The new poll asks who you think will be 2016 MLE Rookie of the Year. Gideon Oji and Geoff Esper are the leading candiates, with Nela Zisser a dark horse.
Gideon Oji in Sports Illustrated
Nels Popp has a screenshot of the Faces in the Crowd page in the latest issue of Sports Illustrated magazine featuring Gideon Oji’s Nathan’s performance. (via Beth Cianfrone)
Joey Chestnut wins Knoxville Hooters qualifier, Gideon Oji 2nd
1) Joey Chestnut 176 wings
2) Gideon Oji 155
3) Juliet Lee 145
4) Juan Rodriguez 112
5) Damien Boykin 103
6) Matt Raible 96
7) Eric “Badlands” Booker 94
8) Ronnie Hartman 90
9) “Wild” Bill Myers 70
Eric “Badlands” Booker appeared on WATE 6 this morning.
2015 Nathan’s Charlotte qualifier
WBTV has a gallery Queen City Videos has a video
Official top 3 males
1) Gideon Oji 16
2) Craig Wasberg 14
3) Ronnie Hartman 13
1W) BJ Alexander 14
2W) Mary Nelson ? girlfriend of Ronnie Hartman, walked on
Gideon Oji won the contest with 16. BJ Alexander appears to be the name of the female winner.
The women’s winner ate 14. I do not think Sonya Thomas made the contest.
Clayton State Sports has an article about Gideon Oji. If he qualifies he might be the tallest finalist with a height of 6 ft. 9 in.
Joey Chestnut has been headlining the promotion of the contest even though he is not competing: NBCCharlotte | WBTV | Sports Night
This will be the first Nathan’s qualifier for Sonya Thomas since 2011. She has not exceeded 37 hot dogs since 2012. The 27.75 hot dog she ate at last year’s finals was the lowest since her debut year of 2003.
| 2014 Jul 4 | 2nd | 27.75 | 10 min | Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas | Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest – women | Brooklyn, NY |
| 2013 Jul 4 | 1st | 36.75 | 10 min | Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas | Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest – women | Brooklyn, NY |
| 2012 Jul 4 | 1st | 45 | 10 min | Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas | Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest – women | Brooklyn, NY |
| 2011 Jul 4 | 1st | 40 | 10 min | Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas | Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest – women | Brooklyn, NY |
| 2011 May 28 | 1st | 34 | 10 min | Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas | Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest qualifier – women | Atlantic City, NJ |
Previous winners of Charlotte qualifier
DanMang noticed that Gideon Oji was inserted into the MLE top 50 at #26 (probably the first Africa-born member of that list). Dax "The Ginger" Swanson reports that he was ejected.
2015 Palm Beach Sweet Corn
update April 29 Sun Sentinel has a contest video
update April 28 Crazy Legs Conti has a contest report. Sean Brockert was a judge.
update Palm Beach Post has an article and gallery
Fink Beats the Stomach has the top 5 Top 3 ear totals
1) Erik Denmark 37 ears
2) Crazy Legs Conti 35
3) Gideon Oji 34
4) Yasir Salem
5) Miki Sudo
Miki Sudo, Nate Biller, Erik Denmark, Yasir Salem and defending champion Crazy Legs Conti are expected to compete. Gideon Oji will make his non-qualifier debut.
Crazy Legs Conti appeared on WFLX Friday morning.
2015 Atlanta Nathan’s qualifier
update April 23 The WSB-TV segment is available on youtube
update April 17 Crazy Legs Conti has a Huffington Post report which is primarily a eulogy to “Little Jimmy”.
update April 16 News-Daily.com has an article about runner-up Gideon Oji who plans to compete next in the Charlotte qualifier in May.
WSBTV has an article and gallery.
update April 13 The contest page has been updated to lis Dee Martin as the female winner with 7 hot dogs
No female winner has been announced as of 5:20 pm eastern. Dee Martin was present, so presumably she was the victor. At least one other woman competed, so there will be a women’s wild card leader (if the female runner-up total was recorded).
The top 3 men:
1) Crazy Legs Conti 21
2) Gideon Oji 20
3) Damien Boykin 17
Paul Barlow will be competing in his first MLE contest in almost two years.
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