Krystal Qualifier in Nashville, TN - 9/13/08

Abbreviated Results (8 Minute Contest):

1 - Juliet Lee - 51 (wins 10 burger eat-off)
2T - Eric Badlands Booker - 51
2T - Juris Dr. Big Time Shibiyama - 51
4 - Erik the Red Denmark - 43

For complete results from the contest, click here

Much has already been written about this contest. It was the biggest mess of a Krystal qualifier, both literally and figuratively, that I have ever been a part of.

I came to the contest venue late as I was still trying to recover from my red-eye flight from Seattle. The temperature was sweltering at the Tennessee State fair which was not helping me wake up. Once the contest started, the mess began. I won't go in to everything that happened, I don't have the energy to re-live it again. But both Badlands' and I had judges that were replacing empty boxes on our first trays with burger-filled boxes and dumping the empties on the ground. I didn't even realize it until I noticed that after the first 10 burgers my tray was still full. Kenny form Krystals came by around minute 2 and straightened out the judges but from that point forward I had no idea where I was at in the contest as far as burger count. The numbers that were being announced were ridiculous, 27 for Badlands in the first minute and a half. 47 for Juliet at minute 4, I had no idea what was going on.

When the dust finally settled I had 3 burgers gone on my third tray but I did not know how many I had actually eaten. Badlands had 7 burgers gone on his third tray. Dr BigTime made it through about 55 burgers and Juliet had 4 empty trays and piles of burger detritus in front of her, on her and beneath her.

After a long deliberation, it was determined that Juliet, Badlands and Dr BigTime had tied with 51 burgers and would go to overtime.

In the 10 burger overtime eat-off, Rich Shea announced clearly to keep the eating clean - Juliet did not, she continued to stuff multiple burgers in and around her mouth getting about half of them in and half of them on the table and ground. She raised her hands in the air when her 10 burgers were out of the boxes, the crowd booed and the judges told her to eat the mess she had made. She continued to sweep up the sloppy burgers from the table and with every sweep of burger mess in to her mouth she raised her hands again looking for victory and the crowd booed louder. This continued for about the next 60 seconds, the crowd was now hoping that either Badlands or Juris would get through their 10 burgers before Juliet was done cleaning her mess.

But it didn't happen, Juliet finally ate enough of what she had spilled to get the decision. Not a popular decision at all.

I do not think Juliet should be condemned for what happened. Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone deserves a shot to redeem themselves. It was a disappointing display of eating; one that I hope will never be seen again. Major League Eating has instituted a new rule as a result of this contest and hopefully good will come of it in the future.

One more bit of information I did learn at the contest - I was told that the 12th spot at the final table will be occupied by an amateur that will be chosen from the crowd on the day of the finals. Although, I do appreciate the fact that Krystal likes to give local amateurs a shot at eating greatness, I think if Krystal truly wants to be considered the Super Bowl of Competitive Eating, they can't let amateurs who have not earned a coveted spot at the table to compete. This really undermines a lot of the people like myself and others who spend their own money and time to travel great distances and willingly give Krystal free promotions through various media throughout the season. To take 1 of 12 spots and give it to someone who no one in the audience came to see, who will finish in last place, and pay them $500 instead of letting one more deserving Wildcard eater in is baffling to me.