A Nathan’s qualifier will be held on June 22 in West Chester, PA (suburban Philadelphia). The qualifier will be televised on the shopping channel QVC, making it the first qualifier broadcast nationwide. It will be interesting to see what merchandise is sold during this appearance.

IFOCE has announced two new websites, competitiveeatingevents.com and competitiveeating.net in conjunction with the new qualifier. The first website has travel information for IFOCE contests. competitiveeating.net has a list of the websites of some IFOCE members in which the home pages of Sonya Thomas, Erik Denmark, Andrew Lane and Brian Seiken along with the Whaler’s fan blog for Tim Janus are not found. The list claims to only include “family friendly” websites which might be the reason why the last two of those web sites were omitted, but I have never seen anything on the first three home pages that was not G-rated. Brian Subich’s home page appears despite not having been updated since 2005 when I last viewed it.

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Liz asked Sonya Thomas a few questions after her victory in the Nathan’s Philadelphia qualifier last Saturday.

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Philly.com reports that “Swallow Your Pride”, a documentary about Bill “El Wingador” Simmons winning his fifth Wing Bowl crown in Wing Bowl 13, will be screened at the First Glance Film Festival in Philadelphia on Sunday night. Tickets are $10. Porn star/ former California gubernatorial candidate Mary Carey stars in a movie to be screened Saturday night.

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Philly.com has an article about yesterday’s Nathan’s qualifier at Independence Hall and a short interview with Sonya Thomas. Sonya expresses disappointment that she failed to break her personal record of 37 hot dogs.

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from IFOCE.com, sonyatheblackwidow.com & Brian Seiken

Philadelphia Nathan’s qualifier results, Independence Hall Visitor Center

1) Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas 36.5 hot dogs
2) “Humble” Bob Shoudt 28
3) “Big” Brian Subich 25
4) Pat “from Moonachie” Philbin 24

It used to be that 24 hot dogs would almost certainly guarantee a victory in a qualifier, but that amount did not place in the top three in this event.

Brian Subich turns in an impressive performance and justifies his decision to turn down an arena football contract from the winless Steubenville Stampede.

For the second straight year the amount Sonya Thomas ate in a qualifier was virtually equal to the amount she ate in the previous year’s finals. Sonya set a women’s record with 37 hot dogs in the 2005 finals. She did 32 in last year’s Norfolk qualifier and the 2004 finals.

Updated 6:54 PM – 5th place finisher steakbellie has a first person report of the contest on his blog

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Sonya Thomas’ plans to enter the Nathan’s qualifier in Philadelphia this Saturday have not been changed by the recent addition of two contests this weekend according to this paragraph in philly.com (The paragraph claims that Joey Chestnut is from San Diego, so it is possible that this is inaccurate)

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Blogger steakbellie, who finished in the top 10 of the Wing Bowl, has been preparing for the Philadelphia Nathan’s qualifier which will be held a week from Saturday. Here are some of his training notes.

March 10
March 16
March 24
April 15
April 24
May 2
May 12

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Philly.com has an interview with Jason Fagone, who has a strange response when questioned about the lack of Sonya Thomas content in his book.

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The Philadelphia City Paper has a short column about “Horsemen of the Esophagus” by Jason Fagone.

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The Philadelphia Daily News has a short article about “Horsemen of the Esophagus” author Jason Fagone.

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This blog entry provides an update on the efforts of the creators of the documentary Swallow Your Pride to obtain distribution for their film. The movie filmed at Wing Bowl 13 was screened last summer and received positive reviews but apparently no additional showings have taken place since that time. The film was not accepted by the Sundance Film Festival, but the documentarians sent Bill “El Winagdor” Simmons a copy that was forwarded to Mike Tollin, who is producing a fictional Wing Bowl movie starring (according to the blog) Adam Sandler . Tollin loved the movie and connected the film’s creators with the distributor of Napoleon Dynamite, Super Size Me and other independent films.

Swallow Your Pride has a domain name reserved at swallowyourpridemovie.com, but that URL is completely content-free.

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If this blog entry is accurate, Kate Stelnick is no longer the only Delaware Valley female who holds an eating challenge record. kb of the phillycynics blog claims to have eaten 30 pierogies at Sugar Mom’s Church Street Lounge in Philadelphia, breaking the restaurant’s record by 5 Polish pastries. She wore a Lance Armstrong bracelet while accomplishing her feat as Ms. Stelnick did. kb received a t shirt as a prize for breaking the record. kb could be a possible contender to return the Wing Bowl crown to the Delaware Valley.

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The new poll question asks who should play the lead role in the upcoming Wing Bowl movie which I believe will be based on Bill “El Wingador’s” Simmons career. I can add other actors to the list of choices.

Another new poll question asking whether competitive eating should be included in the winter or summer Olympics can be found in the Whaler’s most recent blog entry. If competitive eating was added to the Winter Olympics, then eating contests could not be counterprogrammed against the Olympics, as the Glutton Bowl was aired the same time as the 2002 women’s figure skating finals (see also) I can make that question the next poll question if there are any requests for it (and the Whaler does not mind)

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Angelo Cataldi has a Wing Bowl 14 FAQ on his website. He assumed that eliminating previous competitors would ensure that the victor would be from the Delaware Valley and that the Wing Bowl movie is several years away from a premier. Cataldi is considering a format change for future Wing Bowls.

phillyfuture has a blog entry with an eyewitness account of Wing Bowl 14.

phillysportsline has a gallery of Wing Bowl 14 (free registration is required to see the pictures)

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about.com has a Wing Bowl 14 article and captioned photo gallery. I agree with the article’s claim that Rich’s blonde wingette should have definitely been one of the 10 finalists. The captions say that one of the 10 finalist wingettes, Lisa Marie, was 6’5 (she should maybe consider entering Wing Bowl 15)

zwire.com has profiles of Timothy “Dr. Slob” Cusick and Bill “Robocop” Sampolski.

A Sports Illustrated blog has a fake quote from Joey Chestnut which a reader might not notice is bogus if s/he is not paying close attention.

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The News of Delaware County has a profile of two competitors from that region, Eric “MacWing” Livingston and Scott “Boss Hog” Zimmerman.

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Wing Bowl 14 clips are available at ripe.tv A show about Wing Bowl 14 will be aired at 11 pm on Saturday on UPN 57 in the Philadelphia TV market. The WIP website has podcasts of the audio broadcast along with some pictures.

The new poll question asks who should play Sonya Thomas (or a Sonya Thomas based character) if that role exists in the upcoming Wing Bowl movie.

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Wing Bowl 14 contestant Wing Tut has an account of his participation in that event in his blog. He believes that he did not receive credit for 21 wings that he ate. More on Wing Tut can be found here.

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Angelo Cataldi has a long commentary about Wing Bowl 14 on his website. The most interesting point in his writeup is that the next Wing Bowl will lose its “virginity”:

There was no close finish in WB14, unlike the last two overtime events. Next year, when the other previous contestants rejoin the field, this should not be a problem.

Other notable points include:

• The FCC would not allow WIP to restrict the field to Delaware Valley residents.
• The Wachovia Center would not let Wing Bowl 14 occur there if tickets were not required
• Crowd scenes for the Wing Bowl movie were filmed at the contest
• Cataldi is disappointed in the performance of the most hyped locals like Robocop

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Philly.com describes how Joey Chestnut met his girlfriend.

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610 WIP is sending a cease and desist letter claiming trademark infringement to the Columbus radio station sponsoring a Wing Bowl. They could rename their event the Wing HorseShoe after the Ohio State stadium. No legal action is apparently being taken against the Salt Lake City Wing Bowl.

An excerpt about Wing Bowl 13 mentioning documentarian Jennifer Drumgoole from Jere Longman’s book about the 2004-5 Eagles is available at foxsports.com

angelocataldi.com has a photogallery of Wing Bowl 14.

Some pictures from that gallery include:

You can’t spell Team Chestnut without chest
The White Widow
Joey’s Wingette at work
Black Death
The Special Canadians
Dave the Dumpster
Wing Tut
Norseboy
Black Death #2
Burger King? 😉

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sfgate.com has a profile of Joey Chestnut and an interview with his mother.

The Vallejo Times Herald has an article about local boy Joey Chestnut.

The Philadelphia Daily News has a contest writeup.

The Delaware County Times has a contest writeup focusing on the contestants from Delaware County.

The Daily Local has a profile of Timothy “Dr. Slob” Cusick

The Courier Post has an article focusing on the entrants from South Jersey. 10 competitors were from South New Jersey, 5 more than Philadelphia

The Courier Post also has an anti Wing Bowl commentary.

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Here are all the results I am aware of. Any additional results would be appreciated

1. Joey Chestnut 173 wings
2. Rich LeFevre 156 wings
3. Dr. WingLove 114 wings
4. ?
5. ?
6. MacWing 105 wings
7.-25. ?

If you picked 41+ wings as the gap between Chestnut/LeFevre and the rest of the field in the recent poll, you were correct.

Dr. WingLove threw up in his corn eating stunt and needed to win the WingOff to make the Wing Bowl, where he was the highest finishing local.

It is nice to see Rich LeFevre was a crowd favorite. Philly fans have not always been as kind to sub 150 pounders from out of town.

The LA times has a good article on the Wing Bowl.

philly.com has a Wing Bowl article with more information about the planned Wing Bowl movie.

The Courier Post has an article focusing on South Jersey entrants.

Yahoo has a photo gallery.

Philadelphia Weekly has an article with several pictures (adult content)

SFist has a blog entry

MacWing has sent me three pictures he took as a contestant.

Rich LeFevre meditating

MacWing and Dr. WingLove

MacWing and Joey Chestnut

Two other Wing Bowls will be held this week. (I am surprised that the term Wing Bowl is not trademarked.)

Gentleman Joe Menchetti won the Columbus Wing Bowl. Menchetti has lost 60 pounds in the past year.

A Salt Lake City Wing Bowl will be held tomorrow. The “Wingettes” for that event will probably be less scantily clad than the Philly Wingettes.

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Joey Chestnut (not Chestnutt) has set a Wing Bowl record with 173 wings beating Sonya’s record from Wing Bowl 12 by two wings. Rich LeFevre was second. LeFevre was apparently a crowd favorite. The arena was apparently only half full despite the sellout.

Updated 12:02 pm
nbc10 has a video and slideshow
kyw has a slideshow
philly.com has a video of the first half of the contest (real player required)
humblebob.com has some pictures on his main page

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Philly.com’s Early World blog, written by Peter Mucha, is posting from the Wing Bowl this morning. El Wingador has just been inducted into the Wing Bowl Hall of Fame.

Updated 9:04 am: The liveblogger is not bothering to blog the actual contest. He has listed the second round advancers. Joey Chestnut and Rich LeFevre are leading.

9:20 Comments on the blog have
1. Joey Chestnut 173
2. Rich LeFevre 156
3. Dr. WingLove 114

Note to philly.com: “liveblogging” does not mean write the article then get around to blogging when and if you can find time for it.

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