The Showdown in Acoma, NM

This Saturday, August 26 there will be a showdown between all those seeking the endorphin rush of capsaicin filled jalapenos and the recognition of top pepper ingester. Don "Moses" Lerman has been talking a lot of smack with much of his verbal assertions being focused on beating me. At first I laughed at Don, I see it as a way to motivate himself beyond just trying to overcome the inner demons and confliction of a 15 minute jalapeno contest.

As Lerman continued with the verbal challenge I was still amused but also annoyed because he doesn't even have the respect to spell my name right (It's Erik, not Eric). But what should I do - respond to his attacks? I also don't think Don realized that not only will I be there to beat him but a very stacked field including Pat Bertoletti, Rich LeFevre, Jed Donahue, Jim Reeves, and Donovan Busta will be there to endure the jalapenos in search of victory and pottery. Responding to Don would mean that I was looking at him as a main rival but in actuality I think Pat, Rich, and Jed will be bigger obstacles. When Don learned of the others in the competition his tone changed a bit, he has backed down on his personal challenge to me knowing he would have more people to contend with.

So here is what I have to say to you Don - I hope you bring everything you have got left in your tank. But Jalapenos go down like grapes for me and if you think that 120 is going to win, you will be sadly mistaken. That will probably be good for 4th or 5th place. Do you have the guts to put down 50-60 more jalapenos Don? We'll see very soon. Feel free to call yourself the "Jalapeno King", you can call me Captain Capsicum. See you at the showdown....

I finished 2nd at the jalapeno contest in Laredo, TX.
in February, 06. I challenged Lerman to come to this contest
but he refused claiming health and financial problems

Gyoza Results - L.A. 8/19/06

Results from GoldenPalace.net Gyoza championship, 8/19/06:

Time: 10 Minutes (IFOCE rank in paranthesis)

1st - Joey "Jaws" Chestnut(2) 212 gyoza $2500
2nd - Sonya the Black Widow Thomas(3) 210 gyoza $1500
3rd - Rich "The Locust" LeFevre(8) 162 gyoza $750
4th - Hall "Hollow Man" Hunt(15) 106 gyoza $250
5th - Erik the Red Denmark(12) 94 gyoza
? - El Toro Jimenez(39) 58 gyoza

Joey, Sonya, and Rich kicked some ass. With each gyoza being close to 1 oz. both Joey and Sonya ate around 12 pounds in 10 minutes. Damn. You know I really didn't feel too bad about this contest although I didn't win any money with the breakout being very top heavy. It was tough standing next to Joey and trying to keep up in the beginning, it took me a while to get in to any kind of rhthym, in fact the last plate was going down faster than the first. I definitely had more in the tank and just needed to wake up my insides.

This contest was at noon and I definitely prefer contests to be later in the day since I rarely eat much before noon on non-contest days. Anyway, if I get a chance to eat dumplings in a contest again, I will certainly be faster building on this experience.

Click Here to read a San Jose State Spartan newspaper article about the contest featuring Joey Chestnut and competitive eating in general.

Media Coverage and Eating Schedule

Click Here to read the Willamete Week (August 16 Edition) cover story written by Zach Dundas covering the Chinook Winds Rib competition and competitive eating in general. I am featured in the article as a Northwest eater (thanks for the great story Zach).

After a couple of weeks off from the table, I will be hitting the circuit hard in the next four weeks. The IFOCE has announced at least 12 competitions will take place over the next three weeks (that's awesome!). I will be competing in six of the 12 events. Here is my eating schedule:

August 19 - Gyoza in Los Angeles, CA. Sponsored by GoldenPalace.net
August 26 - Jalapenos in Acoma, NM. Sponsored by Sky City Casino
August 30 - Ribs in Reno, NV. Sponsored by John Ascuaga's Nugget Casino
Sept 2 - Buffalo Wings in Buffalo, NY. Sponsored by National Buffalo Wing Festival
Sept 3 - Buffet Bowl in Buffalo, NY. Sponsored by National Buffalo Wing Festival
Sept 10 - Krystal's in Nashville, TN. Sponsored by Krystal Burgers

Johnsonville Bratwurst Results 8/5/06

Here are the complete contest results (IFOCE rankings in paranthesis):

1st - Takeru "the Tsunami" Kobayashi(1) - 58 Brats $8,000
2nd - Joey "Jaws" Chestnut(2) - 45 Brats $4,500
3rd - Pat "Deep Dish" Bertoletti(4) - 39 Brats $2,500
4th - Humble Bob Shoudt(5) - 38.5 Brats $1,500
5th - Tim "Eater X" Janus(6) - 37 Brats $1,000
6th - Sonya the Black Widow Thomas(3) - 34.5 Brats $750
7th - Rich "The Locust" LeFevre(8) - 31.5 Brats $600
8th - Crazy Legs Conti(11) - 22.25 Brats $500
9th - Tim Brown(49) - 22 Brats $400
10th - Erik the Red Denmark(12) - 15.5 Brats $250
11th - Frank Wach(26) - 15 Brats
12th - Jim Hammer Hamrick(27) - 13 Brats
13th - El Toro Jimenez(39) - 11 Brats
14th - P.J. Kim(NR) - 10 Brats
15th - Damon Serignet(NR) - 9 Brats
16th - Tom Denure(NR) - 6 Brats

Well, I am reluctantly writing about this contest because I am trying to forget about it. The experience of the contest was awesome; the crowd in Sheboygan was great, the weather was great, the stage was good, and even the brats were well prepared. But I sucked. Although, none of my practice runs were great, none of them were that bad and I was using 4 oz brats in practice as opposed to the 3.2 oz brats used in the competition. There are a lot of factors that could have contributed to my sub-par performance, probably the most relevant one would be that I took a red eye flight from Seattle the night before the competition and arrived in Milwaukee just 3 hours before the contest began and then drove an hour to Sheboygan (AKA She-Boink-Me). I got relatively no sleep on the airplane and my stomach and throat were just never in sync for the contest. No excuses, just reasons.

Brats are a very challenging food because of the heavy grease and intense flavor so you really need to be in top shape if you want to do well. I know Joey also flew in the night of the contest and had to drive three hours from Chicago to Sheboygan, which probably contributed to him not doing his best (although 45 brats is still unworldly). Anyway, so I had an off day, I swallowed down 15.5 brats for 10th place, so I move on.

The totals at the top were quite impressive, especially the threesome of Pat, Bob, and Janus who managed to all pull off a rare feat of beating Sonya. Ah, Sonya still kicks ass though, I think we all want her to rejuvinate not fall back now that there is a pack of eaters in her vicinity of talent. She is still the greatest enigma on the circuit and she continues to kick my butt every time.

Anyway, I think it is safe to say that competitive eating is continuing to rise exponentially in popularity. It is great to see that Koby is showing his face a bit more and the new wave of eaters and personalities are seriously entertaining to watch on TV. I personally signed probably close to 100 autographs in Sheboygan and the majority of the fans knew a lot about us not just what they saw on stage. Many of the fans were young kids too with condoning parents, which is good to see that the message people are getting is that we are athletes and entertainers and we work hard to be good sports and good people; it is not an exhibition of gluttony.

Let's all ride the wave - Sonya, Rich, Booker, Lerman, Seiken - embrace the diversity and take this shit even further.

Click Here for #45 ranked Domenico Alesi's picture gallery from the contest

Here's one of me before the contest (Thanks Domenico):

Bratwurst Baby!! WMIL Milwaukee Interview

Saturday, August 5 12:00 pm (CDT), I will be competing in the Johnsonville Brat Championship in Sheboygan, WI. The contest will be intense as bratwursts are a very challenging food. The contest will air on a little delay on ESPN Saturday at 1:00 pm (PST).

Click Here to listen to my latest on-air radio interview (the MP3 is cut up a bit, recorded Aug 3) with the Moo Crew morning show on Milwaukee's WMIL 106.1 fm .

KPUG 1170 AM Radio Interview

Click Here to listen to my latest on-air radio interview on Bellingham, WA based KPUG 1170 am with Mark Scholten from "The Zone" show featured 3 pm - 5:30 pm weekdays. The interview should air tomorrow, Wednesday Aug 2nd between 3 - 5:30.