Andrew “Skinnyboy” Lane caught a rerun of Carlene LeFevre on Food TV’s Unwrapped (originally broadcast in 2004) and managed to record the bulk of her segment and upload the clip.

PermalinkComments

(Thanks Jason Fagone) Today’s BBC World Service podcast has a segment about competitive eating with interviews with Fagone and the LeFevres.

PermalinkComments (9)

The Village Voice has an interview with the first couple of competitive eating.

PermalinkComments

Thanks to supersizedmeals.com for making video captures of the video clip of the LeFevres at the Big Texan steakhouse.

PermalinkComments (1)

The clip from Ripley’s Believe It Or Not of the steak contest at the Big Texan steakhouse in which Rich LeFevre almost finished two 72 ounce steaks and Carlene sets a women’s record is available at:

http://eatfeats.com/LeFevresSteak.WMV

PermalinkComments

The Lefevres’ attempts to eat the famous 72 ounce steak at the Big Texan steakhouse recorded by Ripley’s Believe it or Not in 2000 will be rerun on the SciFi Channel at 4 pm (eastern) Friday This might be the first appearance of competitive eating on national cable TV. The steak contest segment will probably occur at the end of the show near 5pm.

PermalinkComments

Just as the Beatles’ performance on the Ed Sullivan Show created Beatlemania, Rich and Carlene Lefevre’s appearance on Ripley’s Believe It or Not in 2000 launched their career as the world’s greatest competitive eating couple. The episode (#109) was recorded at the Big Texan steakhouse in Amarillo, Texas and both LeFevres finished the restaurants famous 72 ounce steak (two women, Tammy Hooker and Annette Havard, also finished the steak) The SciFi channel will rerun this episode on May 12 at 4pm. The Amarillo Globe News has an article about the taping.

PermalinkComments (1)

Brian Seiken has an update about Carlene LeFevre’s status and plans on his website. While she has no definite plans to return to competitive eating in the forseeable future, she does plan to travel to New York City at the start of February to cheer on husband Rich in the goldenpalance.com grilled cheese finals. She plans to attempt some massive meals in the Big Apple, so her eating capacity has apparently not been diminished. It is not stated if Carlene plans to attend the Wing Bowl two days later. If Carlene does travel to Philadelphia and Rich takes first place and wins a car, mandating a transcontinental road trip to bring the prize to Las Vegas, perhaps the LeFevres could stop at Denny’s Beer Barrel and attempt the two-person challenge for the 15 pound burger.

PermalinkComments (4)

In a comment on this site, Rich LeFevre provides the following response to Andrew Lane’s query about the health of his wife Carlene LeFevre, who is ranked #9 in the most recent IFOCE rankings but has not competed since being hospitalized in late summer:

Carlene wants to let all her fans know that she is doing fine and thank them for all their good wishes. Her future in competitive eating is still uncertain at this time but she’ll be at the Big Daddy burger contest in Las Vegas on 1/21 to cheer me on.

It’s is great to know that Carlene is doing all right. I hope she feels absolutely no pressure to return to competition and will not enter an eating contest unless she is 100% certain it will have no negative impact on her health. I also hope she watches Rich compete in the Wing Bowl from the press box of the Wachovia Center if she travels to Philadelphia because being in the midst of that crowd is not the optimal environment for anyone’s health.

PermalinkComments (8)

This blog entry has a brief mention of Sonya Thomas’ Radar Magazine interview, but it has a long comment by someone who met Sonya at the 2004 Bacci Pizza contest in Chicago and also chauffeured the LeFevres during that event.

PermalinkComments

Brian Seiken’s bits & pieces page mentions that Carlene LeFevre recently took several tests at a hospital. Let’s pray that the test results do not reveal any medical problems.

PermalinkComments (7)

The Des Moines Regsister has a very nice profile of Rich and Carlene LeFevre focusing on their appearance at the August 21 Smoked Pork Championships in Council Bluffs.

PermalinkComments

The San Jose Mercury News did not think very highly of Carlene LeFevre’s appearance at the US Open of Competitive Eating:

Morning Buzz thought the network [ESPN] reached a new low when it showed the grandma in the spaghetti-eating competition of the World Series of Competitive Eating.

I would place all the shouting sportswriters, reality dross like Dream Job and poker (can the World Series of Slot Machines be far behind?) on ESPN way below a “grandma” who has reached the top 10 of a physically demanding field of competition.

PermalinkComments (2)

Four days after the smoked pork contest in Iowa, the Ralston Recorder has an article about that competition. The article focuses on local Dennis Tribbie, who manages less than two pounds of pork.

PermalinkComments

Bluffs Run Casino (Council Bluffs Iowa) Smoked Pork Results August 21:

1. Rich LeFevre
2. Carlene LeFevre
3. Larry McNeil
4. Loren Yarbrough

As expected, the LeFevres take the top two. I think Carlene’s 2nd place is her best showing in a non-qualifier since she won the posole contest last fall.

This article from omaha.com mentions the contest and has a picture of the LeFevres. The caption states that Carlene took 2nd, but not that Rich won. (Registration or bugmenot.com required).

If the smoked pork was in the form of ribs, then this is the third IFOCE ribs contest held in the last two months and Rich LeFevre has participated in all three.

IFOCE will hold its second contest in the eastern Nebraska region (Council Bluffs is across the river from Omaha) in 6 days when a Grilled Cheese qualifier is held August 27 in Lincoln at the Nebraska State Fair.

PermalinkComments (1)

The expected roster for the Smoked Pork Eating Championship at the Bluffs Run Casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa has been released. The LeFevres are expected to attend and will face a less than overwhelming lineup. Fast-rising Patrick Bertoletti, who beat Carlene at the Chicago pizza championship, will probably be the Lefevre’s sternest challenge. Kevin Carr is the only other ranked IFOCE member competing. Several unranked IFOCE members from the east will appear, which is surprising since there are three other closer contests they could enter. The cancellation of the Saratoga Nathan’s qualifier might improve the field.

PermalinkComments (4)

From the steak finishers database at bigtexan.com

The database claims there have been 1686 successful attempts at the 72 ounce steak since 1991 with 23 having been performed by women. This gives females just 23/1686 = 1.36% of the finishes. It is really surprising that this fraction is that low given that Sonya Thomas and Kate Stelnick have accomplished feats that no male American competitive eaters have matched.

Carlene LeFevre has accounted for 9 of the 23 completions by women, almost 40% . Richard LeFevre is listed as having finished the steak 10 times, giving the LeFevres more than 1% (19/1686 = 1.12%) of the total completions. The LeFevres first bested the Big Texan’s challenge in 1985, so some of their finishes will not be in the database.

All but 4 of the female finishers have their weight listed. The heaviest listed weight is 160 pounds.

The LeFevres’ January 2000 attempt was filmed for Ripley’s Believe It or Not television show. From amarillo.com (Google cache)

On Jan. 22, six people attempted to consume the Big Texan’s signature stunt of a 72-ounce steak plus a baked potato, salad, roll and a shrimp cocktail. The contest was recorded for the television show Ripley’s Believe It Or Not.

Richard LeFevre, a 135-pound resident of Henderson, Nev., nearly toppled a record held by a man four times his weight. LeFevre consumed the first steak and trimmings in 19 minutes, then asked for a second steak. He was unable to finish the second, but ate about 134 ounces of meat. …

LeFevre’s wife, Carlene, was next person to finish the feast, needing 32 minutes.

Two women from Houston, Tammy Hooker and Annette Havard, both won a radio contest to compete in Amarillo. Both women finished their meal in the allotted time. Havard, whose announced weight was 95 pounds, joked after finishing the meal that she was ready for dessert.

PermalinkComments

Photo album from May 26 SF Chronicle about Sonya Thomas
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/g/a/2005/05/26/eat.DTL&o=4

Remaining pictures are by firmrep357

Pictures from before 2005 Wing Bowl
http://community.webshots.com/album/266831340hhDvEn/1
http://community.webshots.com/album/266831340hhDvEn/2

Pictures from 2004 Nathan’s Contest (has some pictures of Carlene LeFevre)
pictures show the size difference between Sonya and Badlands Booker
http://community.webshots.com/album/161294535eoWBBP
http://community.webshots.com/album/161294535eoWBBP/1
http://community.webshots.com/album/161294535eoWBBP/2

PermalinkComments

I have written a Wikipedia entry about Carlene LeFevre

PermalinkComments