The Kashmir Monitor has an article about restaurant challenges in north India.
Indian food challenger MaddyEats has passed a million subscribers to her youtube channel.
Takeru Kobayashi announces that he will face off against Nobuyuki "The Giant" Shirota in a hot dog eating contest in Japan. They last faced off in the 2004 Nathan's Famous finals.
Darron Breeden attempted a 12 pound burger at Denny's Beer Barrel Pub in Clearfield, PA. The challenge was recorded for an upcoming TV Tokyo program.
SoraNews24.com reports that Japanese competitive eater Max Suzuki has partnered with the Daisho Group to start a restaurant chain called Max Suzuki's Seabura Hanten. The locations will mainly deliver via Uber Eats but some sites will also offer carry-out orders. Large meals will be focus for the brand, with one menu item, the Triple Mega Serving, coming in at a weight of 1.8kg (3.97 pounds).
A lawsuit seeking damages of 83 million yen (about $791,000) has been filed by the parents of a man who died after choking in a 2016 Japanese eating contest. He was requested to swallow an onigiri (rice ball) that he had stuffed in his mouth at the close of the contest, which resulted in the incident. (original article)
Mothership.sg reports Chinese mukbang star Sun Yi Xuan passed away from cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 19. He was known for livestreaming his high calorie meals on the Kuaishou app, on which he had over 500,000 followers.
Mukbang videos and other binge eating live streams have been banned in Guandong province in South China. In August, the Chinese government depreciated the consumption of oversized meals, but stopped short of an outright prohibition.
Pokemon Champion! The Battle of Big Eaters November 27
The episode of Pokemon Journeys that will debut November 27 on Netflix is titled “Pokémon Champion! The Battle of Big Eaters!!” has the following description: (preview video)
Go and Hoshigarisu have decided to enter the “Big Eater Tournament” in Kuchiba City. There are tough opponents there to contend with, like last tournament’s winner Kabigon and the globetrotting legend of the competitive eating world Burshamo, but Go has a surprising plan for winning. However, the Rocket Gang have been confused for the tournament’s organizers and are working on some sort of nasty plot……
The title was inspired by TV Tokyo’s “Battle of Big Eaters” which featured competitive eating teams from various countries facing off.
update Nov 28 The episode can currently be viewed on youtube with English subtitles.
The Indian food challenge youtube channel Wake'N'Bite has passed a million subscribers.
Japan Today has a post about Kasumi ASMR getting caught spitting out cheese tonkatsu while recording. One of the video's commenters said "I feel duped — I thought she ate everything like a competitive eater.â€
A Burger King in Tokyo is offering all you can eat one pound burgers.
A press release announces that Nathan's Famous will hold a qualifier in Dubai, UAE. The competition will use halal hot dogs and award the top male and female spots in the finals on July 4, 2021. This will be the first Nathan's qualifier outside the USA since a 2013 event in Calgary, the first outside North American since 2011 in Beijing.
Shine.cn on big eating video deprecation
Shine.cn has an article about the deprecation of big eating videos on Chinese streaming platforms which mentions the passing of a host in Shenyang, Liaoning Province just before he was to broadcast himself eating a large bowl of pork belly in June. Some Chinese big eaters have rebranded, with @大胃mini (big stomach mini) changing her ID to @梨涡少女mini (dimple girl mini). The article calls into question the authenticity of some of the videos:
In reality, the body simply cannot handle extreme quantities of food every day. To keep viewers, hosts must cheat, either throwing up after the show, or cutting scenes where they spit out food they’ve chewed, making viewers believe they have actually eaten everything.
Loyal followers are very defensive when questions are raised about unusual eating habits, saying their favorite hosts are just “born that way†and there are frequent quarrels with others who question the authenticity of videos.
update Aug 22 The BBC also has an article about the decline of eating videos.
update Aug 24 The New York Times has an article.
The Jerusalem Post reports that Nathan's Famous will start producing halal hot dogs in partnership with a United Arab Emirates subsidiary of Mezzan Holding KSC for sale in the Persian Gulf region.
Chinese social media platforms to depreciate big eating videos
update Aug 15 China Digital Times has posted what they claim is a leak of the mandate from the government to streaming platforms to terminate big eating videos.
Global Times reports that Chinese social media platforms will depreciate big eating videos in an effort to reduce food waste:
A spokesperson from the public relations department of short-video platform Douyin told the Global Times on Thursday that the platform has taken measures to rectify livestreaming eating shows.
The spokesperson said that when users search for key terms such as “eating show” or “competitive eater”, they will be informed to value food, and the platform will penalize those behind such videos.
Other video platforms including Kuaishou and Douyu made similar statements, promising to strengthen content reviews.
TechNode has a video (mostly subtitled) about Chinese "Big Stomach Queen" Mini. update Technode has posted an article about Mini.
Mothership.sh has an article about Zermatt Neo finishing a plate of spicy curry at Level 100 in 52 seconds. The overall fastest time for the challenge will win a 13-inch Macbook pro.
Nextshark has an article about Chinese competitive eater Mi Zijun. She recently ate 4kg (8.8 pounds) of rice to win an eating contest held in Hangzhou.
Moeno Azuki faced off against Dave Brunelli, Kyle v. Food and a Russian I did not recognize in a livestreamed burger eating contest on a program on the Japanese network TBS.
SmartShanghai has an interview with Chinese food challenger 大胃mini, who claims to have eaten a 17.5kg (38.5 pound) lamb. Her channel on Bilibili has over a million fans. She also has a youtube channel.
Forbes has an article about Chinese billionaire Wan Long which calls him the owner of Nathan's Famous due to his holdings of Smithfield Foods. (I think that Smithfield is just the manufacturer for Nathan's which remains American owned). The BBC has a long article about conditions in the Smithfield meatpacking plant in Sioux Falls, SD which became the top coronavirus site in the entire country after 644 cases were detected in connection with the facility. A Nathan's consumer boycott appears to be developing due to its relationship with Smithfield.
Darron Breeden collaborated with Kayo Nakajima of Japan to produce a cereal mukbang video.
AsiaOne has a profile of Sarah Ow, who quit her job as a flight attendant to become a professional eater for Food League Singapore.
The News Minute has an article about Indian food challenge youtube channels.
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