The MLE facebook lists three new May 2010 contests:

• May 1 Philly cheesesteaks, Dorney Park, Allentown PA
• May 8 Boneless wings, Isle of Capri, Boonville Missouri
• May 22 Poutine, Toronto (first IFOCE Canadian contest since 2003 Vancouver Nathan’s qualifier)

I have not seen any news about a MLE contest at the Big Texan in Amarillo on April 10 since it was announced in Nations Restaurant News.

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Tonight’s episode is the first episode of Man vs. Food not set in a single metropolitan area; the sites are three minor league baseball stadiums.

Travel Channel: Guide | Slideshow | Video (baseball lesson)

ESPN interview with Adam Richman about tonight’s episode

• West Michigan Whitecaps challenge Fifth Third Burger
  MLive article before recording
  MLive article after recording (contains spoiler)
  Season statistics about the burger
• Charleston (SC) River Dogs food Homewrecker hot dog
  Press release about the recording
  Charleston City Paper article about the recording
  Video clip from Man v Food about hot dog variations at the Charleston ballpark
• Gateway (E. St. Louis area) Grizzlies food – “Baseball’s Best Burger”
  Press release about the burger, which uses a Krispy Kreme doughnut as a bun.
  BND article about the recording
  KSDK article and gallery about the recording

• List of West Michigan eating challenges
• List of Charleston eating challenges
• List of St. Louis area eating challenges

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BND reports that Adam Richman of Man vs. Food will attempt “Baseball’s Best Burger” at tomorrow’s Gateway Grizzlies game in Sauget, IL (East St. Louis area). The sandwich uses a split Krispy Kreme doughnut as a bun. This will be the third time Man vs. Food has recorded at a minor league stadium (Charleston, SC, W. Michigan) and St. Louis will become the third metropolitan area to be visited twice (SF Bay area, Raleigh-Durham)

SJ-R has a report (no spoiler) about Adam Richman’s attempt at a bowl of Firebrand Chili in Springfield, IL yesterday.

update The article reports that Jim Hamrick, who has been ranked in the IFOCE top 50, set the Firebrand Chili record of 5 bowls last week.

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update Fox4KC has a gallery

from http://twitter.com/alphajag/statuses/2056166613 GRAVY BROWN WINS! GRAVY BROWN WINS! Nathans Hot Dog eating contest @ Sams!!!

Mongo Marquez has the top 4:
1. Tim “Gravy” Brown 32 HDB
2. “Buffalo” Jim Reeves 27.5 HDB
3. “Mongo” Marquez 27 HDB
4. Bryan “Big Sexy” Beard 22

The twitters of Mongo Marquez and Bryan Beard report they will compete in the Overland Park qualifier.

Val Bromann is already at the contest site.

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The Pitch’s preview of the Kansas City (Overland Park, KS) Nathan’s qualifer says that the contest will take place on Sunday (The official schedule says it will occur on Saturday) and that “Buffalo” Jim Reeves will compete.

update George Shea confirms that the contest will take place on Saturday and that Gravy Brown will compete

update #2 NBCActionNews has an article about the contest

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Metromix has a captioned gallery of St Louis area eating challenges. The prize for the pizza challenge at Talayna’s is now $2000 (the challenge requires both members of a 2 person team to each drink a pitcher of soda in addition to eating a 30 inch pizza.)

In other St. Louis eating challenge news, bodybuilder Isabelle Turell announces that she intends to take on the Pointersaurus challenge with her fiance in May.

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The Born to Fork blog has an entry about a Pointersaurus pizza challenge attempt. At least two teams have finished the challenge that have not been added to the finishers list on the restaurant’s website:

We then came to find out that the two guys [who finished a Pointersaurus] the day before did puke. In fact, the one guy puked 6 seconds after the timer went off. All over the floor. So not only did the guys behind the counter have to dish out $500, plus a refund on the pizza, they had to also clean up a pile of pizza puke sitting in front of their counter. That, my friends, is what you call adding insult to injury.

The most enjoyable part of the challenge was hearing the stories of other competitors. Joey Chestnut (the hot dog eating champ) took the pizza down (with the help of his wife, supposedly) in 17 minutes, setting a record. And they said he ate at least ¾ of the pizza himself. Pretty impressive. And Eater X has also completed the challenge. Before the two doctors the day before us, the last pair to finish was a couple of ladies. Apparently their Mizzou football-playing boyfriends drove down and threw their hat in the ring, and failed miserably. And after properly taunting their boyfriends, they stopped by the next day and took the thing down themselves. Apparently they were a couple of “110 lb girls”, but the same guy who said that also said the doctors were skinny like me. So I’ll go out on a limb here and say the girls were probably more in the 150 lb range.

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• Crown Candy Kitchen – challenge: 5 malt milkshakes in 30 minutes
  Home Page Reviews: Citysearch | Yelp
  The restaurant’s website says the milkshake challenge has been offered since its opening in 1913, which might make it the oldest eating contest or challenge
  A book about the Crown Candy Kitchen, which includes the malt milkshake Wall of Fame is available on amazon
  When the book was published, Rich LeFevre held the record of six milkshakes, Pat Bertoletti has since broken that mark by one.

• Pappy’s Smokehouse
  Home Page Review: Yelp
  STLMags blog entry about the recording says that Adam Richman’s meal was the Big Ben which consists of a full slab of ribs, 2 sandwiches, a 1/4 a chicken, and 4 side dishes

• Iron Barley
  Home Page Reviews: Citysearch | Yelp
  Iron Barley was in an episode of Diner, Drive-Ins and Dives last March

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• Jill Stoler has reports on the bun & cheese and loukoumades eating contests she competed in this weekend.
• If you missed the update below, Sonya Thomas declined her wild card slot which will go to Crazy Legs Conti
• Krystal amateurs Info: Sackful challenge pregame contest for pairs ($500 $100 prize), finals slot registration
• Saint Louis Sushi gallery. The top 3 – last years winner did not repeat, the winner is not named
• Mount Union College hot dog contest
• Phoenix area hot dog contest with qualifiers for high school students
• “Furious” Pete to do eating contests at the Mr. Olympia expo this weekend

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