Three random New York City eating challenges
| big burger | Burger Challenge | TAPHOUSE | Forest Hills, NY | |
| 1 lb. burger | One Pound Burger | George's Coffee Shop | Staten Island, NY | |
| 4 lb. burger | Meat the Maddens | Maddens Uptown | Bronx, NY |
Alexandra Domrongchai wrote an article for Food and Wine about her attempt at the 8 pound Megamori Tsukemen ramen challenge at Tabetomo in New York City
The BagelFest Winter Games will hold a bagel eating contest in Brooklyn on January 15 awarding $500 to the winner.
Pierozek will hold a pierogi eating contest in Brooklyn on October 8 awarding $500 to the winner. Joel Hansen won last year's competition.
Mashabale has a report on last Friday's cannoli eating contest held at The Feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy, probably the most famous eating contest in Manhattan.
Matt Pruznick ate 18 cannolis this afternoon to defend his title at the Feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy.
2022 Men’s Nathan’s Famous contest
| 1st | 63 | Joey “Jaws” Chestnut | attacked by stage crasher during contest |
| 2nd | 47.5 | Geoffrey Esper | |
| 3rd | 41 | James Webb | UK Commonwealth Nathan’s finals record |
| 4th | 40 | Nick Wehry | |
| 5th | 33.5 | Pat “Deep Dish” Bertoletti | 1st finals since 2012 |
| 6th | 29.5 | Pablo Martinez | |
| 7th | 29 | Derek Hendrickson | |
| 7th | 29 | Gideon Oji | |
| 7th | 29 | Juan “more bite” Rodriguez | |
| 7th | 29 | Bartley Weaver, IV | |
| 11th | 28 | George Chiger | |
| 11th | 28 | Adam “Beard Meats Food” Moran | |
| 13th | 27 | Steve “The Rabbit” Hammond | |
| 14th | 25.5 | Derek Jacobs | |
| 15th | 25 | Ronnie “MegaByte” Hartman | |
| 16th | 20 | Brett “The Branimal” Healey | plans to retire after contest |
Joey Chestnut was rushed by a stage crasher, but still managed to defend his title.
For people who lack ESPNews, DutchMazz is running a live video from the top of the Coney Island subway station. Tim “Eater X” Janus was on the bus of champions, perhaps he will compete.
2022 Nathan’s womens contest
| 1st | 40 | Miki Sudo | 1st parent in 21st century to be top male or female |
| 2nd | 26 | Michelle “Cardboard Shell” Lesco | |
| 3rd | 23.25 | Sarah “Unstoppable Bab” Rodriguez | |
| 4th | 15 | Larell Marie “The Real Deal” Mele | |
| 5th | 13.75 | Katie Prettyman | |
| 6th | 12.25 | Sophia Devita | |
| 7th | 11 | Jocelyn Walker | |
| 8th | 10.25 | Holly Titus | |
| 9th | 8.5 | Kathryn Tesch | |
| 10th | 7.5 | Rene Rovtar | |
| 11th | 7 | Julie Goldberg | |
| 12th | 5 | Prudence DiBenedetto | |
| 13th | 4 | Catie Livermore |
Miki Sudo will look to become the first parent with the top male or female total in the Nathan’s Famous finals in the 21st century. All of the other previous top finishers since 2001: Takeru Kobayashi, Joey Chestnut, Matt Stonie, Sonya Thomas have been childless. There do not appear to be any surprises with the field. w
Eater X, injured Joey Chestnut at weigh in
The Nathan’s weigh in was held today. Joey Chestnut was in crutches. He made a instagram post on December 29 about a leg injury requiring surgery. Tim “Eater X” Janus was present; it was not clear if he will be a competitor. His last eating contest was in October 2015.
update The official field is now out. There are no major surprises. Beard Meats Food will compete and Tim Janus will not make a comeback. Instead of doing a blog entry for each article about the competitors. I will have links to all the coverage of the confirmed entrants below
Geoff Esper
Nick Wehry
Gideo Oji
Pat Bertoletti
Ronnie Hartman
Brett Healey intends to retire from competitive eating after Nathan’s
Juan Rodriguez
Steve Hammond
Bartley Weaver, IV
James Webb
Adam “Beard Meats Food” Moran
George Chiger
Derek Hendrickson
Pablo Martinez
Derek Jacobs
Miki Sudo
Michelle Lesco
Katie Prettyman
Sarah Reinecke Rodriguez
Sophia DeVita
Larell Marie Mele
Jules Golberg
Holly Titus
Jocelyn Walker
Rene Rovtar
Prudence DiBenedetto
Catie Livermore
The Dromedary Bar in Brooklyn will hold a hot dog eating contest July 4 awarding $300 to the winner.
Seaside Signal has an article about Cameron McKirdy taking on Eric "Badlands" Booker and 6 other lemonade drinkers in the chugging undercard contest for the July 4 Coney Island hot dog eating championship. Booker's participation in the chugging contest probably implies that he will not be competing in the hot dog eating contest. This will be McKirdy's first MLE event since July 2010.
Joey Chestnut will attend a chicken basket eating contest held during the July 3 NYCFC soccer game at Yankee Stadium. n
The Last Stop in The Bronx will hold a wing eating contest on June 30 awarding $500 to the winner.
NY1 reports that Nathan's Famous hot dog eating contest will return to its traditional location outside the original Coney Island restaurant on July 4. 16 men and 12 women are expected to compete; the only named expected entrants in the article are Joey Chestnut, Miki Sudo and Michelle Lesco.
The Last Stop 242 will hold a wing eating contest in The Bronx tomorrow awarding $500 to the winner.
Creative Centenaries has reposted a December 10, 1921 article from the Belfast Telegraph about Ludwig Consumo, billed as the "World's Champion Free-Style Eater". One of his rivals was Alderman Dotzler of New York City, who ate 9 pounds of steak, 19 rolls and 11 cups of coffee in a beefsteak eating contest.
Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate in today's NYC mayoral election, competed in several Nathan's Famous finals in the 1990s, finishing 3rd in 1994. He appeared in "Footlong", a 2002 documentary about the hot dog using the 1998 Nathan's circuit as its framework which can be viewed on youtube. In interview starting around the 8:15 mark, he claims that defending champion Hirofumi Nakajima has been surgically altered with digestive enzymes.
Mad Dog & Beans Mexican Cantina will hold monster burrito eating contests on October 29 at its two New York City locations. Both competitions will award $100/$75/$50 to the top 3.
The New York City Hot Sauce Expo will hold several spicy eating challenges in Brooklyn this weekend. The Choco Challenge spicy chocolate contest will award $1000 on October 16 and $1000 will also be awarded if the Carolina Reaper pepper Guinness record is broken on October 17.
Joel Hansen won the first prize of $500 at tonight's pierogi eating contest at Pierozek in Brooklyn.
Pierozek in Brooklyn will hold a pierogi eating contest on October 8 awarding $500 to the winner, $300 to the runner up.
Wayne Algenio ate 100 meatballs to win today's eating contest at the Feast of San Gennaro in Manhattan. New York City Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa says he was denied the opportunity to judge the competition after receiving an invitation. The Guardian Angels founder claims that Mayor Bill de Blasio or the Gambino crime family could be responsible for the snub.
Matt Pruznick ate 23 cannolis in 6 minutes to win Friday's eating contest at Feast of San Gennaro in Manhattan.
The Feast of San Gennaro in Manhattan will hold 4 eating contests: cannolis - September 17, zeppoles - September 22, pizza - September 24, meatballs September 26.
Interview with Anne Nelson, sister of Caitlin Nelson
Daily Mail has an article about Anne Nelson, whose father, Port Authority Police Officer James Nelson, died in the World Trace Center wreckage. Another shocking fatality would strike the family 16 years later.
Tragedy stalked Anne again in 2017 when her sister Caitlin (then a 20 year old college student) died in a freak accident when she choked in a charity pancake eating contest.
‘I think that loss is what really made me process my father’s death a little more. Even though I had gone to therapy before, the enormity of it all didn’t really hit me until that happened.’
Anne Nelson’s story is proof that people can live through not one but multiple traumas and still recover. Now 31, Anne tries to honor her sister and dad in everything she does.
She currently works as a special needs teacher at an elementary school, inspired by Caitlin’s studies in social work and her father’s life-long emphasis on education. ‘I take a little bit of both of them in what I’m doing and I try to carry them with me through that.’
Nathan’s Hot Dog qualifiers, restricted to NYC civil servants, were held on top of the original World Trade Center from 1998 to 2000. “Hungry” Charles Hardy won all 3 contests. Very little information about the competitions remains on the internet. Here is a screen capture from the 2002 documentary “Footlong”
The New York Times has a long article about Nathan's Famous original Coney Island location.
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