Groz-with-Gas Radio Interview 5-16

Click Here to listen to my interview with Seattle sports radio legends, Mike Gastineau and Dave Grosby (Groz and Gas), Friday, 5/16 on 950 KJR. Among the topics discussed are the new Major League Eating Video Game for the Nintendo Wii and where I will qualify for Nathan's this year.

Deep Fried Asparagus - Sockton, CA 4/26/08

Deep Fried Aspragus Results

10 minute contest (IFOCE Rank in Parenthesis):

1 - Joey Jaws Chestnut (1) - 8.8 lbs.,$1500
2 - Pat Deep Dish Bertoletti (2) - 7.14 lbs., $750
3 - Erik the Red Denmark (12) - 4.75 lbs., $500
4 - Juris Dr Big Time Shibayama (17) - 4.5 lbs.
5 - Jason Erbivore Erb (34) - 3.5 lbs.
6 - Nasty Nate Biller (30) - 3.25 lbs.
7 - David Brickhouse Braunstein (32) - ?



The contest was very close despite what the final totals were reported as. Somehow the plates did not all get counted accurately for Pat and Joey because the between them was probably one asparagus spear in the end. The placings for the contest were all the same so really it doesn't matter that much except for the fact that maybe record Joey set last year of 8.6 lbs. was likely not broken this year as was reported. Each 1 pound plate had about 8 deep fried spears on it (see pic below). Assuming each one weighed about 2 oz. Joey finished 8 lbs. and 2 spears (probably around 8.3 lbs. total), Pat finished 8 lbs. and 1 spear (probably around 8.1 lbs. total). Juris and I were very close throughout the contest and the difference came down to the final stuff. I had 1 spear left on my 5th lb., Juris had 3 spears left on his 5th lb. (see below).

The pic below are my plates and what was left of my 5th lb:


The next pic are Juris' plates and what was left of his 5th lb.:


This year's asparagus were huge!! The asparagus at the festival in Stockton are always larger than the normal ones you buy at the grocery store, but apparently they had a really good stock this season so there were no cheap ones in the contest. This made for a tougher contest than last year due to the fact that last year there was some plates with smaller and thinner asparagus, which are much faster and easier to chew and swallow. But overall, this contest is a challenge because of how hard you have to work your jaws the whole contest or else you will be stuck trying to swallow stringy chunks of asparagus which can be easy to gag on. I think every swallow during the contest is a challenge but especially the last 4 or 5 minutes when jaws start to tire, almost every swallow invokes a gag reflex.

You can see the huge size of this year's stock below:


Despite the difficult eating conditions the weather was unbelievable - 90 degrees and not too humid. This was a shock to my Seattle native system where last week it snowed here in Seattle. Yeah, a lot of people have a depression problem here in Seattle and yes I guess people do commit suicide a lot in Seattle (especially famous people) as well. But the weather is not that bad really in Seattle, I think people get too carried away with that excuse. Anyway, with the amazing weather and the huge swarms of people at the festival in Stockton I definitely felt like the eating season was finally underway this past weekend. I am pumped to continue now and hopefully put up some more big numbers and be peaking in July.

Click Here to view all of my pics from Stockton

Asparagus Results:

1 - Joey
2 - Pat
3 - Erik
4 - Juris
5 - Erb
6 - Nate
i need to get official totals but Joey ate over 8

Eating Asparagus Again in Stockton

This weekend I will make the venture once again to the Stockton Asparagus festival to compete in the deep fried asparagus eating contest. This contest is definitely one of my favorites because the venue is great, they keep improving the stage, and the food is unique and interesting. This will be my third year in Stockton. The deep fried asparagus are a stuff and clear food. They have a medium layer of breading but dunking in water does no good because the fried breading does not really absorb water. The asparagus are larger than normal and can be challenging to break apart because of their "stringyness". So this is a relatively high technique food, the volume of liquid intake is huge and jaw stregth is paramount to be successful.

My first year in Stockton I put away 4 pounds and finished 5th, which for me at that time was a big accomplishment. Last year I came off a long layover with virtually no eating practice and finished second to Joey with 4.25 pounds. I can do much better. I am excited and optimistic about my chances this weekend. If not to win, at least to prove that I can hang in asparagus and demolish my previous PR. Despite the fact that both Joey and Pat will be there, I think since this is a food that likely will not go to food capacity, I have a chance to stay close for most of the contest. Maybe I am dillusional but I am going in with an open mind.

For those interested, I will post the results on my site (as usual) right after the contest via my cell phone.

Laredo Jalapeno Results and Pics

Jalapeno Eating Results:

15 minute contest

1 - Pat Deep Dish Bertoletti(2) - 266 peppers
2 - Sonya the Black Widow Thomas (5) - 170
3 - Erik the Red Denmark (12) - 147
4 - Pat Bruss (22) - 85


Pat knows how to celebrate with 14 Jack-in-the-Box tacos
fitting perfectly in his trophy and the Mexican flag draped
around his shoulders in the wake of his jalapeno victory

I Had a busy week, I finally got around to downloading my pics and reflecting on the contest. As I expected, this contest was a major test of both capacity and tolerance. The 15 minute length really becomes daunting around the 10 minute mark. I almost think that just as many peppers could be consumed in 8-10 minutes with the same format because the mental relief of knowing that you won't have to deal with the pain of every bite and risk reversal would allow you to eat at top possible speed. In any case Pat Bertoletti was going to win. It was apparent early on that Pat was in the lead.

They had the jalapenos soaking in gallon sized zip lock bags of 50. The jalapenos varied in size greatly but the consistency of each bag was a good mix of small and large peppers. They poured two bags of 50 jalapenos in to a large bowl in front of each eater to start the contest. Everyone had to keep their stems in the La Costena can in front of them to keep track of your pepper count. If you ate the whole pepper and the stem, well you were screwed. Fortunately I only ate the stem on a few peppers, most notably my first pepper, I was so pumped up that I stuck the whole thing in my mouth and wasted a few seconds trying to fish out the stem.

The contest proved to me once again that this is the greatest test of jalapeno eating on the circuit and potentially in the country anywhere. La costena has proven that they are the clear choice for jalapenos in America. The only thing that bothered me about the contest was that the 3-12 ounce liquid restriction was not enforced because the MLE people thought it might be a problem if people started to choke late in the contest and they were out of liquid. I totally disagree with this evaluation, there could have been liquids near by and if you happened to choke you could use them and be disqualified. But, regardless I don't think the outcome would have changed.

I ended up drinking 13.5 ounces of iced tea and about 16 ounces of Crystal Light during the contest. Despite my determintation to be the best jalapeno eater in the world, my obstacles are large right now in the way of capacity. I would estimate that the peppers were probably 16-20 per pound. Meaning I consumed some where around 8-9 pounds of peppers and Pat consumed around 14-15 pounds of peppers. Anyway, I did improve over my past results, 108 was my top jalapeno total previously, so I am satisfied I did at least achieve a PR and pushed myself until the end.


Pat Bruss

On a side note, it was good to finally meet and get a glimpse of the elusive Pat Bruss who was on my fantasy eating team all last year and he probaly never knew it. I am a little surprised that he was able to make the trip down to Laredo having never been in a jalapeno contest and Laredo not being the most convenient location to get to. He put down 85 peppers which is not bad for his first try at peppers. Pat is another Doctor on the circuit (good for CE in my opinion) working in the ER he said. He has pretty awesome natural ability, he put down 23.5 HDB's last year in NC and with more experience he could be dangerous in the future.

Click Below to view my photos from Laredo:

Laredo Jalapenos 2-23-08

Laredo - The Grandaddy of Jalapeño Eating

Tomorrow at 7:00 pm (CST) in the El Metro Park and Ride, I will be competing in Laredo, TX for the most well-renowned jalapeño eating contest in America. The contest has become a tradition as part of the Jalapeño Festival in conjunction with the Washington Birthday Celebration in Laredo, Texas. I believe this is the most authentic jalapeño eating contest there is in America. The fact that Laredo has unified with the MLE is a great move in my opinion. I competed in Laredo two years ago before I was an MLE member in the non-sanctioned contest and finished second with 98 jalapeños in 15 minutes (Gentleman Joe took first with 105). This was the first competitive eating contest that I won money in - $500 for second place and a three foot trophy.


With trophy after my 2nd place finish in 2006 - my first cash in CE

This year, I expect to do much better than 98 jalapeños. I can't really predict what my capacity is for jalapeños, there are many factors that could affect the totals on any given day. My biggest discomfort with pickled jalapeños is the vinegar - I really detest the "pickled" part, the heat of the jalapenos is actually soothing to me but when combined with the acidic vinegar, the reaction is often tumultuous in my stomach. This is why I have not been able to win any of the jalapeño contests I have entered although I have faired well and won money in all that I have entered.

Foes Pat Bertoletti and Sonya Thomas will make the difficult trek down to the Texas-Mexico border this year in search of the Laredo title. Both Pat and Sonya have beaten me in past jalapeño contests but I feel the format of the Laredo contest gives me as good of a chance as I will ever have to beat them.

The contest will be 15 minutes long, nearly twice as long as the previous contests where Pat and Sonya have been involved (8 minutes at the Texas State Fair; 6:40 minutes in Chicago). They will use La Costeña peppers that are stored overnight in plastic bags soaking in their spicy vinegar - they will not be the small dried out peppers that were used in Texas resulting in inflated totals. And possibly the biggest factor; there will be a limit to the amount of liquids that can be consumed - only 3-12 oz. liquids are allowed during the entire contest (any liquid of your choice).

The extreme length of this contest and the limit to liquids greatly emphasizes the need to be able to tolerate the spicy and acidic jalapeños - 8 minutes is short enough to where you can eat at almost top speed without feeling totally uncomfortable - 15 minutes guarantees their will be difficult moments.

Though, I still wouldn't consider myself a favorite in this contest, my mind set going in is to win and nothing else. Ray the Bison has endorsed me on the IFOCE website, which has given me extra motivation. I am excited for this one, it's going to be hard to sleep tonight.

Click Here to read today's (2/22/08) articles in the Laredo Morning Times promoting the contest tomorrow. (direct link to PDF: Here)

For those interested in the results tomorrow, I will update my blog remotely with the totals immediately after the contest (around 8:00 pm CST).

2008: Tangents and Wing Bowl 16

Though I don't write on my blog everyday, I think about competitive eating every damn day; and night for that matter. The longer I am involved in this alter reality, the more it is becoming a habit I believe. I say a habit because I wouldn't consider it a hobby; hobbies are things you do in your garage, things that don't cost oodles of money to undertake, and things that don't get televised on cable.

I would love to be able to call competitive eating my career; my perpetual consumption of anything and everything competitive eating could certainly be justified if it were my career. But so far, I can't live on 5th place money. So, I have determined it is a habit; sometimes healthy, sometimes not healthy. I have undertaken a lifetime of habits, trust me I know what they feel like. One thing has been consistent in my habits, I am comfortable with trying not to break them until it is evident they start to really hold me back and bring me down. Because as Winona Ryder and Ethan Hawke once demonstrated on the big screen, Reality Bites. Ironically I was just watching that movie and despite the many life quotables in the movie the best one by far comes from Lalaina (Winona Ryder's character) while waxing poetic with Ben Stiller staring at the stars and drinking 7-11 Big Gulps out of a stationary convertible..."The most profound beautiful creation of my life...the Big Gulp." Amen.

But as long as I can stave off reality, have a blast, compete and improve, I believe my habit will not develop into something negative. The truth of the matter is I am not used to losing as much as I have in competitive eating. I have usually been able to find a way to win at everything I have put serious time in to. Once I start winning big contests I guess I won’t have to relegate myself to feel like this is only a habit.

Speaking of big contests, I am looking forward to a new year of eating. This three month layoff has sucked. It has sucked so bad that for lack of anything better to do, I got the gumption to fly out to Philly to see if I could qualify for Wing Bowl. Not because I wouldn't have done that anyway, I really want to compete in Wing Bowl on that stage but the risk/reward ratio is not that great for me flying from Seattle twice on my own dime. As fate would have it, my proposed stunt of drinking two 12 oz bottles of Tabasco and eating 10 habaneros in 2 minutes was at first approved and then discarded because they said it was too late, no more in studio stunts were being accepted.

As a last gasp effort I called in to the live WIP 610 radio show on Friday morning to try and get in to the halftime hot dog eating contest on Saturday to qualify. To my amazement, they answered the phone and poof I was in – trust me that was all luck, they did me no favors. Eating hot dogs in front of the 76ers crowd at halftime was a unique experience, an honor really. There was a long period of my life where I had dreamed I would be performing on a basketball court in front of thousands of fans; so what if I was eating bunless hot dogs instead of shooting three pointers? The contest was supposed to be two minutes but because it took so long to get us on the court and start the contest, they hit the buzzer about 1:40 in to the contest. I won to qualify for Wing Bowl 16 eating 14 bunless hot dogs; I think Pete Miernicki came in second with 8 or 9 eaten.

As the weekend in Philly was wearing on I noticed a change in my feelings toward society, a shift in my desires and thoughts. I noticed a primal need for blood, a need to dominate, a need to kill. I am of course afraid of this manifestation in my own thoughts but I feel it would not be healthy to hold back my dark inner emotions, ala the Incredible Hulk. Therefore, I am and will compete in Wing Bowl not as Erik the Red but as Ted Bundy. Hopefully playing out these emotions in front of thousands of people will somehow satisfy my need for carnage and nothing more will become of it. But I am finding myself very drawn to this evil. I am not sure how this will end. I will see you on Friday in Philly world.

MLE Chowdown II on Spike TV: Thanksgiving 07

Thanksgiving Day: "The Turkey Bowl"

Spike TV: 11 am and re-play at 7 pm.

I am in the undercard event, cranberry sauce. The main event is whole 20 pound turkeys. I think these two contests may quite possible be the most entertaining and shocking CE contests to air on TV. Make sure you take a break from the bad football games and check out Spike tomorrow.

Krystal Square Off IV Finals - 10/28/2007

8 minute contest (IFOCE rank in parenthesis):

1 - Joey Jaws Chestnut(1) - 103 burgers (WR)
2 - Humble Bob Shoudt(7) - 95
3 - Pat Deep Dish Bertoletti(2) - 94
4 - Tim Eater X Janus(4) - 74
5 - Sonya the Black Widow Thomas(5) - 58
6 - Rich the Locust LeFevre(8) - 53
7 - Hall Hoover Hunt(9) - 52
8 - Chip Burger Simpson(6) - 49
9 - Erik the Red Denmark(12) - 45
9(t) - Crazy Legs Conti(11) - 45
11 - Juliet Lee(10) - 44
12 - Tim Gravy Brown(15) - 38
13 - Allen Shredder Goldstein(14) - 34


(picture taken from Sean Russell Flickr set. Thanks Sean)

The last major contest of 2007 was a mad dash sprint. Sometimes an 8 minute eating contest seems like it lasts forever. The Pigs' Feet contest at the New Jersey State fair was the longest 8 minutes of my life this year. But this years Square Off was nothing like that; there were some tough moments during the contest, there were some pauses, but for the most part I felt like the contest ended too soon.

That being said there was some amazing performances in that short period of time. All of the top three competitors put up staggering numbers. Joey and Pat's performances should not be taken for granted but were some what expected. Joey has made a reputation for himself now of being a clutch eater, rarely looking overwhelmed at any point during a big contest. Pat continues to inch closer to that elusive first major victory but I know he has reached a level in his career now where anything but first is a disappointment.

Humble Bob's 95 burgers however, were shockingly impressive. It has been a while since somebody came out of nowhere (not being one of the favorites) and contended for a major title like Bob did last Sunday - it was exciting and inspiring to see.



The ESPN broadcast was shortened this year to a half an hour, a good move in my opinion not to try and fill a whole hour with fluff. But still, as always what is missing from the ESPN broadcasts are thorough re-caps, interviews, and post contest results for more than the top eaters.

Another programming error was clearly visible in the misrepresentation of eater burger counts not only on TV but on stage as well. The broadcast mislabeled Eater X's totals as Crazy Legs (Conti) the entire contest. The bunnettes struggled mightily to keep up with the burger count but that was due largely in part because they were getting numbers from the judges in from of the stage who could not provide results fast enough.

Here is my suggestion, because I think it is extremely important for the entertainment value of a contest to represent accurate and timely totals of the eaters (that is where the interest and drama builds!!!) - Digital Counters that adjust with a push of the button. COME ON, HOW HARD WOULD IT BE? We can still have bunnettes holding the digital counters but the judge in front presses the button every time a burger or hot dog is eaten. Ok moving on.

Regardless of what was shown on the ESPN broadcast, I think everyone who was on the waterfront to watch the spectacle was thoroughly entertained and awed by not only the performances of the eaters, but the presentation of the contest.

George Shea (MC) seems to have a new found infatuation with Gwen Stefani. I think George feels a connection and affinity to Stefani's bizarre and experimental sounds, lyrics, style, and presentation (me too quite frankly). After shocking and pumping up the crowd with his out-of-vocal-range-screeching of "whoo-hoo, yee-hoo" to Stefani's Sweet Escape, George conducted the entire Krystal crowd in banging their thunder sticks together in harmony with Stefani's Hollaback Girl. I was laughing my ass off backstage and caught a little video of it:



The Krystal stage was amazing - we were brought to the stage from above the contest platform down ramps which shot fireworks as we entered. The backdrop of the Tennessee River provided a refreshing natural ambiance as well as a cool breeze coming off the water.

After the contest ended and Joey was interviewed by ESPN the broadcast ended. But once the cameras were off, there was a formal presentation of the top three finishers, their trophies and then about 500 cubic feet (just a guess) of confetti was shot sky high from cannons on the stage and came streaming down like snowflakes on top of the eaters and the crowd. It felt like I was on the court after the NBA finals, lost in the snowflake-confetti-jubilation. Of course, my perspective would be from the losers point of view but still a good rule of thumb is that if you are getting confetti dropped on your head, at the very least you had a shot at winning it all and that is more than most can say.

I was able to down 45 Krystals for a personal best. I really wanted to get to the 50 barrier and I know that I had the room considering my last swallows were not painful at all but I just could not get the pace I need in the middle of the contest. I am not disappointed in the results because after only putting up 23 HDB's at the finals for Nathan's, 3.5 fewer than my personal best, I needed to prove to myself that I could perform at my best in the biggest contests.

Sadly, I think the rest of 2007 season will be very slow now with possibly no more contests scheduled until 2008. I hope some contests will pop up and I will have a chance to attend. Spike TV.com has announced that the second part of the Chowdown series, the "Battle of the Bird" will air on Thanksgiving day which hopefully means many people will be able to catch the show that maybe missed the first one. Stay tuned to the TV after all of America does some stomach stretching exercises at the table.

Some side notes from the Krystal contest:
* Tim Brown and Chip Simpson were dressed in Halloween costumes for the contest. Tim was dressed as Hannibal Lector complete with a face mask and chain shackles. Tim asked Kate Westfall if one of Juliet Lee's daughters could lead him on stage with the shackles. Unfortunately Kate said no. Chip was dressed as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle definitely breaking out of his shell.
* The first three eaters that came on stage: Juliet Lee, Allen Goldstein and Tim Brown were announced on stage before the ESPN broadcast began - I don't know why, that was lame.
* Liz Kellermeyer is now a professional Bunnette and she proved she has the talent. Counting for 3rd place finisher Pat Bertoletti, the rumors from the crowd were that she was the most accurate and focused counter.
*We signed autographs for nearly an hour straight for fans that were waiting in line before the contest.
*Many eaters were not ready for the rapid start to the contest. Rich LeFevre commented that when George Shea started the countdown from 10 for the contest, he thought it was a joke; he turned to Crazy Legs as George was at 2 and asked "is this for real?"
*Crazy Legs' pink shorts were entirely too short.

MLE Chowdown on Spike TV - Las Vegas, NV

Watch tonight, October 18 on Spike TV at 11:00 pm. The first in a 3-part series, a 1 hour Major League Eating presentation - the Chowdown. Two competitions will air tonight - potato wedges and wings, I will be eating in the wings competition. The show will re-air this Saturday, October 20 on Spike at 7:00 pm if you can't stay up tonight or want to watch it again.

Click Here for more details and in-depth eater profiles