “El Wingador” Simmon that did not come to fruition. Tollin would
  later make a documentary about the USFL spring football league in which Donald Trump was cast as the villain.
• 2005-2007 The Trump Marina in Atlantic City holds a wing eating contest for females only during Super Bowl weekend.
  

  2005 Feb 3		Wing Fling 1	Trump Marina	Atlantic City, NJ
  2006 Feb 4		Wing Fling 2	Trump Marina	Atlantic City, NJ
  2007 Feb 3		Wing Fling 3	Trump Marina	Atlantic City, NJ

  2007 contest video

• 2009-2012 The Trump Plaza Beach Bar in Atlantic City, NJ hosts a Nathan’s qualifier. The winners of those contests:
  

  2009 May 23	1st	30.5	10 min	“The Lovely” Juliet Lee	Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest qualifier	Atlantic City, NJ
  2010 May 29	1st	40	10 min	Bob “The Notorious B.O.B.” Shoudt	Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest qualifier	Atlantic City, NJ
  2011 May 28	1st	27	10 min	Pat “from Moonachie” Philbin	Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest qualifier – men	Atlantic City, NJ
  2011 May 28	1st	34	10 min	Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas	Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest qualifier – women	Atlantic City, NJ
  2012 May 19	1st	45	10 min	Tim “Eater X” Janus	Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest Qualifier – men	Atlantic City, NJ
  2012 May 19	1st	18.5	10 min	Larell Marie “The Real Deal” Mele	Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest Qualifier – women	Atlantic City, NJ

  2010 gallery | 2011 video

• 2013 The Trump Plaza was sold to Meruelo Group for $20 million. No Nathan’s qualifiers would take place at that site after the sale.
• Dec 2015 Everybody Loves Raymond’s in San Antonio starts a “Shut Your Mouth Trump” spicy burger challenge in response to negative feelings about the candidate by the restaurant’s clientele. 
• Feb 2016 Donald Trump visits Chez Vachon in Machester, NH for a campaign stop. A picture of him in front of the “Wall of Fame” for the restaurant’s poutine challenge would receive a lot of publicity. Hillary and Bill Clinton would also visit the location.
• May 2016 Burger Urge in Queensland, Australia holds a “Trump Burger” contest awarding a trip to Trump Tower in New York City won by Col “The Conqueror” MacLaurin.
• Aug 2016 Howard Lorber, chairman of Nathan’s Famous, is announced as a member of Donald Trump’s economic policy team.  Lorber received a $25 million payment in 2015 after a special dividend was issued to Nathan’s stockholders.

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