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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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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ToastedRav.com has a blog entry and gallery about the “Tour de Frankfurter”, an attempt to eat 24 hot dogs in 24 hours in 24 different St. Louis area locations. The Southside Journal also has an article about the tour.

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Schiappa’s Pizza in O’Fallon, Illinois has started a 36 inch pizza challenge for three people. The time limit is a half an hour.

Schiappa’s held an eat-off for the two-person teams who finished the 29 inch pizza challenge on July 26 to determine who would receive the grand prize of a trip to Cancun, Mexico. Two of the teams that completed the challenge consisted of Joey Chestnut and Hall Hunt along with Pat Bertoletti and Tim Janus. Neither pair competed in the eat off and Ryan Maassen and Bill File won the contest.

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• St. Louis sushi contest September 21. First prize is a trip to Japan.
• Sushi Bowl eating contest held in New York City
• PETA takes credit for cancellation of cockroach eating contest
• Miss Busy Lady’s friend eats 50 chicken wings in one sitting
• WLOCE hires Terry Barker to MC
• Nathan Biller’s Nathan’s gallery (facebook registration required)

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• Beautiful Brian starts a “Bigger Bits” page
• Medical researcher Carl DeSelm wins Bar Louie’s national tater tot eating contest with 4.5 pounds in 6 minutes (video of another Bar Louie contest in which the winner ate almost 3 pounds)
• Youtube video from CBS about the Collegiate Nationals
• Ken Hoffman of the Houston Chronicle defends competitive eating in a reader mailbag
• Tampa Bay Rays Fan Fest video, include Hall Hunt’s eating contest
• $10,000 to enter pie eating contest?
• Mango eating contest in India

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In the comments to a video of a Pointersaurus attempt, “socca4u” announced that she and her sister became the first all female team to complete the 12+ pound pizza and win $500, but their feat had yet to be recorded on Pointer’s web site. The finishers list has now been updated to include Pam and Jennifer Cooney of Katy, Texas. Another comment says the two women finished in 20 minutes (I believe one of the two IFOCE teams took 14 minutes).

“socca4u” is most likely Pam Cooney because she was a member of University of Alamaba at Birmingham soccer team. She competed in the Maccabiah Games in Israel and was named both all-American by the Jewish Sports Review and to the first team of the 2005 NSCAA/adidas College Women Scholar All-South Region after posting a 3.77 gpa.
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StlToday.com reports that a sausage eating contest will be held at the Soulard Octoberfest this weekend. Soulard.org has more details:

This year, the Soulard Oktoberfest Benevolent Association has added even more reasons to attend St. Louis’ most authentic German festival. Along with the annual World’s Largest Bratwurst Competition, SOBA is sponsoring Fat Toney’s Sausage Eating Contest for those brave and hungry enough to enter. With a grand prize of a trip to Las Vegas,compliments of Fat Toney Goucher himself, this competition is sure to attract a crowd. Fat Toney’s Sausage Eating Contest will take place on Oct. 6 at 1 p.m. Sign up for the Herculean task or simply cheer on the brave and the hungry.

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(Thanks megamunch) Supersized Meals has some pictures from Pat Bertoletti from his trip to Pointer’s Pizza in Missouri in which he and Tim Janus finished the 10+ lb 28 inch Pointersaurus pizza in under an hour, winning $250 each. Joey Chestnut and Hall Hunt also succesfully completed the challenge. The best team needed only 14 minutes to complete the challenge.

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(from supersizedmeals.com) Talayna’s Restaurant in Saint Louis has a 30 inch pizza challenge that no one has completed. Challengers are required to drink two pitchers of soda as well. The prize for completing the challenge has been listed at both $500 and $1000.

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On March 3, the Masticators, (Joey Chestnut & Hall Hunt) and the Space Dockers (Pat Bertoletti & Tim Janus) both finished Schiappa’s 29 inch pizza challenge for two person teams in O’Fallon, Illinois (greater East Saint Louis). This article mentions their feat and says both duos took under six minutes (the limit is 30) to finish the pizzas. In addition to being placed on the Wall of Fame, the teams won a gift certificate for another 29 inch pizza and are entered in a drawing for a trip to Cancun that will be held after two other teams have finished the challenge. (Is the Whaler’s boat equipped for tropical latitudes?) 😉

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