update Nov 1 NotoriousBob.net has a quote that did not appear in the article

update Oct 31 Some observations and links about the article follow:

• Ronson asserts that the 1916 origin story for Nathan’s hot dog eating contest is “(almost certainly) untrue”, which Mortimer Matz, Nathan’s promoter of the 1970s and 80s confirmed in a 2010 NY Times interview. The claim that the first contest took place on July 4, 1972 is incorrect; a contest was held on Memorial Day weekend of that year and a competition took place in 1967 to honor the centennial of the hot dog.
• 2009 is listed as the year of Takeru Kobayashi’s final IFOCE sanctioned contest. He competed against Joey Chestnut in a contest in Singapore in May 2010.
• Emcee Dave Keating says that the cupcakes used in the shortened cupcake contest were lighter than those used in 2011, which explains why 7th place finishers Maria “Edible” and Michelle “Cardboard Shell” Lesco ate more in 6 minutes (48) than the previous year’s winner Tim Janus ate in 8 minutes (42). (Video of the contest).

If you need something to read due to Hurricane Sandy related disruptions, Jon Ronson’s article about competitive eating for the November 2012 issue of GQ is now available online. The article includes mini profiles of Joey Chestnut, Pat Bertoletti, Matt Stonie, Bob Shoudt and Maria “Edible” and contains reports from the Nathan’s finals, TooJay’s corned beef sandwich eating contest, and a behind the scenes look at the shortened cupcake contest held at the Isle of Capri casino in Waterloo, Iowa where Bob Shoudt offered these thoughts on cheating:

“I’ve seen everything,” he says. “People throwing hot dogs under the table. People making the biggest messes you can imagine.”

My eyes widen. “So there’s such a mess under the table it’s impossible to determine what counts as an eaten thing?” I ask.

“Oh, there’s techniques,” says Bob. “People suddenly get happy feet.” He mimes an eater dropping an item of food and then covertly stamping it into the ground. I’m appalled. Cheating makes everything pointless. And then Bob confesses that—if need be—he will be one of those cheaters. When his wife is in the crowd, they use pre-arranged signals. “If the eaters are dropping stuff like crazy, she’ll give a meaningless cheer. I’ll understand. Suddenly the food gets very slippery for me.”

He gives me a look that says: Don’t judge me until you’ve walked in my shoes. Leave the Gandhi-like behavior to the fools who don’t mind losing to the cheaters.

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update Oct 1 Blue Ribbon News has a contest report

update Sept 30 Lewisville Texan has an article
Ok Sure has videos
The Rake and Herald has a contest report

Results from MLE facebook Part 1 | Part 2

1 Joey Chestnut 102 tamales new record
2 Tim Janus 87
3 Adrian Morgan 68
4 Juan RoDriguez 60.5
5 Nate Biller 50.5
6 Yasir Salem 42
7 Brent Ricord 34
8 Gary Klucken 27
9 Cole Ellis 24
10 Timothy Morris 22
11 Alex Perez 21
12 Steve Harrell 17

Nate Biller appered on Fox 7 to promote the contest, which is expected to start at 1:15 central.

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update Sept 23-2 Andrew Kogutkiewicz has a video of the overtime

update Sept 23 Fox19 has a video

Robert Bolson has a gallery.

Results from Zinzinnati Oktoberfest in Cincinnati (Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3)

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update Sep 3

The festival facebook, Peter Dunn and Legend Larry’s have galleries.

Brian Seiken has videos: Contest | Interview with Badlands Booker | post-contest trays

jkoszcela also has a video.

Dan Gronkowski of the Cleveland Browns attended the contest

Gersh Kuntzman has an article for the New York Daily News about the contest.

The Daily Mail asks if Sonya Thomas has lost her bite

update 7:53 The Buffalo News reports that Sonya Thomas was the runner up with 6.36 lb. Joey Chestnut’s poundage was 7.61. With Mike Landrich’s comment below and Brian Subich’s claim he was 5th & Badland Booker was 6th, the top 5 is:

1) Joey Chestnut 7.61 lb new record
2) Sonya Thomas 6.36 lb 5 contest winning streak ended
3) Juliet Lee
4) Jim Reeves
5) Brian Subich
6) Eric “Badlands” Booker

update 6:04 Sonya Thomas and Juliet Lee apparently both finished in the top 3 according to the Wingfest twitter, but does not list their order. I have not seen any other placings besides the winner.

update The festival twitter announces Joey Chestnut won with a record total of 191 wings. This breaks Sonya Thomas’ five year winning streak at the contest.

The contest page on the festival website has not been updated with the 2012 field; it still lists last year’s competitors.

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update Aug 30 #2 RGJ.com has a gallery. Drake Nelson has a video.

update Aug 30 Results Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
1) Joey Chestnut 8 lb
2) Matt Stonie 7.5
3) Pat Bertoletti 5.8
4) Michelle Lesco 4.6
5) Juan Rodriguez 4.5
6) Steve Hendry 4
7) Erik Denmark 3.7
8) Allen Tripplett 3.1
9) Jason Erb 2.6
10) David Solomon 2.5
10) Matt Raible 2.5
12) Drake Nelson 2
13) Michael Norton 1.8

Contest reports RGJ | Sparks Tribune | KOLO

update 7:12 Pacific EricJ8 announces Joey Chestnut has defended his title

The contest is underway @ericj8 is posting pictures.

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update August 11 El Neuvo Dia article about Tim Janus (via Marcos Billy)

The top 2 from the Taco Bell Why Pay More? challenge in Puerto Rico

1) Joey Chestnut 52 tacos
2) Tim “Eater X” 43 tacos

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Joey Chestnut will be competing in the finals of Hooters World Wing Eating Championship tonight despite not competing in a qualifier. No mention of a Joey Chestnut receiving a bye appears in the information about the contest and Joey Chestnut was listed as an expected entrant in the Miami qualifer where he did not appear. The new poll asks what you think about Joey Chestnut not needing to qualify.

WTSP has a gallery and video of Sonya Thomas’ appearance this morning and 620WDAE has a podcast of a Joey Chestnut interview.

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