PAHomePage has an article about Larell Marie Mele competing in the Nathan's Famous finals for the 14th consecutive year and George Chiger qualifying for the 6th time in 7 years.
Times Square Nathan’s qualifier
| 1st | 35 | Gideon Oji | |
| 2nd | 32.5 | George Chiger | |
| 3rd | 26.5 | Yunho Choi | from South Korea |
| 4th | 15 | Anthony Kamenski | |
| 5th | 12.5 | Crazy Legs Conti | |
| 6th | 11 | Jeffrey Bonacorda | |
| 7th | 7.75 | Jason Ruppert | |
| 8th | 5.5 | Steven Peterson |
| 1st | 16 | Larell Marie “The Real Deal” Mele | qualifies for 14th finals (all womens contests) |
| 2nd | 9 | Olivia Murphy | overall competitive eating debut |
| 3rd | 6 | Julie Goldberg | |
| 4th | 4 | Prudence DiBenedetto |
The Field: Steven Peterson, Olivia Murphy, Jeffrey Bonacorda, Anthony Kaminsky, Jay Ruppert, Julie Goldberg, A Korean (didn’t get the name), Prudence DiBenedetto, Larell Marie Mele, George Chiger, Crazy Legs Conti, Gideon Oji
KumaMonster has started a live stream of today’s Nathan’s qualifier at Times Square in Manhattan. The introductions are expected to start at noon Eastern.
Larell Marie Mele has set up a gofundme to help pay for George Chiger's surgery which took place three weeks ago that included amputation of a toe. He is currently experiencing issues with an incision on his big toe.
Darron Breeden broke Raina Huang's house record for the ramen challenge at Temple Street Eatery in Fort Lauderdale. George Chiger also completed the challenge.
StandardSpeaker.com has an interview with George "The Smorgasbord" Chiger about his attempt at the burger challenge at Tom's Kitchen in Sugarloaf Twp., PA on Thursday.
Darron Breeded posted a video of the grilled cheese challenge at Fo Cheezy Twisted Meltz in St. Pete Beach, FL he attempted with George Chiger. He says the restaurant reneged on the $50 reward they would receive if the challenge was completed.
2021 Draft Kings Big Game Snackdown
Foods: pepperoni pizza, chili, pigs in blanket, eight-layer dip, cheese balls, boneless chicken wings, sub sandwich, Jalapeno poppers.
Official results
1 Geoff Esper 5:43 completion time
2 Joey Chestnut 7:32
3 Nick Wehry 7:59
4 Darron Breeden Stage 8 (15 poppers eaten)
5 Gideon Oji Stage 8 (8 poppers eaten)
6 Michelle Lesco Stage 6 (12 wings eaten)
George Chiger beat Matt Hazzard in the the Cheese Whiz undercard
The pregame show has started on Draft Kings youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91VvvseKFT4. They are currently interviewing Joey Chestnut. The contest is scheduled to start at 4:30 pm Eastern.
George Chiger is #7 on PAHomePage.com's list of 12 days of Christmas.
Darron Breeden and George Chiger both attempted to eat a tray of baked ziti weighing approximately 20 pounds.
Darron Breeden uploaded a video of a challenge consisting of food from a Shop Rite Supermarket he attempted with Miki Sudo, Nick Wehry and George Chiger.
Quarantine expansion puts Nathan’s field in doubt
New York governor Andrew Cuomo announced that he is expanding the list of states whose residents must self-quarantine for 14 days after arriving in his state, which will apparently prevent Matt Stonie (CA), Gideon Oji (GA) and Michelle Lesco (AZ) from competing in the 2020 Nathan’s Finals if they cannot get an exemption. Earlier today, Rich Shea appeared to confirm that Michelle Lesco will not be able to compete. Joey Chestnut is already in New York, so he is not affected by the directive.
update MLE has announced Nick Wehry will replace Matt Stonie.
update July 1 George Chiger will replace Gideon Oji.
update July 1 #2 A press release lists Miki Sudo, Katie Prettyman and Larell Marie Mele as female competitors. Katie Prettyman does not think that Sarah Reinecke and Sophia DeVita will compete due to schedule conflicts.
update July 2 NJ.com reports Rene Rovtar will be the 4th female competitor.
update July 2 #2 Julie Goldberg will apparently complete the women’s field.
Nick Wehry was interviewed by the Awfully Irish podcast and said that the fate of the 2020 Nathan's finals has yet to be decided. George Chiger appeared the C & L Podcast and described how Larell Marie Mele helped start his competitive eating career.
George Chiger and Joel Hansen briefly appeared on Saturday's "Melissa Seals the Deal" sketch on Saturday Night Live around the 2 minute mark. (Original video by Joel Hansen of a 151 ounce milkshake challenge at the Lunchbox in Staten Island).
In the first half of the lastest FBTS podcast, a George Chiger video is used to spur discussion of what makes a good restaurant challenge video. The "radio silence" of All Pro Eating is the topic of the second half.
Joey Chestnut, Geoff Esper, George Chiger and Michael Whities attempted the two foot pizza slice challenge yesterday with Esper and Chestnut tying for the new record at 40 seconds. The restaurant will pay $2500 if the record is broken. (Michael Whities video)
PAHomePage.com has an article about George Chiger eating 5 pounds of kielbasa in under 20 minutes.
George Chiger and Michelle Lesco set the record for the Carnivore Challenge pizza at Big Pie in the Sky, seen in the Atlanta episode of Man v Food.
George Chiger and Julie Goldberg competed in a Nathan's Famous hot dog eating contest on Fox & Friends this morning in observance of National Hot Dog Day.
George Chiger wins Dutch Wonderland Nathan’s qualifier
| 1st | 31.5 | George Chiger | |
| 2nd | 19.5 | “Big Eater Mike” Michael Whities | |
| 3rd | 14.25 | Michael “Big Hoss” Deitz | |
| 4th | 13.5 | Benjamin Burman | |
| 5th | 12.5 | William “Wild Bill” Myers | |
| 6th | 11.5 | Felix Wedge | |
| 7th | 9.5 | Tyler Whitney | |
| 8th | 5 | Joseph Sanchez |
No females competed
Lancaster Online has an interview with George Chiger about competing in the Nathan's qualifier at Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster, PA on Sunday. He calls Larell Marie Mele his competitive eating mentor.
Palm Beach Happening has an interview with George Chiger, who was inspired to enter competitive eating by Larell Marie Mele.
2018 Norfolk Harborfest Nathan’s qualifier
update 13News Now video | Pilot Online article
Official results
1) George Chiger 30
2) Brian Dudzinski 24
3) Crazy Legs Conti 16
1W) Rene Rovtar 6
George Chiger, Crazy Legs Conti, Brian Dudzinski and Rene Rovtar are expected to compete.
Local competitiors Jack Saladino and Sam Roewer did interviews.
2018 Dutch Wonderland Nathan’s qualifier
update June 10 WGAL article
| 1st | 50 | Carmen Cincotti | |
| 2nd | 26 | George Chiger | |
| 3rd | 13 | Jack “Snack Jack” Diamond | |
| 4th | 11.5 | William “Wild Bill” Myers | |
| 5th | 7 | Patrick Ryan | |
| 6th | 4 | Brett Shepard |
| 1st | 17.5 | Larell Marie “The Real Deal” Mele | |
| 2nd | 5 | Rene Rovtar | |
| 3rd | 4.25 | Tysheema Holmes |
From Patch Ryan’s twitch video, it appears Carmen Cincotti won with 50 hot dogs. Larell Marie Mele was the female winner.
Carmen Cincotti, George Chiger, Bill Myers, Larell Marie Mele and Rene Rovtar are expected to compete at today’s Nathan’s qualifier at Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster, PA.
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