A press release announces that the Gringo Bandito Taco Challenge in Huntington Beach, CA will award $5000 to the winner on August 11. No competitors besides Takeru Kobayashi are mentioned. update August 8 An email lists Furious Pete Czerwinski, Damon Wells, Naader Reda, Matt “Sweet Tooth†Cohen, Jimmy Lin, Frank Paulin, Shawn “Vacuum†Kirby and Aaron Ybarra as other expected entrants. update August 9 Stephanie Torres and John Rivera have been added to the field.
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anonymous said
August 7, 2012 @ 12:27 am
To save any further embarassment for anyone thinking of competing in this farce, let him go up against himself and award him the 5grand. Its the only practical thing to do. It sickens me to watch former IFOCE renegades make fools of themselves on stage
Pat from Moonachie said
August 7, 2012 @ 5:43 am
You are one agenda-havin’ Mofo!
anonymous said
August 7, 2012 @ 9:20 am
I think it would be great to see Jamie McDonald, now that he has chosen the indy path, kick Kobi’s ass.
Anonymous said
August 7, 2012 @ 11:12 am
Might be great but can he do it? Who has he gone up against in the top tier and beaten consistently? Kobayashi is a pretty incredible opponent. Yes, Joey beat him in hotdogs but who else has beaten Kobayashi? Yes, a bear and once in Japan he was beaten, and yes, when he had the jawthritis thing which some people did not believe he stopped eating for one contest and lost, I think at Krystals. But overall hardly anyone has beaten him or is capable of beating him.
Rhonda Evans said (Registered March 6, 2008)
August 7, 2012 @ 1:20 pm
Nothing against Jamie, as he is one of the most talented eaters out there, but he is no Kobayashi. The only eater on the planet that can routinely hang with and / or top Koby (“Jawthritis” aside) is “Jaws” Chestnut.
All the rest are just sharing a table.
anonymous said
August 7, 2012 @ 2:41 pm
Chestnut took the easy way out to get to the top. When he first came on the scene he asked every ranked eater for advice on eating. Like fools they gave it to him and he used every bit of it to his advantage
Truth said
August 7, 2012 @ 4:14 pm
We all know Kobayashi’s departure from the MLE was just because he saw that blaming his losses to Joey on fake jaw injuries would only last so long. With Kobi’s skills declining, Joey’s skills rising, he would no longer be top dog and his ego couldn’t take it. It’s been proven now that he’s signed another hotdog contest and Kobi once claimed he never signs contracts — right? The whole “Free Kobi” contract crap was just a way to blame someone else for his MLE departure and never again have to compete against Joey and other MLE eaters in legit contests. So what does that tell you? Now Kobi can fix contests with his own judges and choose his competitors. Honestly, if there really was an independent eater that could beat him do you think Kobi’s people would actually let such non-existent eater at this time beat him or even compete against him. He hasn’t had a legit contest in two years so who knows where his skill level is at this time and it can’t have improved due to the fact that no indie can push him to do better. Odds are, just the fact that he puts on phoney shows like Gringo, Crifs and Turkey demos show that he and his people actually recognize that his skills have declined. But, they’ll never admit that and point to records and events he did a decade ago.
Anonymous said
August 7, 2012 @ 4:49 pm
I think everyone else did the same thing Anonymous 241. Sounds smart to me. If he wasn’t loaded with talent, he wouldn’t be where he is today, regardless.
Anonymous said
August 7, 2012 @ 5:25 pm
2:41 how absolutely ridiculous. Your statement makes zero sense. If you want to criticize Chestnut for asking advice and then not reciprocating that is one thing but honestly, if people knew how to beat him, they would. Easy way out? Not a chance. And, as usual, I agree with Rhonda. The only person who could hang with Koby is Chestnut.
BigD said
August 8, 2012 @ 2:33 am
Another $5000 in Koby’s pocket . The only way he loses is if he drops dead on stage
Rhonda Evans said (Registered March 6, 2008)
August 8, 2012 @ 11:54 am
Koby’s skill is declining about as much as my sex drive.
damon wells said
August 8, 2012 @ 1:38 pm
Not a renegade, just wanted to compete more, mle is the cream of the crop but has little representation on the west cost. Since going Indy I’ve had much more fun, competed more and have made a little money. I have a chance to make some money in a city I can literally ride my bike too in this contest, so why not?. I’m happy with the route Ive taken…
Ben Dover said
August 8, 2012 @ 2:54 pm
“Other world famous competitors?” “Furious” Pete Czerwinski, Damon Wells, Naader Reda, Matt “Sweet Tooth†Cohen, Jimmy Lin, Frank Paulin, Shawn “Vacuum†Kirby and Aaron Ybarra?” Pete Czerwinski’s the closest being known anywhere outside of Canada, but even Kobi’s hand picked announcer just last month at Crif Dogs said Pete wasn’t a “real eater.” Heck, Kobi didn’t even bother having Pete introduced at Crif Dogs and showed total disrespect by placing Pete at the end of table. What a sad bunch of bull crap this Gringo event is. They still didn’t even bother putting these guys names on the press release or website for Gringos because they know reporters won’t find it credible that these jokers are “world famous eaters.” Hats off to those indie eaters, particularly those Kobi embarrased at Crif Dogs, who may have gotten fooled the first time, but this time told Kobi to take a hike. At least you guys have your self respect. These guys lost all self and fan respect. Kobi didn’t even bother to have a prize for second place or third place. Rhetorical Questions — what is more embarrassing? Bending over and eating against your dog? Or, bending over and being humiliated against Kobi for free? I’d have to go with the dog because at least the dog might respect you.
Anonymous said
August 8, 2012 @ 4:42 pm
Wasn’t there a mention recently about Crif Dog eaters not getting paid or reimbursed yet for their expenses? Maybe that is why none of those eaters, except for Pete, are showing up. Need the money to fly to Cal? Just a thought.
Ben Dover said
August 9, 2012 @ 1:16 pm
John Rivera!!! John Rivera!!! Why didn’t you tell me John Rivera was going to eat at Gringos? I mean just getting Frank Paulin is worth the fee of attendance. But my god, who would ever thought that John Rivera and Frank Paulin would appear on the same stage. Wow, that’s got to be the showdown of century. On top of that you have Matt Cohen going against Jimmy Lin, move over Ali-Frasier. I take it all back. Forget about it. If the networks don’t interrupt prime time programing they’ll be hearing from me. This truly is the most awesome field of “world famous eaters” ever amassed.
Hmmmm said
August 9, 2012 @ 3:41 pm
Ben Dover,
there is a lot of anger and heat going back and forth on this thread (and the other one about the same taco contest). How would you propose we make the situation better? Specifically I ask how boycotting this event would help any of the independent eaters.
Matt Cohen said (Registered April 12, 2010)
August 9, 2012 @ 4:03 pm
@ Ben Dover. Why so bitter. If you wanted to join in, then show up!
Anonymous said
August 9, 2012 @ 8:57 pm
Pete did not place at Crif dog . Therefore he is not really owed much money is he . No Torres , No Gilbert . Both westcoast eaters .
Pat From Moonachie said (Registered December 10, 2005)
August 10, 2012 @ 1:02 am
I think I benefited from Pete’s busy schedule.
Hypothetically said
August 10, 2012 @ 1:50 pm
*looks like this didn’t get posted the first time*
Ben Dover, obviously you’re a MLE loyalist/yes man/Shea sucker. That’s fine and dandy, we all have the right to choose a side. Hopefully you’re on MLE’s payroll because if you aren’t then you lead one sad and pathetic life to sit on eatfeats all day posting the same redundant crap over and over again.
Hypothetically, lets look at the line up for this event, and for a second let’s pretend all the eaters were with MLE. Looking at their past eating experience it would be fair to say that these eaters would be ranked with MLE around
Kobi – 2nd
Torres – 10 to 12th
Pete – 10 to 12th
Wells – 20 to 25th (I believe he was 19th before leaving)
Ybarra & Lin – mid 30’s
Rivera & Reda – 40 to 45th
Cohen & Kirby – 45 to 50th (Kirby was ranked in the 40’s for over a year+)
Looks pretty comparable (as far a talent goes) to the last 3 (not Nathan’s or Hooters) MLE events.
Pulled Pork – Janus, LEE and LA Beast
Slug Burger – Stonie, Morgan, More Bite, LA Beast
Boneless Wings – Pat, A-Train, Kogutkiewicz and Raible
all 3 above mentioned had McDonald in them placing 2nd or 3rd, who ironically is non MLE.
Btw this contest prize pool is $6,750 which is higher then the next 6 MLE events…
Taco Bell – $2,000 (really, MLE can only get $2k for their EATERS from TACO BELL, one of the biggest fast food chains in the world?… $2K for the eaters, how much for the Shea’s?)
Gyoza – $5,500
National Burger – $1,500 (that’s major league money right there!)
Ribs – $5,000
Buffet Bowl – $1,750 (LOL)
Buffalo Wings – $2,550
anonymous said
August 10, 2012 @ 2:10 pm
Ok, so it’s a $6750 prize purse. At lease the MLE contests have a little better distribution of the money, i.e. approximately 50% to the winner. The Skinny Asian Guy (SAG) is going to walk away with over 74% of the purse. And you probably have a better chance of eventually getting paid at an MLE contest than at one of SAG’s set-up contests.
Hypothetically said
August 10, 2012 @ 2:45 pm
MLE events usually have 2 of the top 6 go to their contests… (FUD) Fat Ugly Drunk (Chestnut) goes to about 80% of all MLE contests even though he bad mouths them NOBODY is touching him, and you’d have to be extremely lucky to touch any of the other 5 from the top 6 in MLE, so if you’re not one of those top 6, you start clawing for the left over 3rd, 4th and if it’s paid 5th. Even less of a chance if more then 2 of the 6 show up… oh yeah not to mention, you have to pay for your own travel.
The only contest that really got it right is Gyoza, but I think that’s more of Day-Lee’s doing (paying ten spots) than MLE’s… But I could be wrong.
Bottom line, if you’re not top 8 or so and or one of their golden kids then you will profit more in the Indy scene and Kobi would be a good part of that profit, even if he takes up 74% of the prize pool… Last I checked 24% of $6,750 > $0
Thanks for playing though!
anonymous said
August 10, 2012 @ 8:24 pm
When the Lermans Lipsitz, Hardy and Jarvis left the scene it was time to get the fuck out cause those new kids practically tore apart the organization grabbing all the gelt for themselves making it virtually impossible for a mediocre eater to get a piece of the prize money
Anonymous said
August 10, 2012 @ 8:46 pm
As far as I heard the winners at the last Gringo contest were paid on the spot with checks from the Owner.
anonymous said
August 10, 2012 @ 11:33 pm
If you get paid on the spot you know you are dealing with an up and up class act sponsor. When they hold out paying you its like a musician and his or her band playing a gig and the owner takes his sweet time paying you or might not pay you at all.
Damon Wells said
August 13, 2012 @ 2:14 pm
We weren’t paid on the spot… We had to go to Dexter Holland’s huge rockstar house for an after party for free booze, swimming pool, pool tables, arcade games and huge spread of catered Chronic Taco food to get our checks.
I know it’s not nearly as as fun as checking your mail box day after day for a check, but I won’t complain.