The Laredo Morning Times has an article about last night’s jalapeno contest. The top 3:

1. Pat Bertoletti, 266 peppers, 15 minutes, new contest record
2. Sonya Thomas, 170 peppers
3. Erik Denmark, 147 peppers

The previous record was 141 in 15 minutes, set in 1991 by Braulio Martinez

The article reports that competitors were banned from drinking beers during the contest, but Pat Bertoletti drank a beer in “about a second” after he was announced as the winner.

Erik the Red has a blog entry about his contest participation and made the cover of the Laredo Times entertainment section.

Sonya has a contest report on her news page.

The IFOCE contest report does not mention Sonya by name; the runner up is listed as “Major League Eating’s top female eater”.

IFOCE’s press release to promote the contest called for a jalapeno eating contest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to decide the Democratic nomination.

PermalinkComments (36)

A competitive eating themed screenplay (pdf format), titled “The Gurgitators”, is available. The project was submitted as a thesis for a Master of Fine Arts at Louisiana State University.

PermalinkComments (4)

In researching eating challenges, I discovered the database of diners who finished the 48 ounce steak at Don Shula’s Steakhouse. The website claims that over 32000 people have finished the 48 ounce steak. If all those diners are in the database, it would be much larger than eatfeats. (Eatfeats has about 3000 eaters and 6000 contest results)

The website reports that Taft Parker has consumed the 48 ounce steak over 175 times.

PermalinkComments (7)

The Kestrel Inn offers a 200+ ounce steak on it’s menu, which is reportedly the world’s largest commercially available steak. The BBC has an article about a 2005 contest in which diners attempted to complete that steak. Sara Manifold of Wigan was declared the winner in that contest after eating 100 ounces of steak over five hours. The article also says that the landlady of the restaurant claims her son in law ate 120 ounces of the steak.

PermalinkComments (7)

update May 2010 Lists of eating challenges & contests for over 100 cities / metro areas have been compiled.

I have made a list of all the eating challenges listed in the database sorted by state at http://eatfeats.com/challenges.php There are now 96 challenges in that lists. I have included menu items that are abnormally large even if they do not have an award if they are finished in a certain time. I want to add the ability to search the list by food type.

PermalinkComments (8)

Feb 23 Flan Fest / eating contest in Tampa (Flan is creamy Spanish custard)
Feb 23 Ramen eating contest at anime festival in Anchorage, AK
March 1 Boston bacon eating contest
Mudbug Madness – 5 crawfish eating contests May 22-25 in Shreveport, LA
Video of Flushing, NY dumpling eating contest conducted in Chinese language
Picture of biscuit eating contest for Chinese couples
IFOCE.com claims Ray Meduna predicts Erik Denmark will win the jalapeno contest, a pro-Bertoletti prediction is sought

PermalinkComments (12)

BeautifulBrian.com has samples from 4 songs on his upcoming CD. The titles of those songs:

1. Stink for yourself (parody of “Think for Yourself” by the Beatles)
2. Dont ever call me again
3. Retaliation
4. Black and White

PermalinkComments (29)

(From Rhonda Evans) Joey Chestnut was interviewed by Ben & Matt on KNIX Country of Phoenix on February 13 to talk about the upcoming MLE video game. Joey is unable to provide any details about that project except for the fact that the IFOCE contract signs away video game rights. He does not disclose how much he was paid, if any, for the use of his electronic likeness but does say that he is looking for a good competitive eating agent.

Joey also says that he expects to break Badlands Booker’s matzo ball record in Houston and calls Kobayashi a “little liar” for claiming he had an injury in the 2007 Nathan’s finals.

Streaming audio of interview, Direct link to MP3 file of interview (9 MB, 9 minutes)

PermalinkComments (40)

In the comments to a video of a Pointersaurus attempt, “socca4u” announced that she and her sister became the first all female team to complete the 12+ pound pizza and win $500, but their feat had yet to be recorded on Pointer’s web site. The finishers list has now been updated to include Pam and Jennifer Cooney of Katy, Texas. Another comment says the two women finished in 20 minutes (I believe one of the two IFOCE teams took 14 minutes).

“socca4u” is most likely Pam Cooney because she was a member of University of Alamaba at Birmingham soccer team. She competed in the Maccabiah Games in Israel and was named both all-American by the Jewish Sports Review and to the first team of the 2005 NSCAA/adidas College Women Scholar All-South Region after posting a 3.77 gpa.
.

PermalinkComments

Don “Moses” Lerman reports that he will have his thyroid gland tested on Thursday. He believes his thyroid might be responsible for his weight gain and says his sister was recently diagnosed with an underactive thyroid.

PermalinkComments (11)

The Never a Dull Moment blog has a report and slideshow from a Chicken McNugget eating contest. The top two finishers were women who both exceeded 40 nuggets in 12 minutes and beat two males who have aspirations of becoming competitive eaters.

PermalinkComments (2)

Battle to the Bone, Phoenix, first prize will be a Honda Element, date TBA
Wing Eating Contest at Sheffield Ohio Quaker Steak & Lube March 17, first prize $500, qualifiers Feb 27 and March 5
Andy’s Cheeseburger eating contest in eastern North Carolina, first prize $1000 qualifiers in March, finals in April, dates TBA
Stuffed Hurricane Pizza eating contest for 2 people in Dekalb County, IL, win $400 if eaten in under 24 minutes, offer only available on Tuesday, calling ahead required

PermalinkComments (8)

Observer-Reporter announces that Crazy Legs Conti will emcee and judge a pierogi eating contest in Washington County, Pennsylvania at the Men’s Culinary Classic on March 8. The contest will be 6 minutes long and it is not stated if the competition will be IFOCE sanctioned.

PermalinkComments (14)

San Diego corned beef musubi article and video
James Madison University grilled cheese eating contest, winner eats 12 sandwiches in 8 minutes
Shoo Fly Pie contest to be held June 21, $10,000 purse
“Eating Levi” does not make the South by Southwest festival, but will appear on DVD and the Yes Network
Rio Wraps (Michigan) Burrito Bowl finals report and qualifiers gallery
Princeton Oyster Bowl video
Queen Mary chili cheese fries mini documentary
Rice and Bean Pot competitors eat burritos on Fox 25 news
Brooklyn Dodger forum thread about Nathan’s redevelopment plans

PermalinkComments (3)

On her News & Notes page, Sonya Thomas announces that she will compete in Saturday’s Jalapeno eating contets in Laredo, TX.

It appears that Pat Bertoletti and Erik Denmark will also compete in that event based on a comment in Pat’s myspace blog.

Joey Chestnut will probably not attend, since he has been saying that his next contest is the Houston matzo ball contest.

This will be the first matchup of between members of the IFOCE top 10 since the Krystal Square Off.

PermalinkComments (12)

Kobayashi’s latest blog entry reports that his father completed the Tokyo Marathon yesterday.

PermalinkComments

The next segment of Food Battle Club (The Speed), called “Triangle Records”, has been posted to youtube at http://youtube.com/watch?v=wdQmtAMOf0k. Kobayashi and Nobuyuki Shirota both participate in this segment, which involves eating 40 small food items.

PermalinkComments

Beautiful Brian’s Bits & Pieces contains a report about last night’s performance of songs from his upcoming CD:

Badlands then took the mic and started rapping along with the band in what went down as one of Badlands greatest jam sessions .. Last but not least. i took the stage for the final number attempting to perform a track from my CD that hasnt even been released yet.Its a parody of the 1973 song hi hi hi with lyrics revolving around some of the bad calls that went against Sonya Thomas in past IFOCE contests. To make matters worse the volume on the mic was low and i forgot nearly all the words not to mention that the band could barely play two chords of the song. This is not the fault of the band because they are a great band . The fact of the matter is they never heard of or got a chance to practice playing the song hi hi hi which was released before the band members were born. There was a request by several people in the audience for “came in as an eater” I am embarassed to report that i forgot the words to that one as well even though i just recorded it less than a month ago. I hope its not alzheimers. Anyhow i was just happy to hang with some competitive eating pals.

PermalinkComments (5)

Evansville, IN pancake contest article and video
Elizabeth Canady makes the AICE spotlight page
Gal Sone’s Belguim trip report
Newport, RI IHOP pancake contest February 24
Steerburger eating contest in Albany, NY February 29
The Yankee Doodle is looking for a new location
Tribute to “Stand by Me” vomiting scene on VH1’s “Free Radio” sitcom (from Kevin Ross)
Like eating records, chess records have also been purged from the Guinness Book of World Records
Phillies prank trade for Kobayashi (not Takeru)

PermalinkComments (1)

AICE News reports that Ian Hickman set the AICE chili record today by eating 10 pounds and 2 ounces of chili in five minutes at the Chili Open in Canton, Ohio. The top 3:

1. Ian “the Invader” Hickman – 10 lbs, 2 oz (1.27 Gal)
2. Mark Lyle-The Human Vacuum- 8 lbs, 10 oz
3. Bob “Killer” Kuhns- 8 lbs, 9 oz

Hickman’s 5 minute mark is .23 gallons off Rich Lefevre’s IFOCE chili record of 1.5 gallons in 10 minutes.

update CantonRep.com has an article and gallery about the contest

PermalinkComments (19)

(From Andrea Fasano) PressPass.tv has a video recorded at the Pig Skin Eating Championship focusing on Pete “Pretty Boy” Davekos at http://presspass.tv/videos/?vid=7009

PermalinkComments (1)

Megamunch has a backstage video of Wing Bowl 16 he recorded in the corridors of the Wachovia Center.

There are over 60 youtube videos labeled with “Wing Bowl 16” This link will bring them up.

PermalinkComments

Beautiful Brian emails me that he might perform two songs from the upcoming “Stick to Blogging” CD at Otto’s Shrunken Head in the East Village Saturday night as part of the Anti-Valentine’s Prom. Brian’s performance will probably take place after midnight.

See also Bits & Pieces

PermalinkComments

A press release announces that the Norwich (Connecticut) Defenders will sell tickets to Thursday games that will include all you can eat hamburgers/cheeseburgers, hot dogs, pretzels, and popcorn along with sodas and hot beverages. Tickets will cost $15 for adults and $12 for children. Ed “Cookie” Jarvis will appear at the opening game on April 3 to promote the tickets:

To help introduce this great money saving package, Professional Speed Eater, Ed “Cookie” Jarvis will be adding to the Opening Day festivities, showcasing his incredible eating abilities. Jarvis captured 30 eating titles from 2001-06 including Nathan’s Famous French Fry Eating Contest in 2005 where “Cookie” tackled 4.46 pounds of the famous krinkle cut fries in six minutes. One lucky fan will get to compete against Cookie in a one minute eating contest. Jarvis will be signing autographs and posing for photos throughout the game courtesy of Courant ValuMail.

PermalinkComments (16)

A website about the Wing Bowl 13 documentary “Swallow Your Pride” has been set up at http://www.swallowyourpridefilm.com/ The site has a trailer and a page with “eater cards” about the six competitors featured in the film.

PermalinkComments (1)