The Battle Creek Enquirer has a preview of Saturday’s Reuben sandwich eating contest. Some of the expected entrants are:

Among those who will be competing are “Gentleman” Joe Menchetti of Wallingford, Connecticut, Pat “Dr. Delicious” Bruss of Cincinnati, Ohio and Chris “The American” Schlesinger from Bohemia, New York. “Gentleman” Joe Menchetti is considered by some to be the best money eater in the country.

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(Pictures taken by Mac Girl)

Downtown Trini’s in Sparta, Michigan has the most visually appealing restaurant Wall of Fame I have seen (It’s actually more of a pizza slice of fame than a wall) The record as of February 2006 was held by Tommy “Too Tall” Thompson at 37 tacos. (If somebody broke approximately 45 tacos, would they write on the ceiling?) Eating at least 13 tacos is required to appear on the Wall of Fame. The restaurant does not offer a free meal if a minimum number of tacos are eaten, but an all you can eat taco special is offered on Thursday night.

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On March 13, 1982, Sharon Scholten (now Sharon VanDuinen), a petite 5’3″ and 110 pound 25 year old, broke the chili dog record at the Rockford Corner Bar by eating 42.5 chili dogs in four hours. That record would last for almost 24 years and only Tim Janus and Balinda Gould have been able to better that performance.

The archived article about Ms. Scholten provides some interesting background information about her feat:

Saturday looked to be a normal day until her brother-in-law Jimmy Scholten suggested that she try for the record

That was after she had eaten lunch – a Mexican pizza for two, a half order of nachos, four baskets of chips and an enchilada.

But she thought she’d give it a try. After all, she met the woman’s mark two years ago by swallowing 20 franks. And there wasn’t much else to do that night.

“We were just talking about it that afternoon,” she said, “It wasn’t something I planned. I didn’t think I could do it. But Jimmy told me he had bet $600 that I could do it so I thought I’d better try.”

It turns out Jimmy had no money riding on her meal, but his white lie was enough to get Sharon to break the record.

“I was upset,” she said. “I thought I had all this money coming. He told me I’d get 75% of the profit.”

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Rio Wraps is holding the Burrito Bowl, a contest similar to Moe’s Burritos for Life. 14 restaurants in Michigan will host a first round contest later this month and the winners of those events will advance to the Burrito Bowl finals in Dearborn, MI on February 2 to compete for a $7,500 prize package. 5 contestants for each preliminary contest will be chosen at random. The contest rules ban eaters ranked by an eating organization for a mininum of one year.

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The website for the Rockford Corner Bar has been retooled. The hot dog “Hall of Fame” has been updated to list Tim Janus’ record breaking performance from March, but only three names are listed on that page. Janus is listed as the professional record holder while Balinda Gould is the amateur champion. Sharon VanDuinen’s (Scholten) 23 year reign is mentioned, but the article about her has been removed.

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A team of three Michigan police officers has accomplished what Kobayashi could not in the Man vs. Beast Fox TV Special. The Lenawee Connection reports that the policemen finished 15 chili dogs before a bear named Lakota did. A team of three firefighters also competed. The bear was apparently not very interested in the chili dogs.

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The Ionia (upstate Michigan) Sentinel Standard has an article about Thursday’s Chili Dawg Challenge. A 15 minute chili dog eating contest will be held during that event. The entry fee is $10 and no prizes are mentioned, but proceeds will go to benefit the Big Brothers / Big Sisters.

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from mlive.com Old Burdick’s Bar & Grill in Kalamazoo, MI has apparently copied Don “Moses” Lerman’s idea for a team rib contest. On Friday a 3 minute contest for 2 person teams will be held. Entry fees are $20 and proceeds will go to charity. The winning team will receive a catered party worth $300.

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The Kalamazoo Gazette has a report on last weekend’s Reuben sandwich eating contest held at Pastrami Joe’s in Marshall, MI. That newspaper also has an interview with Jason Fagone.

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The Battle Creek Enquirer has a report on yesterday’s Reuben Sandwich Eating Championship, won by Mark Lyle.

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The Boston Globe has a preview of the Italian Sauage Eating contest in East Boston, MA and the Battle Creek Enquirer has a preview of the Reuben Sandwich Eating contest in Marshall, MI. Both contests will take place on Saturday. The Italian Sausage contest will be held at the Italia Unita Festival, so wearing a Zinadine Zidane jersey is not recommended.

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The Lansing State Journal and the Kalamazoo Gazette both have previews of Pastrami Joe’s, of Marshall, MI, Reuben sandwich eating contest scheduled for July 15. Entrants will wear costumes similar to professional wrestlers outfits.

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The Battle Creek Enquirer has an article about next month’s AICE Reuben Sandwich eating contest to be held at Pastrami Joe’s Deli in Marshall, MI, which has made a web page for that event.

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The Genessee (Michigan) board of commissioners decided to use $150 of county funds to sponsor a hot dog eating contest at Capital Coney Island in Flint Township despite Commissioner Rose Bogardus’ opinion that the contest promotes gluttony and eating disorders. The contest will take place on May 20 from 2-6 pm and an entrance fee of $10 will enable competitors to eat as many hot dogs as possible in 15 minutes. Unspecified prizes will be awarded to the best performers. Funds will go towards the Consortium on Child Abuse and Neglect. Hopefully Sharon Scholten will not show up or there might not be any money left for charity after hot dog expenses have been deducted.

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At the request of Kevin Carr, I will not list any results from the Rockford Corner Bar unless I receive an email from an eater asking me to report his result (or he could just state his result in a comment.) I was originally going to list those results tonight unless someone emailed me today to not post his total. Thanks to Kevin Carr again for an excellent submission.

The Rockford Corner Bar has an online Hall of Fame, but no there are no links to it from the restaurant’s home page. All results are from 2003 and 2004 so it is apparently not being updated. No ranked IFOCE or AICE members are present in the online Hall of Fame. The highest amount is 20 chili dogs, reached by Kurt, Brian Johns, Nate McManus and Erin VanDeffelen

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Thanks very much Kevin Carr. Kevin made a trip north to Michigan yesterday to attempt the Chili Dog Challenge at the Rockford Corner Bar and try to learn the identies of the eaters who have recently attempted the record.

Kevin learned of four other IFOCE members other than Tim Janus who have recently attempted the challenge. All four eaters reached the 20 chili dog mark (at which point the meal is free) with two breaking the 30 dog level, but at least one eater vomited. I have omitted the identies of those eaters from Kevin’s report. I will list their identities tomorrow at 10 pm eastern unless they email ojrifkin@yahoo.com and request that his (they are all male) result not be posted.

In his report, Kevin mentioned that he is on standby for a Nathan’s qualifier spot. Spaces must be extremely tight if a ranked eater who competed in last year’s US Open is not guaranteed a spot.

Kevin emailed me this report:

REPORT FROM THE ROCKFORD CORNER BAR

After hearing the news of Tim “Eater X” Janus’s recent victory at the Rockford Corner Bar, I was naturally curious about the challenge. It was only a 5 hour drive from my home, so I thought I’d run up there and take the challenge myself. I’m on stand-by for a Nathan’s qualifier, and I’ve never eaten hot dogs in a contest, so I wanted to test my mettle so to speak.

Also, there have been conflicting reports in the press and the eating community about what’s been going on up there. Call it the writer in me, but I wanted to go to the source to get the full story.

Read the rest of this entry »

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(Thanks Bob Shoudt) The Rockford Squire has an article about recent attempts to break the Rockford Corner Bar’s chili dog record. The majority of the article is devoted to the endeavors of three AICE members on March 9 ; Tim Janus’ earlier record breaking attempt is mentioned only in passing. The Rockford Corner Bar website has yet to be updated with Janus’ new record.

Updated March 18, 12:30 am – an article about Tim Janus can be found further down the page. Eater X also did a malt challenge and another pizza challenge earlier this month.

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speedeat.com reports that Tim Janus broke the Rockford (Michigan) Corner Bar chili dog record by consuming 43.5 chili dogs in 4 hours. If correct, this is the first time in almost a quarter century that a male eater has been the chili dog champion (Sharon Scholten ate 42.5 hot dogs in 1982 and Baldina Gould consumed 43 last December). The $500 bounty for breaking that record is no longer offered.

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Two new articles in the Rockford Squire and the Advance about Balinda Gould’s feat of eating 43 chili dogs in 4 hours, which beat the 23 year old record set by Sharon Scholten/VanDuinen, are now available.

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(from competitiveeaters.com/news.htm) Balinda Gould, a 41 year old single mother who works part-time in at deli counter, broke Sharon Scholten’s 23 year old record of 42.5 chili dogs in 4 hours by a half a hot dog at the Rockford Corner Bar in Rockford, Michigan. Ms. Gould had apparently not eaten competitively before except for two attempts at the record in November in which she consumed 20 and 28 hot dogs.

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The Detroit Free Press has put out another article four days after a contest focusing on locals finishing out of the top spots about the Grilled Cheese qualifier at the Michigan state fair. The article mentions that there will be a grilled cheese finals in Phoenix in October. (I was not sure if there would be a final contest or if the bonus money would be alloted to the best finishers in the qualifiers)

Thanks Patrick Bertoletti for the link

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Sharon Scholten, who ate 42.5 chili dogs in four hours at the Rockford Corner Bar in Rockford, Michigan in 1982 despite weighing only 110 pounds and eating a large Mexican lunch earlier, appeared at that establishment’s annual chili dog competition on July 23, but did not compete. No pictures or quotes of Ms. Scholten are present in the article. Over 5,000 eaters have attempted to break her record. The mark of 42.5 hot dogs is believed to be the most hot dogs consumed by a female in a single session, but Sonya Thomas appears on track to surpass that total in a future Nathan’s contest. If Sharon Scholten is considering a return to eating competitions, she can take inspiration in the fact that Carlene LeFevre is more than a decade older than she is.

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