The new poll asks in what region would you most like to see an additional Nathan's qualifier.

April 5, 2011 at 3:08 pm by ojrifkin · More posts about:2011 Nathan's Hot Dog Contest | Permalink * Comments (34)

34 Comments »

  1. A. Nonymous Fan said

    April 5, 2011 @ 3:26 pm

    I think Philadelphia PA has been shafted, we all know the largest concentration of truly talented professional eaters is in the Philadelphia metro area.

  2. Gastroboy said

    April 5, 2011 @ 3:49 pm

    My vote goes for other. A self-proclaimed international hot dog eating contest should have more international qualifiers. I mean, if you live in Europe, how the hell do you qualify for Nathan’s this year (or the last 6 ones or so for that matter)?

    I understand why the can’t hold as many international qualifiers as national qualifiers in the USA, and I understand even why they might not be interested in holding a single international one(as they did all these previous years), but still if you are gonna brag about holding an INTERNATIONAL hot dog eating contest you should care about this kind of things. If you don’t care, you might as well drop the International word from the contest tittle.

    I doubt it would affect advertising that much either. The national potato peeling contest made it to the news in my country in almost every channel, nathan’s didn’t, and krystalls only appeared in the news in one channel.

  3. anonymous said

    April 5, 2011 @ 3:54 pm

    Who cares ? Have your polls ever accomplished anything?

  4. Rhonda Evans said (Registered March 6, 2008)

    April 5, 2011 @ 4:01 pm

    I voted for other (Great plains: Omaha, Nebraska area)

  5. Anonymous said

    April 5, 2011 @ 4:31 pm

    They crown world champions in every other American sport, Gastroboy, but you’re complaining about that.

    My vote is for Mars. Seriously, who f—ing cares?

  6. ZAP! said

    April 5, 2011 @ 4:33 pm

    I THINK WE NEED A QUALIFIER IN THE MIDDLE EAST. POSSIBLY, IRAQ OR PAKISTAN.

  7. And A Moose said

    April 5, 2011 @ 4:54 pm

    I vote other as well! Would like to see one in St Louis, Memphis, Indianapolis, or Nashville. But that’s just my personal opinion for what it’s worth.

  8. NReda said

    April 5, 2011 @ 6:18 pm

    People have fun with these polls. It’s nice to imagine what could be.

  9. Anonymous said

    April 5, 2011 @ 6:57 pm

    Philadelphia has been shafted for several years although Atlantic City is not a bad location. In what radius of an area will you find as many talented eaters? Would be nice to see a qualifier in Antartica or Samoa so Crazy Legs can earn a spot.

  10. Gastroboy said

    April 5, 2011 @ 7:15 pm

    @Anonymous 4:31

    It’s just not right to call someone a world champion if he or she just wins a national tournament, it doesn’t matter how much talent he or she actually has. They could indeed be the very best in the world, but for stating that a world tournament is needed.

    Same happens with contests. An international contest should mean international contest, that’s what words are for. If it’s not intended to be international call it otherwise. If it indeed is intended to be international, then that’s when my ‘advices’ come in.

    It’s not a complain and it isn’t an advice either as it’s not adressed to the people who can do something about it, so far it is only my opinion, and i never though someone would complain about it. I tough it was down to earth enough.

    BTW I like competitive eating, i don’t live in the USA, I’d like to compete and that’s why i care. You can pick a thousand people from the street at random in no time who don’t give a damn about the contest altogether – let alone the international thing – but being at eatfeats.com i hope that at least a handful of its visitors might be interested as well. Probably a high percentaje of visitors won’t care anyway, if you wanted to make that clear you got a point.

  11. KevinRoss said

    April 5, 2011 @ 7:43 pm

    I’d suggest a qualifier on Mars with 3 Boob chicks as the Bunettes.

    And if you don’t get this reference, then you hate awesome things.

  12. Matt "Mega Toad" Stonie said (Registered June 22, 2010)

    April 5, 2011 @ 9:51 pm

    Do one in Hawaii, gettin some Samoians on stage will boost Nathen’s rating for sure =]

  13. NReda said

    April 5, 2011 @ 11:02 pm

    Some people have been watching too much Total Recall.

  14. Ken Wong said (Registered July 31, 2006)

    April 6, 2011 @ 2:18 am

    Around 2002 there was a Nathan’s qualifier held in Seattle, WA a week before the Vancouver, BC one. It was a one off event held at a family festival. Vancouver held qualifiers in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003. Due to little publicity I did not know about the 1999 one. I can not remember my exact placements in 2000 and 2001. Second/Third? I placed second in the final two contests for the Canadian Hot Dog Eating Championship. I assume the Canadian Mustard belt will show up in Calgary if the Pacific National Exhibition does not claim ownership of it. It might be in it’s archives.

    Ken “The Demolisher” Wong
    
surrey.bc.ca-City of pie eating contests
    
http://www.canada.com/vancouvercourier/news/story.html?id=c6509127-3f89-4932-9bdc-0d5d1ac79704

  15. KevinRoss said

    April 6, 2011 @ 3:34 am

    All I can say in reply to you Naader is GET YOUR ASS TO MARS

  16. joe said

    April 6, 2011 @ 5:08 am

    why not just have the qualifiers in the thirteen town of the top thirteen eaters. mle could save thousands of dollars on air fare and hotel expences; for example there could be a contest @ colemans bar and grill with lazy legs and 9 homeless people

  17. A. Nonymous said

    April 6, 2011 @ 9:38 am

    (Start sarcasm here…) Other than the slam at CLC, Joe’s suggestion may be the best I’ve ever heard regarding Nathan’s. (end sarcasm) You could still have the qualifiers, but you need to beat the top eaters on their own turf. If you actually pulled it off – what a coup!

  18. anonymous said

    April 6, 2011 @ 10:10 am

    Dave Wagner is a godsend . The photos and video of CLC cheating is priceless

  19. Anonymous said

    April 6, 2011 @ 11:00 am

    Let’s just say I’m pretty sure the “Canadian Mustard Belt” is not housed in the Pacific National Exhibition’s archives.

  20. Stallion Italian said (Registered August 27, 2010)

    April 6, 2011 @ 12:09 pm

    Pretty cool suggestion, having people try to beat the top eaters on their own turf, top ten, a few international contests. Not sure how the issue of geography could be done though.

  21. Anonymous said

    April 6, 2011 @ 12:13 pm

    I don’t understand how Joe thinks that MLE would save thousands of dollars on airfare and hotel expenses. The emcee would still have to travel, and the headliner wouldn’t be getting a free trip anyway. Do you guys seriously not understand how this business works? If you want to go to a qualifier, it doesn’t matter who you are — you’re on your own.

  22. Wrecking Ball said (Registered May 6, 2010)

    April 6, 2011 @ 1:23 pm

    In baseball you are considered a World series champion although you only competed in MLB here in the states…

  23. Oops said

    April 6, 2011 @ 1:42 pm

    Last I checked Toronto (as in Blue Jays) was in Canada

  24. Rhonda Evans said (Registered March 6, 2008)

    April 6, 2011 @ 1:58 pm

    I think Joe was himself being sarcastic. 🙂

  25. joe also said

    April 6, 2011 @ 2:34 pm

    Thanks Rhonda, at least someone gets it. Now for the rest of you that are saying ,,,HUH?? what I wrote was all bull
    (S,S,H…) MLE has the perfect set up, now don’t anybody worry their little heads off. all contests will be fairly judged, all eaters will be treated undiscrininatly and unbiased and the contest on the forth will be more exciting than ever (E,S,H)

  26. Gastroboy said

    April 6, 2011 @ 2:50 pm

    @Wrecking Ball

    I already guessed that after the anonymous comment at 4:31. However they are obviously using the wrong term! That’s not the exact problem here though. Whoever wins an international eating contest should be considered the world champion (at that food), the problem is… how much international that contest really is?

    At that point, i just address that they should make a little more international qualifiers. I don’t expect as many contests in Europe or Asia as in the USA at all, for obvious reasons — aka both the lack of nathan’s stores and the lack of comercial interest of nathan’s in those places. But being the most famous self-proclaimed international eating contest, it would be nice to see that happen.

    Moreover, they did it in the past (i think it was in 2005) and they schedulled qualifiers in London, Germany and Japan in 2008 if i remember correctly — which didn’t take place in the end. And they are doing it again in Canada and Beijing this year. So i’m just hoping to see it become a habit, hopefully not missing any continent in the process :P.

    Btw i know America Europe and Asia are not the only continents in the world, i used them as examples. It’s dumb to point this out but just in case…

  27. Gastroboy said

    April 6, 2011 @ 2:58 pm

    Yeah, i smell a lot of sarcasm here Rhonda, and it is a lot of fun, yet i consider my arguments virtually flawless haha.

  28. NReda said

    April 6, 2011 @ 5:20 pm

    A number of national (or sub-national) organizations that proclaim “world championships” seem to be doing so from the attractiveness of the title. I remember a sushi house in San Francisco proclaimed the fastest eater of its mega sushi roll a “World Champion” of sushi, though clearly the only people vying for the title were those who had traveled to San Francisco to test their skills.

    I agree with Gastroboy’s concerns. Nathan’s might point out that anyone from anywhere in the world is “potentially free” to travel to a contest and try to qualify. In that sense you could consider it a world championship. Travel is obviously a hardship, but it’s also a hardship for those of us in the US who have qualifiers close by.

    And what about availability? Qualifiers are limited in number, and there’s a limited number of seats at every qualifier. The 15 fortunate souls (just throwing out a number) who get into an event might not be the best representatives of talent in a given region. You might live a few miles from a qualifier, but if IFOCE doesn’t pick your name, the event may as well not even exist.

  29. Anonymous said

    April 6, 2011 @ 6:44 pm

    This eater says no eater gets paid to fly to a contest. If the sponsor decides to give perks or room discounts, that is up to them. Performers who get hired can get paid for expenses but you have to be hired. Everyone pays their own way period. Sure, if it is a show or demonstration that is different. For Nathans, fly or get anywhere on your own, China, Tibet, doesn’t matter. Yeah, you have to be picked, you still pay your way.

  30. who gives a shit said

    April 6, 2011 @ 8:16 pm

    Why don’t you post some of these opinions on buytiful brains site instead ofpostoing here. Brian is a real person Oj rifkin isnt

  31. Anonymous said

    April 7, 2011 @ 1:23 am

    Well, NReda, then there’s no true world championship because everywhere in the world there is someone who didn’t know about it, didn’t grow up with it, was in jail, or for some other reason couldn’t attend. Seriously, why do you guys parse this sh-t like a bunch of teenagers who think they’re smarter than are? Just roll with it. It’s not absolute, but almost nothing in this world is.

  32. hamburglar said (Registered September 14, 2008)

    April 10, 2011 @ 7:10 pm

    Since everybody pays their own way, I think there should be a qualifier in every state. The winner gets the $200 (or whatever the prize is). Then anybody who eats more than 20 and is willing to sign the contract gets to compete in Nathan’s. Then instead of one big showdown, start with the lower-tier eaters. Have 3 competitions. (ie 20-30 group, 31-40, and then show the top finalists fighting it out for the Grand Finale. Then there would actually be a reason to have an hour’s worth of paid television time for a 10 minute competition.

  33. stephanie_wu said (Registered August 17, 2010)

    April 10, 2011 @ 7:54 pm

    You have some good ideas hamburglar. The entire ESPN show each July 4 is boring until the very end. Similar to watching NBC’s hour-long specials for the Kentucky Derby, which lasts just a few minutes and is not shown until the end.

  34. stephanie_wu said (Registered August 17, 2010)

    April 10, 2011 @ 7:59 pm

    I never understood eating competitions to crown the best eater where only certain eaters are allowed in. Mechanisms to weed out people include high entrance fees, random drawings to determine who can eat, and the MLE method, where it’s first-come, first serve to register, supposedly, but with MLE getting the last word (IOW, they choose whomever they want, regardless of what order you registered in). Even first come, first serve is not really fair.

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