ABC News has an article and video about the Carolina Reaper pepper mentioning Wayne Algenio's record set at the NYC Hot Sauce Expo in April.
Stuart's Smokehouse in Alderson, WV will hold an amateur-only hot dog eating contest on July 4 awarding $500/$100/$50.
MLE top 50 updated, Tim “Eater X” Janus dropped
Michael Deitz noticed the MLE top 50 was updated today. Tim “Eater X” was ejected from the #4 position, ending a streak in the rankings of at least a decade. Other ejections are Scott Thomas (#35) and Marlene Wigginton (#43). New entrants are Steven Schuster (#22) Michael Dietz(#34) and Kassandra Zapata (#42).
It is interesting that Scott Thomas and Marlene Wigginton were removed when they had done competitions in the last 365 days. Eric Livingston and Ben Do have not competed since 2014.
Chicago Ribfest disruption plans changed
Meetup.com still has a post from Vegan Chicago about their plans to disrupt and “shut down” Friday’s eating contest at Ribfest Chicago. They have changed their assembly site from a restaurant to John C. Coonley Elementary School. 16 people have said they are going. 
Poker comments in the Pocono challenge thread have been moved here. To make this slightly less off-topic, here are the current Nathan's odds from bovada.lv
Manteca Bulletin has the field for the bacon eating contest at Dell’Osso Family Farms in Lathrop, CA on June 19: Miki Sudo, Michelle Lesco, Erik Denmark, Juan Rodriguez, Steve Hendry, Lesley Ryder, Doug Ecks, Dixon West, Andrew Gutierrez and Jon Davis. Joey Chestnut missing the contest guarantees that he will compete in the Nathan's finals undefeated in the calendar year for the first time in his career and will also result in just one matchup between Joey Chestnut and Matt Stonie over the previous nine months before July 4. 40 entrants are expected in the amateur qualifier on June 18: a much larger field than any Nathan's qualifier.
In its first facebook update of 2016, All Pro Eating confirmed the $10K/$5K/$2500/$1K/$500 purse for the Caribbean Food Delights World Beef Patty Eating Championship in Tappan, NY June 26. The competition is billed as "The world's most LUCRATIVE Officially Sanctioned Competitive Eating World Championship". (Both the Nathan's men's & women's contest will award $20K).
Randy Santel announces that he completed Casey's Whale Challenge at Casey's Fish N Chip Shop in Ossett, England today to bring his total of successful restaurant challenges to 400. He and Mitch Dombrowski will face "Beard Meats Food" at Skippers Cafe to attempt the Kraken breakfast challenge tomorrow.
2016 Nathan’s finals live on ESPN3.com
The ESPN3.com schedule for July 4 is now out. The men’s & women’s Nathan’s finals will be live streamed on that platform. The broadcast will be tape-delayed on ESPN at 3pm eastern due to Wimbledon coverage.
The pizza eating contest that was to have awarded $1100 in Brooklyn yesterday was postponed due to rain. Organizers hope to reschedule later in June.
A press release announces the Gringo Bandito Chronic Tacos Eating Contest will take place at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas on Friday, July 29. Could this be the first head-to-head matchup between Molly Schuyler and defending champion Takeru Kobayashi?
2016 Nathan’s finals field as of June 6
With three qualifiers left here is the current field for the 2016 Nathan’s finals:
Men
Women
Presumably previous champions Joey Chestnut and Sonya Thomas will receive byes
Nathan’s 2015 Top 10 yet to qualify:
Tim Janus (retired), Erik Denmark, Yasir Salem, Pablo Martinez
Daniella Gioia, BeeJay Alexander, Carlene LeFevre
Men’s wild card leaders
| 2016 Jun 4 | 2nd | 31 | 10 min | Yasir Salem | Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest Qualifier – men | Syracuse, NY |
| 2016 Apr 23 | 2nd | 29.75 | 10 min | Erik “The Red” Denmark | Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest Qualifier – men | Las Vegas, NV |
| 2016 Apr 23 | 3rd | 27 | 10 min | Steve Hendry | Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest Qualifier – men | Las Vegas, NV |
Women’s wild card leaders
| 2016 Apr 23 | 2nd | 12.5 | 10 min | Carlene LeFevre | Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest Qualifier – women | Las Vegas, NV |
| 2016 Jun 5 | 2nd | 8 | 10 min | Tess “Tessie Tornado” Siciliano | Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest Qualifier – women | Long Pond, PA |
| 2016 Apr 16 | 2nd | 7 | 10 min | Taylor Coombs | Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest Qualifier – women | St. Louis, MO |
2016 Acme Oyster contest
update June 6 WGNO has a video NOLA.com has a gallery WDSU also has a video
update Nola has an article and gallery along with an oyster training video from Adrian Morgan.
update Adrian Morgan defeated Sonya Thomas in overtime. His total was 44 dozen. Michelle Lesco was 3rd place
Sonyas Thomas, Adrian Morgan, Michelle Lesco, Crazy Legs Conti, Steve Hendry, Nate Biller and Corey Fanguy are expected to compete.
Joe "U Mad Bro" Ziobro won the first prize of $500 in yesterday's burger eating contest at Roadhouse Diner in Great Falls, MT yesterday.
2016 Nathan’s Pocono qualifier
update Pocono Record has a contest report
Full Results Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
1) Badlands Booker 23.75
2) Kevin Ambs 23.33
3) George Chiger 19.5
4) Jim Reeves 18
5T) Michael Deitz 13
5T) Ryan Siciliano 13
7) Bill Myers 12.75
8) Tom Serpico 6
1W) Larell Marie Mele 12
2w) Tess Siciliano 8
update It appears Eric “Badlands” Booker narrowly won the men’s contest
Larell Marie Mele won the women’s contest, which puts Carlene LeFevre back in the wild card lead.
Larell Marie Mele, Jim Reeves and Bill Myers are expected to do 2 qualifiers in less than 24 hours. “Badlands” Booker is another listed entrant. A victory by Larell Marie would restore the women’s wild card lead to Carlene LeFevre.
Miki Sudo, Michelle Lesco, Adrian Morgan, Juan Rodriguez, Erik Denmark, Gideon Oji, Andrew Kogutkiewicz and the winner of a qualifier Thursday at Rocks Northcenter are expected at the Chicago Ribfest June 10.
2016 Nathan’s Syracuse qualifier
Syracuse.com has an article and video about the qualifier
Ryan Siciliano has the winners from today’s Nathan’s qualifier in Syracuse. Larell Marie Mele says she took the women’s wild card lead. Results part 2
1) Geoff Esper 34.5
2) Yasir Salem 31, takes men’s wild card lead
3) Jim Reeves 23
4) Ryan Siciliano 16
5) Steven Dorgo 15
6) Bill Myers 14.5
7) Jesse Kanula 13
8) Don 8
9T) Kevin Belbey 7
9T) Derek 7
1W) Meredith Boxberger 21
2W) Larell Marie Mele 14.5, takes women’s wild card lead
MLE Head to Head results June 4, 2016
Here are the head to head results for people with 2 or more MLE contest results over the past 365 days:
| 1 | Matt “Megatoad” Stonie (M St) | 99.1% | 109-1 |
| 2 | Joey “Jaws” Chestnut (J Ch) | 97% | 193-6 |
| 3 | Tim “Eater X” Janus (T Ja) | 88% | 22-3 |
| 4 | Miki Sudo (M Su) | 82.1% | 141-30-2 |
| 5 | Geoffrey Esper (G Es) | 78.7% | 69-18-2 |
| 6 | Adrian “The Rabbit” Morgan (A Mo) | 75% | 69-23 |
| 7 | Michelle “Cardboard Shell” Lesco (M Le) | 69.7% | 82-35-2 |
| 8 | Steven Schuster (S Sc) | 66.7% | 2-1 |
| 9 | Yasir Salem (Y Sa) | 65.8% | 90-46-3 |
| 10 | Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas (S Th) | 65.3% | 46-24-2 |
Registration is now open for the American Burger Company Roadstar Challenge in Charlotte, NC on July 23. This will be the first MLE non-qualifier in the Carolinas, Georgia or Virginia since a funnel cake eating contest at Kings Dominion in Virginia in 2009. Registration is also open for the Nugget World Rib-Eating Championship in Sparks, NV on August 31.
Reason.com has a column asking what Matt Stonie would think of the new FDA nutrition label.
The City Tap House in Philadelphia will hold a pie eating contest tomorrow awarding a 2 night stay at a Cape May bed & breakfast.
DiGregorio's Market in St. Louis will hold a spaghetti eating contest tomorrow awarding $200 to the winner.
BestoNewOrleans.com has an interview with Sonya Thomas about competing in the Acme Oyster eating contest Sunday. She hopes to set a record of 600 oysters in 10 minutes at the competition.
Geoff Esper, Eric "Badlands" Booker, Meredith Boxberger and Larell Marie Mele are expected to compete in the Nathan's qualifier at Taste of Syracuse Saturday. Crazy Legs offers some tips for spectators and Rich Shea claims that a town record will be set (Takeru Kobayashi ate 110 bunless Hoffman hot dogs in 2012)
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