Competitive eating in worst of 2007 lists
There are two competitive eating themed entries in two recent lists of awards for 2007:
From Japan Times:
Most Unappetizing TV Personality: Gal Sone
She’s the first competitive eating star to parlay her avocation into a livelihood as a tarento, which means on variety shows she has to talk about her skills as a big eater. But testimonials for her favorite brand of toilet paper and explications of her six or seven daily bowel movements are not things we need to hear, especially right after she’s put away 5 kg of curry rice.
From 411Mania’s pro wrestling list:
Worst Promo = PACMAN Jones’s introduction.
Actually, I think I voted the Matt Hardy/MVP Pizza-Eating Contest first, but it didn’t count since it was more of a ‘skit’ than a ‘promo’.
Gal Sone enters the “squared circle”
(From R Suzuki) Oricon reports that Gal Sone defeated wrestlers Tani Ara Homare Nozomi and Nobukazu Hirai in a curry eating contest held during a pro wrestling card. Gal Sone ate 3 kilograms of curry in 9 minutes and 23 seconds to win and says the experience has made her want to become a pro wrestler.
Shirota vs. Menchetti New Year’s Eve showdown
Deresque has information about the New Year’s Eve eating contest that Nobuyuki “the Giant” Shirota and “Gentleman” Joe Menchetti will participate in. The competition will be part of a professional wrestling / competitive eating extravaganza that will be televised on TV Tokyo. (Pro wrestling is called “hustling” in Japan.) Shirota had a giant spoon at the event announcing the contest.
The transcript of this press conference announces that Gal Sone will be having an eating contest with retired mixed martial artist / pro wrestler Antonio Inoki during the event. Inoki fought Muhammad Ali to a draw in a mixed martial arts contest in 1976.
Gal Sone’s favorite curry in short supply
Gal Sone recently appeared in a program in which she sampled and ranked curries from 47 Japanese prefectures: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
Mainichi reports that the curry from the Tottori prefecture selected by Gal Sone as her favorite became sold out in many stores and the company producing it was flooded with mail orders.
Gal Sone receives buzzword award for 22nd birthday
Gal Sone’s latest blog entry is about her appearance at a buzzword award ceremony. Mycom reports that representatives of the top 10 buzzwords received awards and Gal Sone represented the term oogui (big eating / gluttony) Pink Tentacle has a list with descriptions of the 60 buzzwords that were candidates for the top 10. “Food Fighter” was one of the buzzwords that failed to make the cut.
In the picture on the left, Gal Sone is between bathing suit wearing comedian Yoshio Kojima whose catchphrase is “Sonna no kankei nee” (“What does that matter?”) and transvestite Ikko, who is famous for the exclamation of surprise “dondake?!â€.
Today is Gal Sone’s 22nd birthday. She already celebrated the occasion with a cake bearing her likeness.
Japanese supersizing attributed to Gal Sone
JapanToday.com has an English article about Natsuko “Gal” Sone and the trend towards larger portions in Japanese fast food restaurants
By August, McDonald’s posted its all-time monthly sales record, and a food industry analyst credits the Mega Mac for having returned operations to profitability.
This message was not lost on McDonald’s rivals. On Oct 16, the Sukiya chain followed suit, introducing its Mega Beef Bowl — boasting a triple-sized portion of beef — for 650 yen. Its 1,286 kilocalories constitutes about half an adult male’s daily nutritional requirements. Demand for the new dish is said to be steady.
The same day Sukiya’s Mega Beef Bowl went on sale, the Family Mart convenience store chain launched its Mega Hamburger Bento boxed meal for 540 yen, and followed up a week later with the Mega Chicken Cutlet Bento for 590 yen.
“We believe that Ms Sone’s TV appearances have been a factor contributing to the ‘supersize’ boom,†a reporter covering the food industry tells Shukan Shincho.
Gal Sone goes octopus hunting in Canada
R Suzuki reports that Gal Sone traveled to the west coast of Canada and went on an octopus hunt around Vancouver Island on a Nippon TV program. After a diver caught an octopus, it was cooked and served to Gal Sone in a restaurant.
Gal Sone dines with Chinese dwarf and giant
From JapanProbe:
Back on October 10th, Fuji TV aired a special in which a 240cm (7 ft. 11 in.) tall man and a 70cm (2 ft. 4 in.) tall man traveled from their hometowns in China to experience life in Japan. The show billed itself as having the world’s shortest and tallest living humans, which was at least true in the case of the short guy, He Pingping of Inner Mongolia. However, I could not find much information on the tall guy, Chao (ãƒãƒ£ã‚ªï¼‰, who is apparently not the world’s tallest living man, but it was still cool to see such a bizarre pairing.
A video of PingPing’s and Chao’s dinner with Gal Sone can be viewed at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7248401227961879709
Subtitled Gal Sone appearance on talk show
A subtitled version of Natsuko “Gal” Sone’s appearance on the show “Cartoon KAT-TUN” is available on youtube. In the program, Gal Sone is interviewed by the boy band KAT-TUN about some of the answers on a 100 question form she filled out before the show. While answering questions, Gal Sone eats a lot of sushi and then plays ping pong.
The SomaIsGood livejournal has a writeup of the show.
Gal Sone & Shirota science show subtitled
A subtitled program in which Nobuyuki “the Giant” Shirota and Natsuko “Gal” Sone receive a medical examination to determine what gives them their eating ability can be seen at http://subtitle.in/w/j0qT_UGSSYQ/IbI___wRkiD
Gal Sone’s secret weapon
The Mainichi Daily News has an article (in English) about one of Natsuko “Gal” Sone’s favorite products:
Her handlers say her secret weapon is Hane Niju (Double Feather), the revolutionary new toilet paper she uses.
Made by Mochizuki Seishi, a paper company based in Kochi, Hane Niju is Japan’s highest quality toilet paper. It sells for 195 yen for a single roll compared to the average supermarket price of 298 yen for a dozen rolls.
“Gal Sone started using the paper after she was given some as a present while appearing on TV in the summer,” the Watanabe Entertainment spokesman says. “She’s been hooked on it ever since.”
Gal Sone’s transvestite enemy
Finaltrans has posted several anti Gal Sone comments on youtube, one of which reads:
i hate japanese girls and women like a gal sone!
especially gal sone is an abnormal gal, so i wanna murder a guy!
many japanese girls and women are very pretty faces but they go completely crazy!!!
The youtube page of finaltrans lists his (or her) interests as:
kathoey, shemale, transvestite, transgender, girl, woman, women, akihabara, shinjuku, thailand, ladyboy
friend, fashion
A video of finaltrans wearing a trenchcoat type of outfit without any talking has been uploaded to youtube.
Gluttonous King 2007 web page
This year’s “Gluttonous King” contest will be televised on Sunday night, and a web page for that program has been set up. The competitors displayed on the page are Gal Sone, Giant Shirota, Takuya Yamamoto, the Artist and newcomer Sakura Takahashi.
Gal Sone special sets TV ratings record
TV8Ch reports that Gal Sone’s appearance on “kinsuma” last Friday received a 22.8% audience share. A 2ch commenter believes this is an all time record for a Japanese competitive eating program, breaking the mark of 22.7% set by Food Battle Club 2 in 2001. The program was not a contest; Gal Sone underwent a through examination to determine what enables her to eat so much and stay thin.
22.8% 21:00 – 22: Masahiro’s 48 TBS Nakai [kinsuma]! Disturbance ten thousand height special!!
Gal 曽 root celebration great success!!!!
Power of the audience rating queen was exhibited, that that much thing of the girl alone probably will be elucidated, seriously scientifically the program which is said, overwhelms other things, fearfully the [ru] should!! Mystery of the flesh of the gal 曽 root exceeded the Egypt mystery!!!!
Gal Sone on “Worldwide Challenge” & other videos
Gal Sone appeared on this week’s episode of “Worldwide Challenge” (Yaredeki), the program that televised the pumpkin contest last week. Gal Sone ate a dessert from 60 countries. Pecan pie was selected as the dessert from the United States. R Suzuki has a program description. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
Gal Sone shows off her studio apartment, then has an eating contest with a man listed as her boyfriend. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6
Gal Sone is analyzed on a science program in which an infared camera records her and a heavier person while they eat. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Gal Sone appears on a combination cartoon / quiz show.
Gal Sone sings “Tomorrow” (not from “Little Orphan Annie”)
Some other videos can be seen on jinyashiki’s youtube page
Gal Sone fractures bone
(From R Suzuki) Nikkan Sports reports that Natsuko “Gal” Sone has suffered a bone fracture in the right gluteal area. She does not expect that any events will be canceled.
Gal Sone goes to China
Xinhuanet reports that Natsuko “Gal” Sone went to Guangzhou, China to compete in an eating contest.
Gal Sone promotes Ratatouille
The Japanese language web site for the movie Ratatouille (called Remy in Japan) has videos of a cooking lesson and interview with Natsuko “Gal” Sone. There is also a blog entry about attending the Japanese premier of Ratatouille on Gal Sone’s blog.
Gal Sone vs. magician & other videos
A video of Gal Sone competing in a noodle eating contest against magician Cyril Takayama can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNyJzl680l4 Cyril makes Gal Sone’s lead in the contest almost completely disappear. Japan Probe and R Suzuki have recaps of the program.
The entire rookie women’s qualifier for this years “Gluttonous King” contest can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/user/euromach2
Gal Sone moves out & other videos
Gal Sone recently moved out of her parent’s house in Kyoto into a studio apartment in the Shibuya district of Tokyo. A program called “Imada Housing Moving” located Gal Sone a new residence and then performed some renovations on it, greatly upgrading the kitchenette and adding a built in aquarium and condiment dispenser. The apartment has 29.6 square meters (330 square feet) and has a monthly rent of 116000 Yen ($957). The apartment is too small for both a bed and sofa, so Gal Sone will sleep on a futon.
R Suzuki has a summary of the program
Some more programs
Gluttonous Queen rookie qualifier round 1 – Hokkaido (Suguwara wins by eating 58 sausages in 45 minutes)
Tomoko Miyake completes several eating challenges on “Enjoy Garage” Part 1, Part 2
Gyaruru eats sushi, then dance with a man wearing only underwear
Some other videos can be seen at
www.youtube.com/user/iwasakinyama and youtube.com/user/eazy777
“Grandma” Sone video reuploaded
The video of “Gal” Sone competing while disguised as an old German woman has been reuploaded to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNuvm9CP8b0
Natsuko “Grandma” Sone
A video of Gal Sone, disguised as a senior citizen, competing in an eating contest Bobby Oregon, a Japanese speaking comedian from Nigeria, can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFNFHCqNq8 Ken’s Twisted Rant has a report (in English) about the appearance.
“Gourmet Fighter” movie in production
R Suzuki reports that a movie based on the “Gourmet Fighter” anime is in production. Natsuko “Gal” Sone and Nobuyuki “the Giant” Shirota are in the cast listing.
More Gal Sone / Gyaruru videos
Gal Sone vs. Saori Nakayama in a recent Wednesday morning contest: Part 1, Part 2
Gyaruru appearance on “Music Fighter”: Performance, Interview Part 1, Interview Part 2
Amimi’s (Gyaruru member with glasses) dance lesson videos for the “Boom Boom Meccha Maccho” dance (7 parts)
Full Gluttonous Queen 2006 available
The entire broadcast of last year’s Gluttonous Queen program is available in 10 parts at http://www.youtube.com/user/iwasakinyama
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