(From “Luther” comment) IFOCE.com reports that Kobayashi will appear in New York City on December 26 to attempt to break the IFOCE fruitcake record and promote the Food Bank of New York City. The current record of of 4 lbs. 14.25 oz. in 10 minutes was set by Sonya Thomas in a 2003 contest in Buffalo where she edged out Eric “Badlands” Booker by less than an ounce.

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NJ.com has information about tickets for Wing Bowl 17 going on sale on Monday. The time tickets will become available has been advanced to 9 am. The original time was 10 am. Tickets can be purchased online at ComcastTix.com, over the phone or in person at the Wachovia Complex box office. Ticket prices have been increased to $7.50, a $2.50 increase from last year and there is a $2.50 service charge per phone or online order. The maximum number of tickets that can be purchased in one order is 6.

At 10 am Monday, tickets to the final 76ers game at the Spectrum will become available. The first 500 fans who purchase tickets at the box office will get to take a tour of the Spectrum and meet former 76ers.

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• Samples from Beautiful Brian’s remixed holiday CD are available on reverbnation
• Wendy’s Baconator eating contest held in the Philippines. There were three divisions: heavyweight men, lightweight men and women
• BeefJerky.com finds eating contest sanctioning fees too expensive
• Picture of Dale Boone receiving the 2003 IFOCE Rookie of the Year. Rich LeFevre and Crazy Legs Conti were the runners up
• Travel Channel clip about the Buffalo Wing Festival wing eating contest
• The “Acidic Jew” qualifies for the Wing Bowl by eating 10 lemons
• The youtube page hosting Wing Bowl 17 stunts

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A hot dog eating contest will be held in conjunction with Dollar Dog Night when the Philadelphia Flyers host the Carolina Hurricanes tomorrow. The first prize is a retro Flyers jersey. There will be no limit to the number of dollar hot dogs spectators can purchase. The Flyers hope to sell 20,000 hot dogs, breaking last year’s mark of 19,000.

The Washington Captals sold 13,700 hot dogs at last week’s Dollar Dog Night, breaking last year’s mark of 12,000.

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Galleries and a promo clip for tonight’s Man vs. Food episodes are available on the Travel Channel website.

Quaker Steak and Lube Atomic Hot wings, Pittsburgh, PA

• Home Page Quaker Steak & Lube has over 30 locations, mainly in the eastern United States
• Menu (.PDF format)

Quaker Steak and Lube has over 20 types of wing sauce at various degrees of spiciness. A list of the sauces and their hotness level is available after the jump. The Atomic Wings Adam Richman will attempt on tonight’s episode are rated at 150,000 Scoville Heat Units. All You Can Eat wings are available on Tuesday night.

The Ohio Deli Dagwood Challenge Columbus, Ohio

• Columbus Dispatch article about tonight’s episode
• Sopressata blog entry about a group attempt at the Dagwood Challenge. The record for the challenge was 6 minutes by John Matko in March (picture on right).
• Video of a challenge attempt by Columbus Underground

The Thurman Cafe Columbus, Ohio

• Home page
• CMH Gourmand blog entry about the Thurman Cafe’s burgers
• Paul “Porkslap” Arcaria had a 4.5 pound burger named after himself after he completed it in October.

Read the rest of this entry »

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• Dave Shoffner resumes blogging, but not on megamunch
• Encounter with Sonya Thomas at the Washington Capitals game December 4
• St. George Hunt, described by Angelo Cataldi as the Wing Bowl’s biggest fan, passes away
• Bacci Pizza in Chicago starts a 30 inch pizza eating challenge
• Bonita Springs, FL wing eating contest Saturday

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The 610 WIP Wing Bowl 17 page has added links to photos and videos of the qualifying stunts. ClarkieGirl73 has a blog entry about her friend Larry Norris’ successful stunt this morning in which he ate 5 pounds of bacon in 8 minutes and 30 seconds. The Philly.com Wing Bowl page has not been updated with any information about qualification attempts for the upcoming Wing Bowl.

The Wing Bowl 17 logo, which looks like the Phillies logo, has been also been added to the 610WIP page.

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The blog for Denny’s Beer Barrel Pub reports that the Travel Channel will be recording at that restaurant on Thursday. The program is not mentioned, but it might be for another episode of Man vs. Food.

The new poll asks if you think Brad Sciullo completed the giant Belly Bruiser burger at Denny’s two months ago. This picture is only documenation of the Belly Bruiser at an intermediate stage of completion I have seen. Kate Stelnick has several pictures documenting her attempt at the Olde 96er burger and Lori Weiss had an eyewitness report for her challenge.

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• Bruno Ruest repeats as Forney (TX) pie eating contest champion and wins a 42 inch plasma TV
• Serious Eats on the mini-burger boom
• Report on the Singapore Vermonster eating contest
• Turkey Eating contest held in Macau. The winner ate 644 grams of a 2.5 kg turkey in 30 minutes
• Paul Barlow has set up a college bowl picking contest group for eaters and fans
• Gal Sone admits to an addiction

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Here is some additional information about the challenges featured in the Man vs. Food episodes which debuted on December 3:

Big Texan Steak Ranch 72 ounce steak Amarillo, Texas

• BigTexan 72 ounce steak statistics home page
• 72 ounce steak challenge webcam
• List of all finishers 1991-2005 in the eatfeats.com database
• BBC article about the Big Texan Steak Ranch
• Amarillo.com article about Joey Chestnut breaking the Big Texan’s 72 ounce steak record
• News video (without audio) about Joey Chestnut breaking the record
• Former Big Texan record holder Frank Pastore’s blog entry about Joey Chestnut breaking his record. Pastore was a Cincinnati Reds pitcher when he broke the record for the seventh time in 1987 and is now a conservative talk radio host.
• Video clip from 2000 episode of Ripley’s Believe it or not about the Big Texan starring Rich & Carlene LeFevre

Big Foot Lodge Sasquatch Burger Memphis, TN

update Dec 22, 2008 The Big Foot Lodge changed its name to Kooky Canuck and its challenge burger is now called the Kookamunga Challenge to settle a lawsuit with a California restaurant

• The Big Foot Lodge’s page about the challenge
• The Big Foot Lodge’s Hall of Fame and Hall of Shame. Joey Chestnut is the current record holder at 7 minutes 36 seconds. Roger Robinson has completed the challenge 3 times in 2008.
• Memphis Commercial Appeal article about Jeremy Payne becoming the second finisher of the challenge
• Memphis Flyer article about Pat Bertoletti becoming the first person to finish the challenge
• The picture of the burger below was photographed at a ball in Memphis, so it is probably the Sasquatch Challenge burger. According to the photographer, the woman holding the burger completed it.

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A video clip from a documentary about the burrito eating contest held in South Portland, Maine produced by the New England Film Academy can be viewed on youtube. The video caption says that the full length documentary will be released in January.

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NWI.com has an article about the handsless mashed potato eating contest inspired by the movie A Christmas Story held in Hammond, Indiana yesterday. John Hartman won the adult contest by eating 5 plates of mashed potatoes.

Other contests held yesterday

• Tuscon, AZ tamales
• Oxnard, CA tamales
• Singapore Ben & Jerry’s Vermonsters (for four person teams)

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• Time lapse videos of the challenges attempted on Man vs. Food December 3 and post-challenge press conferences are available on travelchannel.com
• Steakbellie is looking for freelance web / graphics work. Good luck with the job search SB
• Does “Furious” Pete have a new best friend in chemical form?
• Latke eating contest at Zan’s Deli returns December 21
• Josh & Lynette complete the Fenton’s banana split challenge Part I, Part II
• Pictures from Gal Sone’s 23rd birthday party Thursday

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A video of the hot dog eating contest for Washington, DC area local celebrities held at last night’s Washington Capitals game has been uploaded to youtube. Sonya Thomas did not participate due to a stomach cramp. The winner, Brian Egan of WMZQ, said “Sonya Thomas, put that in your pipe and smoke it” after his victory.

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(From Sara Bozich) Arooga’s Grille House & Sports Bar in Harrisburg, PA will hold three contests next weekend to celebrate its grand opening:

• Dec. 12 8 pm – Pizza Eating Contest. 1st prize – $20 Arooga’s gift card.
• Dec. 13 7 pm – Wing Eating Contest. 1st prize – trip to Atlantic City.
• Dec. 14 5 pm – Cheesesteak Eating Contest. 1st prize – $100 VISA gift card.

All competitors will receive a free T shirt.

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Angelo Cataldi has updated his website with information about Wing Bowl 17 which announces his intention to reopen the contest to professionals in 2010. Any previous participation in a professional eating contest will make a contestant ineligible for the upcoming Wing Bowl.

The biggest change is that, for one year only, we are declaring ineligible any contestant who has ever competed in a professionally sanctioned eating contest. This means all members of the Major League Eating organization (formerly IFOCE) are not welcome to participate, including our reigning two-time champion, Joey Chestnut. All of the other great pro eaters of the past – Sonya Thomas, Patrick Bertoletti, Don “Moses” Lerman, and even five-time champ El Wingador – are out for Wing Bowl 17.

We made this decision for one reason: We want to find the absolute best new eater in the Delaware Valley, and we believe opening it up to the Average Joes out there will attract some contestants who have never before tried competitive eating. Next year, our Wing Bowl 17 champion will have to defend his title against the best eaters in the world.

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The website for the Washington Capitals NHL team reports that the team will hold a eating contest for area college students before the game against the New York Islanders on December 4. Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas will be a judge and trainer for that event. College students interested in competing should listen to ESPN Radio 980. There will also be a hot dog eating contest for local celebrities that Sonya Thomas will compete in.

This is the second hot dog eating contest for college students the Washington Capitals have hosted in 2008. The first competition was held in January.

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(From the Consumerist) The website for ABC News has an article about restaurants’ eating challenges. The reporter, Scott Mayerowitz, attempted the 50 pound Mount Olympus burger from the Clinton Station Diner in New Jersey with “King” George Van Laar. According the the article, $1000 will be awarded to a five person team that can finish the Mount Olympus in under three hours.

Other eating challenges mentioned:

• The Pancake Challenge from the Seiad Valley Café in California
• Dare to be Great Sundae from The Parlour in Jackson, Michigan
• 76 Ounce Steak, J & R Steakhouse in Long Island, NY

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Peter Mucha of Philly.com reports that Angelo Cataldi announced on his radio show this morning that the 2009 Wing Bowl will not allow “professional” and / or non-local competitive eaters:

Spurred by the 25,000 fans who attended last year, “this year we have decided to do something dramatic about Wing Bowl,” Cataldi said to cohost Al Morganti, “This year, Al, we are going back to the roots of Wing Bowl.”

“We got rid of all the pros that came in from out of town,” said Morganti, who came up with Wing Bowl so frustrated Eagles fans could have some fun during Super Bowl week. “We decided to make it all Philadelphia and go neighborhood.”

The residency area for locals is not defined in the article.

Tickets will go on sale at ComcastTix.com at 10 am December 15.

The grand prize will be a 2009 Mini Cooper Clubman and the members of the top entourage will receive a vacation prize.

Philadelphia Magazine ranks the inaugural Wing Bowl in 1993 at #97 in its list of the top 100 Philadelphia moments.

update (From Sean Gordon comment) 610WIP.com has a page about Wing Bowl 17 with the official rules. There will be 8 Wing Off qualifiers in the Philadelphia area. Even though Wing Bowl 17 is billed as “going back to the neighborhoods”, the only residency restriction in the rules is that entrants must live in the United States:

The contest is open to all WIP listeners who are 21 years of age or older and reside in the United States. Employees of WIP, its corporate parents, affiliated entities, its affiliated advertising agencies, participating sponsors/promotional partners, other radio stations in the Philadelphia metropolitan area and the members of their immediate families are ineligible to participate or win.

Wing Bowl 17 is an amateur eating event with no professional eaters. Any member of professional eating organizations, including but not limited to IFOCE & AICE, are also not eligible to participate in the contest.

It will be interesting to see if former professional eating organization members will be allowed to compete.

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Tickets for the upcoming Wing Bowl can be pre-ordered at WingBowlTickets.com. The most expensive ticket is $125 and the cheapest ticket available is $25. The WIP and philly.com do not appear to have made any announcements when tickets will officially go on sale

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• Miss Busy Lady attempts the 12 inch pizza challenge
• Video about Thanksgiving and competitive eating
• Gallery of the Rosenberg pie eating contest
• 40 ounce steak eating contest in Meridian, MS Saturday
• Inquiries about obsessive compulsive disorder and competitive eating for an upcoming novel

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Actor Ryan Reynolds, author of an anti-competitive eating blog entry for the Huffington Post, is apparently not equally opposed to all activities which consume calories which could be redirected to the starving poor of the world. The website for People Magazine reports that the husband of Scarlett Johannson claimed on an episode of the Rachael Ray show that he ate almost 10,000 calories after finishing the New York City marathon.

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The creators of some giant burgers are not satisfied with having hamburger as the only type of meat in their sandwiches. The Hawkins House of Burgers (several Los Angeles area locations) Special Burger contains 3 eight ounce hamburger patties, 2 hot links, bacon and pastrami along with 3 fried eggs (picture). The Gangster Burger, offerred by the Rice Street Deli in Saint Paul, Minnesota, contains two half pound hamburger patties, three 6 ounce steaks, a half pound of Italian beef and a half pound of gyro meat. Neither restaurant appears to offer any award or recognition to diners who successfully complete one of their huge burgers.

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The Dayton Daily News has an article about Cincinnati Bengals field goal kicker Shayne Graham, who is regarded as the team trencherman despite being one of the smaller players on the roster at a weight of 205 pounds. Graham has eaten 14 chili dogs and 18 tacos on separate occasions. Today he will host approximately 15 of his teammates for a Thanksgiving dinner. 48 pounds of turkey will be cooked for that meal.

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(From The Dish) The segment about the Heart Attack Grill in Chandler, Arizona that was televised on CBS News Sunday Morning is now available on cbsnews.com. Bill Geist of CBS News attempts the Quadruple Bypass Burger challenge, which reportedly contains 8,000 calories.

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