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):
9 comments:
It was a great show man! Don't be so bummed. Like you said, the fans had a good time and that's half the battle. You gonna make it out for 3 Brothers pizza in DC this weekend? I know Pat and Bob will be there. X, Legs, and Sonya?
I can't imagine how difficult brats must be. ug. I think you did stellar given your raod trip. MM, Sonya is supposed to be there, but I hear X will be doing horseshoes in IL and Legs and he will head to CT for ribs on Sunday.
Thanks Brad. I am definitely hitting the Krystal circuit and I am pumped about the food and the excitment surrounding it.
Is there any way I can get a Krystal burger out here in Seattle? I am struggling to find something to train with.
Erik, I would use the frozen white castle burgers they have in supermarkets. They're small and square like krystal burgers. They probably won't taste exactly the same but the size and shape should be roughly comparable. Good luck dude...
Denmark, Lermans been talking some mad smack about N.M. I hope your polygrip holds so you can send him packing.
I hope you had fun at Brats. From what I hear it was pretty awesome. Krystalbrad is right. Krystals takes care of you like no other. They are the best by far. What's next on your plate? Are you going to L.A.? Do you know if Jed and Rich are going? I would assume, but I don't know for sure. I am extremely busy with work, but I want to compete again soon. The sooner the better. You definately need to dominate in Jalapenos. Lerman and Jed are great at it, but so are you.
Good luck in peppers. That has gotta hurt. Rest up then and get ready for us to put up some monster numbers in Nashville!
Hey Erik, I haven't been on your blog for a while. Your welcome for the pics. Nice works with your latest contests i wish you well in you Nashville, I'm seeing maybe 32-36 Krystals for BIG RED. 2nd place behind Bob.
-Domenico "The Sicilian" Alesi
You're an ANIMAL, ERIK THE RED!!!!!!! Taking the world by storm you are! As you are traveling the world and destroying all previously set records, don't forget about dorks here in "The Office".
Post a Comment