The Road to Nathan's

Jimmy Johns Sandwich Makers vs MLE Eaters 7/17/10

2010-07-18T13:32:00.000-07:00

Videos from yesterday's contest at the Bite of Seattle. The contest was 5 minutes and the format was three freaky fast Jimmy Johns sandwich makers versus three major league eaters, Joey Chestnut, myself, and Ben Monson to see who was faster - the makers or the eaters. The makers won by 1 22-21, the sandwich makers are 10-0 in the series now - this one was the closest (possibly tied with the last event in Chicago in 2009 with Bertoletti, Hunt, and Gravy)

Video of intros for me and Joey Chestnut. This is the first MLE contest in Seattle in 5 years and the first since I have been eating. We were in the shadow of the space needle where the Seattle Sonics used to play and I wanted to pay hommage to our former team that was wrongfully taken from us (Gary Payton Jersey):

Video of the entire contest:

Q13 Fox TV - Jimmy Johns Promo 7/16/10

2010-07-16T13:53:00.000-07:00

Video of today's morning news appearance with Q13 Fox anchor Mark Wright (great guy) promoting this weekend's Jimmy Johns contest at the Bite of Seattle @2:00 pm.

Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Championship July 4, 2010

2010-07-07T00:50:00.000-07:00

Just in case you have not gotten the full results...

Coney Island, NY - 10 minute contest:

1 - Joey "Jaws" Chestnut - 54 HDB's
2 - Tim "Eater X" Janus - 45
3 - Pat "Deep Dish" Bertoletti - 37
4 - Sonya the Black Widow Thomas - 36
5 - Notorious B.O.B. Shoudt - 34
6 - Erik the Red Denmark - 32
7 - Tim "Gravy" Brown - 31
8 - Allen Shredder Goldstein - 28
9T - Ben Monson - 27
9T - Juliet Lee - 27
11 - Sean "Flash" Gordon - 26.5
12T - Eric Badlands Booker - 24
12T - "Pretty Boy" Pete Davekos - 24
14 - Crazy Legs Conti - 20
15 - Bryan "Big Sexy" Beard - 15.5
16 - Kristopher Adams - 11

I will update with my complete recap, thoughts, pics and vids from the event in the next day or so (just got home) so check back.

2010-06-14T02:09:00.000-07:00

*photo courtesy of Val bromann (http://sillyamerica.com)

The Road to Nathan's is Here

2010-05-24T10:43:00.000-07:00

The MLE competitive eating circuit is busy almost year round now, which is great to see; contests popping up almost weekly in regions throughout the United States. The prize money structure for contests in the past 12 months has seemed to be more evenly spread out between all paid spots, which has kept many eaters 1-25 involved and winning prize money. The huge top prize purse contests have been few and far between, which from a selfish perspective has been refreshing. Of course, I am not thrilled to have to settle for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place money all of the time, I want to win the big prize. I am straving for a victory, in fact. My last win on the circuit was almost a year ago at the Tempe, AZ Nathan's qualifier. I have not won a non-qualifier contest in 2.5 years when I won the Spike TV hard boiled egg contest in October, 2007 with 61 in 8 minutes. I have to get at least one non-qualifier win this year or no matter what, it will be a failure.

That being said, it's Nathan's season and it's time to win a qualifier. This is probably the most exciting time of the year in Competitive Eating for me. I am looking forward to each coming weekend with anticipation to see what numbers people are putting up this year. The culmination and build up to the 4th makes the final contest what it is. I myself think that my performance in Nathan's contests has in a large part shaped my career. I have won my last 4 qualifier attempts with totals of 22 ('06), 26.5 ('07), 24 ('08), and 28 ('09). And my totals in the finals have been 22, 23, 28, and 38 respectively. The trend is going up for me, last year was a leap forward in the finals and I know I am capbale of more.

My Nathan's qualifier schedule for this year will be Tempe, AZ on June 5, Charlotte, NC on June 19 (if I don't win in Tempe), and San Diego, CA on June 26 (if I fail to win in Tempe or NC). Let's get it on, the road to Nathan's!!

If you need some motivation, listen to my 2009 single, the Internet sensation and what was deemed by some who have no musical genre credibility as Electronic EMO - "Surf and Stillwell"

New Bacon Record Attempt for Charity at "the Bacathlon"

2009-11-10T11:46:00.000-08:00

J&D foods , the creaters of Bacon Salt and Baconnaise are based in Seattle and are putting on a bacon themed event on Thursday, November 19th at Heaven Nightclub in Seattle. All of the proceeds from the event will go to Ashley's Team in support of chilren and families of childhood cancer patients. Deemed "the Bacathlon", the fundraiser will include several competitions involving bacon, which I and other Seattle dignitaries will be participating in as well as the main event in which I will be attempting to set a new record for the most amount of bacon ever eaten.

All are welcome to attend, the event is open to the public, here is the event flier:

There will be a lot of local media coverage at the event and I feel good about the liklihood that we will raise a lot of money for Ashley's Team.

Link to today's article in the

Seattle Weekly

Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Championship 7/4/09

2009-07-08T14:10:00.000-07:00

Nathan's Famous Hot Dog eating Contest - Coney Island, NY
10 Minute contest
Complete Results:

1st: Joey Jaws Chestnut - 68 HDBs
2nd: Takeru theTsunami Kobayashi - 64 1/2
3rd: Tony Clifton (Pat Bertoletti) - 55
4th: Tim Eater X Janus - 53
5th: Humble Bob Shoudt - 41 3/4
6th: Sonya the Black Widow Thomas - 41
7th: Hall Hoover Hunt - 38.5
8th: Erik the Red Denmrk - 38
9th: Juliet Lovely Lee - 34
T-10th: Tim Gravy Brown - 30
T-10th: Eric Badlands Booker - 30
12th: Buffalo Jim Reeves - 28.5
T-13th: Crazy Legs Conti - 25
T-13th: Pete Pretty Boy Davekos - 25
T-13th: Sean Flash Gordon - 25
16th: Marco Mongo Marquez - 23
17th: Micah Wing Kong Collins - 21
T-18th: Franco Camerini - 14
T-18th: Bob Coccodrilli - 14
Rich LeFevre wasn't able to compete due to illness

Joey was able to three-peat by putting up a personal best and destroying last year's record of 59 in 10 minutes. I think this was the perfect day for Joey, the conditions could not have been better for eating in NY. The weather was warm around 75-80 but the humidity was very low almost non-existant and on top of that there was a slight refreshing breeze coming off the water. This was the first year since I have been in the finals that the hot dogs (meat) were actually warm, I think a lot of credit goes to Randy at Nathan's for paying attention to the conditions this year. The buns had been out in the sun for probably over 30 minutes so they did dry out a bit but despite that it seemed like when I dipped the buns they sort of disentigrated and went down with ease. The combination of weather and hot dog conditions created the perfect storm for huge numbers to be put up. I think 68 will be a really hard number to beat.

I had my best day ever as a competitive eater. I surpassed my own expectations on the 4th. I had a realistic goal of between 32-35, I was confident I could hit those numbers - I had a best case scenario goal of eating 37 or more. So, when I shoved number 38 in the last few seconds of the conteset, I was satisfied. Probably more satisfied than I have been since eating 22 HDB's in my first qualifier win at Coney Island back in 2006 to make it to the finals for the first time. Maybe standing next to Tony Clifton (Bertoletti) who also had an awesome day putting up 55 helped me out as well to keep a faster pace. Of course, after seeing how well everyone else did in the top 8 and ultimately not realizing my goal of finishing in the top 5, I later became a bit less satisfied but still happy with 38.
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After watching the re-broadcast I noticed ESPN only kept a running total of the top 3.It seems like everyone I talk to says the same thing - they want to see everyone's totals and they want to know where everyone finishes not just the top 2 or 3. I can't control what ESPN does or doesn't decide to show but I do think it should be spread around a bit more than it is. This year it was Gravy and Juliet getting a lot of attention as they will be featured in a Bio-Channel special tonight "I'm a Major League Eater" and it looks entertaining. I think it is easy especially on the 4th to get a bit carried away with the attention and not focus on the eating enough but well it is entertaining. Everyone in the top 9 put up their personal best on the 4th. I increased my PB by 10 hot dogs; more than anyone else I believe for the second year in a row.

It was very unfortunate that the legend Rich LeFevre did not compete. He seemed to not be doing well the whole weekend and I am not sure what the future will hold for Rich as far as competing. If the time is now for him to retire it will truly be a sad day for me and competitive eating as a whole. He is truly one of the greatest of all time and has always been gracious and classy while being a fiesty competitor at the table and one that I have the utmost respect for.

I have a lot of pics I will be posting later on but right now I am headed down to Lincoln City for the Chinnok Winds BBQ contest on Sunday. Cheers.

"Surf and Stillwell" - Song by Erik the Red

2009-06-30T01:57:00.000-07:00

CLICK HERE to listen to "Surf and Stillwell"

Copyright lyrics and vocals - Erik the Red Denmark
Produced by - Nick Peets (http://www.nickpeets.com/)

*redistribution is not authorized unless of course you want to

Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Qualifier Tempe,AZ 5/30/09

2009-06-03T15:22:00.002-07:00

Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Contest Qualifier Tempe, AZ results:

10 minute contest

1 - Erik the Red Denmark - 28 HDB's (wins seat at final table on July 4th)
2 - Bryan "Big Sexy" Beard - 14 HDB's
3 - Jin Daikoku - 13 HDB's

This is the 4th year in a row I have qualified for the biggest eating spectacle in the world. I am psyched to be back. Preparation for qualifying is always more stressful than preparing for the finals for me. It seems though that qualifying has gotten easier each of the passed three years. I have now won 4 consecutive Nathan's qualifiers after losing my first three in 2006. I think there were some other ranked eaters originally signed up to compete in Tempe but as other spots opened up and the whole qualifying scene has started to take shape, eaters who are fighting for a spot to get in are going to other qualifiers.

Even though there were no other ranked eaters in Tempe on Saturday I was still shaking with anticipation and nerves before the contest. The Arizona Mills Mall venue has been a stalwart on the Nathan's circuit for many years and the crowd that shows up is always large, loyal, and loud. In 2006, I attended the Arizona Mills Mall qualifier as my second attempt that year and I ended up eating a personal best 19 hdb's in 12 minutes. Rich LeFevre killed me on that day eating 28, which at that time seemed an unreachable number for me. I was supremely satisfied however with improving from 13.5 in my first qualifier to 19 in my 2nd and that really was the contest that removed a lot of my doubts and gave me confidence that I could be a top contender on the competitive eating circuit. It was also the first contest that I wore the red head band that I wear today - you could say that this was the place that my competitive eating career was truly born.

I had all of those good memories running through my mind and I had high expectations for myself for this contest which made me very anxious before the start. I knew I would have to push myself in the first 3 minutes if I wanted to achieve my goal of eating beyond 30 for the first time and I just could not relax to get myself in to a confident and comfortable zone. Needless to say I got off to a horrible start and there was nobody around me to push against so I got way off pace. The only thing that really helped me finally focus and get rid of the anxiety I was feeling (ironically) in the competition was realizing that I was so far behind my pace after the first 4 minutes that if I didn't start going for broke, I would be embarrassing myself. I ended up finishing pretty strong so as not to embarrass myself. It took me about seven minutes to get through 20 dogs and I got 8 down in the last three minutes which is a good ending pace for me.

I know that there is no way I can have that slow starting pace on July 4th if I want to break through and finish high in the top ten. But all in all I am glad that I at least tied my PR and I can still skate a bit under the radar and surprise some people on the 4th. Sometimes it does you no good to set up such high expectations because once people know you can do something in competitive eating, they expect it and for some reason seem to stop respecting the huge numbers you put up. Eater X ate 50 hot dogs a couple weeks back which is AMAZING - his progression over the years has been astounding and I don't think he got enough press or coverage for that accomplishment. Hall Hunt put up 33 this week (and 34.5 last year) as well which is huge - watching his improvement over the last two years has been awesome. Everyone ends up being labeled or labeling themselves with a number in CE. That number seems to either haunt you or motivate you and it definitely follows you where ever you go. Right now, number 28 is following me and I expect to dump that number and leave it for good coming this July 4th. In fact, in my mind I have already left you 28 - you are nothing to me anymore.

Video of first 8 minutes or so of contest:

Part 2 - Click Here to watch video of the last 30 seconds or so
Click Here for some more of my pics
Links to some articles with pics and vids: Click Here (with pics and video) Click Here (with pics)
Click Here (with pics)

ID Spring Roll Contest in Seattle - 4/29

2009-04-30T11:36:00.000-07:00

I had the privilege of attending an event last night in Seattle that involved an eating contest, the ID Springroll Eating Contest. There haven't been any professional eating contests in Seattle since I started my eating career in 2005, only amateur contests, so I love to see at least something in Seattle. And this was a spring roll contest at an event for a good cause to support Seattle's Chinatown International District community development projects.

I came to support the locals and to see how The Stranger reporter Paul Constant would do after meeting with him a couple weeks back to give him an interview for a story that will come out next week and some pointers on how he could prepare for the contest. Paul had some history winning a no hands pie eating contest a few years back and when we ordered some spring rolls and ate a few of them quickly, I could see that he was going to do well in the contest.

When I arrived and spoke with the event organizers, I was surprised to learn that they had tried to contact we back in January to no avail when they were putting ideas and the lineup together for the contest. The gal who was in charge, Fen, cited several of my eating exploits and knew a lot about me and said she even tried to go through the IFOCE to get a hold of me but never got a response. I was both honored and very dissappointed that we never connected in time to collaborate more.

Anyway, at that time I agreed to help out with what I could for the event, do a short interview on stage before the contest, and make sure everyone knew what they were getting in to.

There were some very notable individuals in the contest including current ESPN analyst and former Washington Husky and Seattle Seahawk quarterback Brock Huard, Apprentice runner-up James Sun, along with runner-up in last year's WA Gubernatorial race (I voted for Dino) Dino Rossi, and current King County Council Member nominee for County Executive, Dow Constantine.

I had met Brock Huard briefly last year at the Detlef Shrempf Celebrity Golf Tournament and I spoke to him before the contest - he was nervous as hell and he couldn't figure out why. I told him it was a good thing that he was taking it serious and that he would do well because of his competitiveness. At that point, I was pretty sure it was going to come down to Brock and Paul.

Okay, on to the contest results, it was only supposed to be a 2 minute contest but it ended up going about 3 minutes.

Results:

1 - Paul Constant - 23 spring rolls
2 - Brock Huard - 21 spring rolls
3 - Toby Crittenden - 12
4 - James Sun - 11
5 - Dino Rossi - 8
6T - Angela Garbes - 6
6T - Dow Constantine
8 - Uncle Bob - 4

Both Brock and Paul were very impressive and did much better than I though they would do. The contest was supposed to be 2 minutes, but I realized about 2 and 1/2 minutes in to the contest that no one was keeping the time so I ran over to the MC and told him to count down from 10 to end the contest. I took some pictures (below) and video but Brock was very adamant before the contest that he did not want any videos posted online so I will wait until someone else does first. I think Brock was worried he would embarrass himself but Brock, if you happen to read this, you have nothing to be ashamed of, you did very well. The spring rolls were small but as I said both Brock and Paul were very impressive with their speed and final totals, they represented Seattle well.

Winner Paul Constant of The Stranger posing with the trophy

Brock Huard in the foreground getting mentally prepared

I mentioned to Brock that he should stand instead of sit, a few followed

Deep Fried Asparagus - Stockton 4/25

2009-04-30T10:30:00.001-07:00

Deep Fried Asparagus Results:

10 Minute Contest

1 - Pat Deep Dish Bertoletti (2) - 7 lbs 5.81 oz, $1500
2 - Joey Jaws Chestnut (1) - 7 lbs 2.81 oz, $750
3 - Eric Badlands Booker (13) - 5, $500
4 - Erik the Red Denmark (15) - 4 lbs 14 oz
6 - Nasty Nate Biller (19) - 4 lbs 12 oz
7 - Jason Erbivore Erb (33) 3 lbs 4.78 oz
8 - Wild Bill Myers (31) 3 lbs 2.17 oz

Badlands rapping pre-contest next to "Britney Spears" - the best mascot name ever

Check out the jumbo tron - it's amazing! Nathan's needs to borrow one

Pat was finally able to overtake Joey in this contest. Joey has won this contest 4 years in a row and he is loved in Stockton. I think Joey was feeling a bit sick with flu-like symptoms and his pace was a bit off in the beginning but Pat had the early speed and would have been tough to beat no matter what on this day.

Although I do and will always love this contest, this result was rather frustrating for me. Even though I only barely ate more than I did last year (4.75 lbs) I was on such a better pace this year than years past. I had 3 lbs down in close to three minutes. But the fourth plate kicked my butt. Deep fried asparagus is a great contest food (in my opinion) but every once in awhile you get a plate of huge stocks that are a bit overcooked (or maybe undercooked?) and the asparagus becomes very stringy. Stringy asparagus is difficult to swallow because it gets stuck between your mouth and throat. Early in the contest it is much easier to get through a plate like this because my jaws are stronger and swallowing bigger chunks is no problem. But at this time of the contest I couldn't get through the swallowing bigger chunks. I was very carefully chewing and swallowing and taking up huge chunks of time, it took me nearly five minutest to finish my fourth plate. Nasty Nate who was eating next to me at a great pace as well was also struggling with his fourth plate so maybe it wasn't just me.

Anyway, I finished my fifth plate (which was much easier than my 4th plate) completely stuffing in the last two spears at the buzzer. Badlands had passed me and moved just on to his 6th plate but he had accumulated some debris which brought his total down to 5 pounds even. All 5 of my empty plates were weighed which equaled 2 oz and that is where my total comes from, I guess I should have eaten the plates. I would have liked to see an eat off for third since it was so close and that was the last payout spot but in reality I know that I should have gotten through my 4th pound much faster and that is what cost me. It was great to see Badlands on the west coast and he did very well for his first trip out to Stockton so he deserved 3rd. Nasty Nate also improved greatly this year with only two spears left on his 5th plate.

After the contest, I knew I needed to eat something to forget about that 4th plate. So, we headed out to Bear Silber's Santa Clara Pizza Party joint to try the Belly Buster Challenge (Badlands and I) and to defeat Joey's 3 year old record of 17 minutes. It's a consolation no doubt but it did make me feel better - you can read about my (successful) attempt by clicking here

Great America Park Funnel Cake Contest - 4/11

2009-04-30T10:12:00.000-07:00

Official Funnel Cake Results:
4-11-2009

10 minute contest - Santa Clara, CA

1 - Joey Jaws Chestnut (1) - 5.44 lbs., $2000
2 - Pat Deep Dish Bertoletti (2) - 4.78, $1500
3 - Humble Bob Shoudt (4) - 4.12, $1000
4 - Erik the Red Denmark (15) - 3.56, $500
5 - Kevin "00" Ross (23) - 2.82
6 - Nasty Nate Biller (19) - 2.63

I would not say funnel cake is an ideal contest food. But this was a very well run contest with a committed sponsor so the food was not that big of a deal. Many of us have never had an experience with funnel cake. It's one of those foods that you know exists, you may have seen it, but have you ever really ordered it? Funnel cake looks light and fluffy since it is not really a solid mass. But, don't be fooled, funnel cake is a very dense food; it is essentially something akin to a pancake batter that is dripped in to a frying pan filled with vegetable oil. So, a good majority of the density of the food is derived from fry oil. Regardless if the food was slow, the contest was fun and rumor was there will be more funnel cake contests at other parks later in the eating season hosted by subsidiaries of the same parent company that put hosted this contest. Just recently it was annocunced at IFOCE that the 2nd funnel cake contest will take place on May 23 in Virginia.

I am always happy to win money and to not have a tough travel schedule so this was a successful contest for me in that sense. However, as this is my 4th full season on the competitive eating circuit, I know that now is my time to make a jump in the rankings and pull some upsets. Gradual improvement is great but it ain't spectatcular.

Check out some contest video taken by Pizza Party owner Bear Silber Here

Erik the Red Confronts the Whaler

2009-02-11T15:11:00.000-08:00

The following was written on a sea scroll and it was found on a beach….

Erik the Red confronts the Whaler

Erik the Red was sailing on the open seas searching for a new island to pillage when he came across a ship; a big one in particular. Erik the Red is a Viking and he is not afraid of any ship, even a big one. But he noticed that this was a ship unlike any he had seen on the open water. The ship is drifting in a wayward direction. Erik the Red uses his telescope to search for sailors; there is only one that he can see and he is sprawled out next to a pile of dirty clothes on the deck of the ship, rum in one hand, and harpoon in the other. The Red has killed many a drunken sailor before, they don’t make good Vikings. The Red directed his ship toward the drunken sailor's ship; he planned to kill the sailor and take the ship.

Erik the Red took his large double edged sword and boarded the ship with two of his guards, Günter and Sven. The sailor was still asleep when the Red walked up to him and nudged his side with his armored boot. The man awoke with crooked eyes and furrowed brow. A bout of maritime gibberish ensued.

“Stand about sailor, what business have you in my seas?” Erik the Red’s thick Scandinavian accent was barely comprehensible to the rum soaked Whaler. The Whaler snapped back with an alcohol induced New England tongue…

“Wha ‘re yu’s, soom kin ta pahhyrit?”

The Red was rather amused at the Whaler’s insurrection; normally he would have already killed the man but his curiosity would delay him.

“Are you alone sailor?” the Red asked.

“I ain’d warkin’ na plank ya derty pahhyrit, dis ma shhhip. Don ya touch ma fren nahther, hees…”

“A-ha, so you are not alone. Where’s your first mate sailor? Maybe he is sober enough to speak”

“Hees nhat a whaylher lik’me. Hees, hees, I dunno what hee’s, but hees...”

“Take me to him and I’ll let you live for now.”

“Ya’ fhallaw ther rope ta tha-ah cambin under, hees in thar,” the Whaler squeezed out the last word from the corner of his mouth, squinted his eyes, and lifted a weak finger abaft toward the cabin entrance. Moments later he collapsed to the deck again landing on top of the empty bottles of rum. One bottle rolled loudly toward the bow along the uneven wooden deck.

Erik the Red stood in indecision, wondering if he should kill the Whaler.

“Aaah, scurvy whaler; no use in killing him now, he’ll be here when we get back. Take the harpoon from him (talking to Sven), he gets about somehow and I don’t trust a whaler with a harpoon in his hands.”

Erik the Red and his two burly guards, one of which carried the Whaler’s harpoon, opened the hatch leading to the main cabin below deck. There was a smell of raw meat, fermented wine, and rotting cheese. There was a dim light in the corner where the smells were coming from. A man with a painted face and calm demeanor was shown in the light. The scraps of meat were resting on his ripped shirt and his ankles were locked in shackles as he played the harmonica.

“Stop that noise you, what are you doing here? You don’t look like a sailor”

“I am not a sailor, I eat”

“You eat? Tell me your purpose here or I will kill you now sailor”

“I am not a sailor, I am an eater. Eater X.”

Erik the Red was so frustrated, his face turned red like his hair, he drew his sword and bent the shaft in to the eater’s chest.

“This is your last chance, tell me what is going on here”

“The Whaler is my friend, we ARE connected, but he is lost. He has been feeding me for weeks down here, he chained me up and when he wakes from his drunkenness, he buries me in different foods, today was meat and rotten cheese; I have to eat to stay alive. He chained me up, but he doesn’t mean it, he just has lost his way.”

“Are there any other sailor’s on this ship?”

“No. I have seen no one.”

The Red still had no idea what the Eater X was doing on the ship but he returned his sword. He walked back up to the deck where the Whaler still lay, and stood over him once again. Günter kicked the Whaler firmly in the midsection, breaking one of his ribs.

“Get your drunken ass up off this deck and start doing what you were born to do," snarled Erik the Red. "I'm not gonna kill you, I ain’t even gonna report you to the army of the sea – I’ll be back in one week and I expect to see that creature hiding out down there released - and I want to see blubber on the deck of this ship.”

Erik the Red’s burly guards Günter and Sven, though illiterate, were cunning and they were perplexed at these words. Günter, being the bigger, blurted out displeasure of the Red’s decision just loud enough for him to hear. The Red snatched the harpoon from Sven and suddenly thrust it in to Günter’s chest without hesitation. The blow did not kill him but the momentum of the strike sent him flailing backward and over the starboard ledge. Though Günter was a Viking and lived on the seas his entire life, he could not swim and he quickly sank below the surface while choking on his own blood.

“Don’t let this be the only blood I see on this harpoon when I return,” Erik the Red said as he handed the now sober looking Whaler his harpoon. “I will find you and I will kill you if you don’t kill me a whale.”

Sven did not dare say a word but he could not help but look blankly in question at Erik the Red. “I am not enitrely sure why Sven, but we need this Whaler back in action, that is for sure.”

Erik the Red clanked his boots to the deck. He turned his back and crossed the plank on to his own ship. The Whaler could be heard cursing and crushing bottles as Erik the Red sailed away, sparing the Whaler his life. But he would return, as promised...

The rest of the scroll is missing

The Dreaded Off-Season

2008-12-01T15:04:00.000-08:00

Sadly, the Competitive Eating season is over for 2008. The season basically ended on the last weekend in September with the Krystal Burger Championship. While going through the withdrawls of non-regular consumption wars, I decided to undergo surgery on my right leg to repair a stress fracture I had incurred while playing football and basketball during the late spring. My injury is similar to the one Tiger Woods had surgically repaired after his US Open victory this year, although he also had reconstructive surgery on his knee, which I did not have. Fortunately all is well now, I am repaired and ready to start running again.

Gimping around 1 week after surgery in October

Of course, there is no offseason for eating in general but now that I have been on the circuit for three full years I really feel the lull of not competing. I am hoping that we can grow as an organization and sport next year but we have an uphill climb with the economic downturn. Not having a competition for Thanksgiving this year was very sad. There are two days a year when everyone in America collectively throws away their diets and celebrates in overindulgence - The Fourth of July and Thanksgiving. At least we have the 4th of July covered.

In addition, Wing Bowl will not be allowing professionals to compete this year. Wing Bowl is by no means a staple of the IFOCE brand nor does it have a reputation for even being a legitimate contest. But without a doubt it is one of the most bizarre and wild attractions that competitive eating has to offer and being shutout this year, for some reason is bothersome. After participating in last years event and seeing how rediculous some of the judging decisions went, I vowed never to be a part of that contest again. Yet, somehow now I feel like if I had the opportunity, I probably would do it again - don't ask me why, I know that the same things would go on again but it seems like the perfect way to kick off a season - with controversy, chaos, T&A, and a huge party; no matter if it is legit or not.

Another note I would like to make is that we have lost two people in the IFOCE that were an integral part of what drives the organization. Kate Westfall (Dir. of Operations) and Mike Castellano (MC) both have moved on from the IFOCE. Both of these people contributed a great deal to running our organization and they will be sorely missed. I have no idea how they will be replaced. Both of these people are my friends and helped me get started in eating. I wish the best for them, I appreciate everything they did and hope that somehow we can get them back in the future.

Happy holidays to everyone who reads this, I look forward to seeing you at the table sometime soon hopefully. I know at the very least I will be in Laredo, TX again next year vying for the most coveted jalapeno eating championship America has to offer on February 21. Hasta entonces!

Krystal Square Off V Reflection

2008-09-26T10:08:00.000-07:00

After being able to relax, vent and reflect on my Krystal Square Off experience this year, I feel much more at ease. I am absolutely devistated that I will not be in Chattanooga for the finals. I would be lying to myself if I tried to make any consolations for not being there. I did remove my top 10 list of things that are making me feel better about not being in the finals in my previous post. The truth is nothing is making me feel better. I was trying to make light of my failure and to try and laugh about it but in the end it my list probably sounded more like sour grapes than what I really wanted to convey which was humility in self deprecation.

I never want to be the person who makes excuses and blames others for things not going my way. I know I can do better. I do have a very compeitive personality, I am never comfortable losing and not reahcing my goals. I can be some what of a sore loser and I am not always proud of how I have acted after losing. But I never hold a grudge against anyone or anything but and I am a very positive person in gerneral. I am grateful for all of the experiences I have been lucky enough to have in competitive eating.

I am still very interested in what will happen in Chattanooga and I will miss the chance to revel in the post event recap and parties with my friends, those who participated, and the great people at Krystal. I am kinda rooting for Pat Bertoletti to pull off an upset just because I think he is due and that would be the most intiguing outcome. It seems almost impossible though that Kobayashi and Joey will not be there in the end. I will be watching and I will definitley be back next year with a chip on my shoulder and motivation not to miss the finals ever again in my career.

Krystal Qualifier - Memphis 9/21/08

2008-09-24T08:38:00.000-07:00

8 minute contest

Results:

1 - Rich the Locust LeFevre - 52
2 - Juris Dr. BigTime Shibiyama - 51
3 - Erik the Red Denmark - 50
4 - Crazy Legs Conti - 48

I have to bite my tongue a bit to write this recap. I still have the bitter taste like that of battery acid in my mouth from this contest and the Krystal circuit this year. Rich won the contest, he earned his spot at the finals in Memphis and I am sincerely happy for Rich, I will always root for Rich. I needed 51 to earn the Wildcard spot, I was deducted 2 burgers for stuffing at the end to deny me the Wildcard. I don't know what to say really, I don't think the deductions were justified, especially when considering the eating and judging that occurred on the rest of the qualifying circuit was not consistent. But that is what happened.

There were many circumstances on the Krystal circuit this year that did not go my way - if any of those circumstances go my way, I am in. I really don't want to re-live any of it so screw it I don't need to explain everything. One thing I do know is that I could have planned better and I could have and should eaten more so not to leave it up to circumstance. So in the end I have only myself to blame, I know that and I do.

It turned out that Sonya denied her Wildcard invitation to the finals for reasons unknown. So Crazy Legs is awarded her spot based on the fact that we both had a top result of 50 burgers but he ate more burgers, 48, in his second qualifier than me, 43. That is great, I am happy for Crazy Legs, but it is sad for the sport to see Sonya deciding to not go to the finals in Chattanooga. Even if I were offered the last spot, I am not sure I would have taken it based on my frustration with how things turned out this year. In the end, I probably would go just because it is a free ticket but honestly right now, I do not have a good taste in my mouth for Krystal competition. I am happy that there is an alternative Tamale eating contest this weekend in Lewisville, TX that I can still attend.

La Costena Jalapenos, Chicago, IL 9/14/08

2008-09-19T13:29:00.000-07:00

La Costena Jalapeno Feel the Heat Championship Results:

8 minute contest

1 - Pat Deep Dish Bertoletti - 127
2 - Sonya the Black Widow Thomas - 117
3 - Erik the Red Denmark - 105
4 - Rich the Locust LeFevre - 104
5 - John ?? - 90
6 - Hall Hoover Hunt - 88
7 - Tim Gravy Brown - 81
8 - Eric Badlands Booker - 65

Pat Bertoletti Eats 127 Jalapeños in IFOCE Challenge - Watch today’s top amazing videos here

After a tough contest in Nashville I did not know what to expect on Sunday and the third straight day of eating contests for me. I actually had very little expectations of doing great in this contest but I woke up feeling 100% better than the day before and I was able to redeem myself a bit with a good performance. Hurricane Ike forced this contest to change venues at the last minute to indoors at Mi Tienda restaurant in Chicago. La Costena pulled a rabbit out of the hat and still put on a great show. There were several big media members still in attendance and a great crowd showed up.

The eating itself never seemed to get out of third gear for anyone. For some reason, the jalapenos were not going down as fast for anyone this year. I am not sure exactly why no one was able to get over 150 for this contest, maybe the indoor venue kept the jalapenos more fresh and full of spice instead of drying out in the sun outdoors. Either way, I know more people struggled in Chicago this year than last year. Despite eating more than I ate at last year's contest, I was still well behind my pace and goal for this contest.

I do want to apologize to George Shea and Rich LeFevre for not eating as clean as I always have in jalapeno eating contests in the past. I was deducted 3 jalapenos for not cleaning them to the stem, this was definitely not a conscious way of eating for me and I am embarrassed that I was deducted any at all. After what happened in Nashville, it was not my goal to put George in a place to make a judgement on me. There were several peppers that did not have stems and I did leave more than an 1/4" on a few of those peppers because subconsciously I think I was worried that if I ate them down to the knob they would not be counted and by doing so I left more than was allowed. Honestly, since the peppers were plated in quantity of 25, the count really can be determined by subtracting what is left. Next time I will eat the whole pepper and not worry about it.

All in all, the weekend was a great adventure and at least 2 or the 3 contests came out well for me. The one contest I worked the hardest for was not a success but I will have one more shot at that one. I intend to have Karma on my side this weekend and not forget my headband...

Click Here to listen to my interview on KJR recapping the weekend of eating

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

2008-09-19T12:04:00.000-07:00

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.

2008 Groz-with-Gas-a-thon Salmon Record

2008-09-17T16:52:00.001-07:00

The first eating endeavor of my three day weekend was a success. I managed to cram down 6 pounds of King salmon in 8 minutes to establish a new Major League Eating record. I have to admit, I had no idea what to expect and as soon as I started eating, I knew 6 pounds would be a challenge. Salmon is actually a very hearty food and since it is low in fat and very high in protein it is natually a dry food. Fortunately, there were no bones so that was not an issue. I was hoping to be able to take a drink of liquids maybe every other swallow but once it was in my mouth there was no way I could get it down without liquids unless I wasted valuable time chewing.

I was eating at a pace of about 1 pound per minute for the first 3 minutes but I knew I would need to be at around 4 pounds at the midway point in order to reach 6 pounds. Well, I fell behind pace as my jaw started to tire a bit and with only one minute left I had just started my 6th one pound plate. I really had to cram and swallow wrecklessly in the last minute. I was afraid to let the live audience, the radio audience and myself down so I was able to get it done.

That was close, I was relieved to get it done

Click here to view the Groz-with-Gas show page with links to pics and videos from the event

A good look at the hearty salmon here - they were plated in one pound increments

The last minute was grueling, I am starting my 6th pound here

After the contest, Bison and I were able to chill and talk about how he will make his combeack

Grub-a-Palooza: Weekend of Eating

2008-09-11T13:33:00.000-07:00

On Friday, September 12, I will embark on my own personal three day grub-a-palooza. There are several eaters on the circuit scheduled to do the triple this weekend either with Kolaches in Houston on Friday, Grits in Shreveport on Saturday, and Jalapenos in Chicago on Sunday (Pat Bertoletti, Hall Hunt) or Kolaches, Grits, and Krystals in Knoxville on Sunday (Crazy Legs), or Cannolis in NY on Friday, Grits, and Krystals (Eater X). But no other eater will be duplicating the triple I will attempt.

Tomorrow, I will be a guest performer at the local charity fundraiser, the Groz-with-Gas-a-thon for the third straight year. This year, I am attempting to bring pride to my hometown of Seattle by setting a new record for Salmon consumption. The previous two years I have attempted and succeeded in setting records in Spot Shrimp, jalapenos, and habaneros. Mind you, I am only competing against myself, but I like to make the rules as hard as they can be and being that the exhibition is all for charity gives me motivation to do my best and to set a record that is worthy.

The salmon eating rules will be:
8 minute contest length
I must eat a minimum of 6 pounds in order for the record to be sanctioned

The salmon provided will be fresh gillnet caught King (AKA Chinook) Salmon caught in the Klamath river in Oregon. The very charitable and classy host restaurant, Anthony's, will provide 10 pounds of the cooked salmon for the event.

My goal is to eat all 10 pounds in the 8 minute time period. I have no idea if I can do it because honestly who could afford to practice eating that much salmon? As in years past, Ray the Bison Meduna will be on hand to be the official judge for the contest.

Click Here to listen to my 950 KJR interview from yesterday (9/10) to promote the eating exhibition with Groz and Gas.

Those who are interested can listen to the attempt live on the radio tomorrow (9/12) at 4:00 pm (PST) at 950kjr.com

I won't have much time to recover from the salmon eating exhibition because soon after I will be taking the red eye to Nashville, TN Friday evening to compete in the Krystal Square Off V qualifier on Saturday, September 13. This contest has really been my sole focus for the past month as I know the competition will be intense with Juliet Lee, Badlands, and Dr. BigTime all participating with thoughts of taking this title. This could be one of the closest contests on the qualifying circuit this year and I imagine it will take north of 50 burgers to have a chance. I can't wait to eat a Krystal and see what happens.

After the KSOV Nashville qualifier, I will be flying immediately to Chicago to get ready for the 2nd annual La Costena jalapeno eating championship to celebrate Mexican Independence day on Sunday, September 14. This contest had a lot of flare last year and a few surprises when they ran out of jalapenos 6 minutes in to the 8 minute contest. I was not pleased with my 5th place finish last year eating only 98 jalapenos so I have a lot to prove in this year's event.

3 days, 3 eating contests, 6,800 miles to travel, 24 minutes of eating = a lot to discover...

Barack Obama is a competitive eating fan

2008-09-10T11:26:00.000-07:00

The September 1, 2008 edition of Time Magazine contains a photo essay of Presidential front runner Barack Obama. The photos show a behind the scenes look of him and his family on his democratic campaign trail around the time of the 4th of July this year. The photo below - a full page spread shows Barack and his family watching TV prior to a 4th of July picnic in Butte, MT:

Now here is a close-up of the caption for the photo:

Barack Obama is a competitive eating fan! I love the looks on the faces of both Barack and Michelle. Obama looks intent and focused on the action while Michelle looks concerned and shocked - a perfect reaction.

My favorite part about this scenario is the picture that follows. The following picture was not included in the Time photo essay but I was able to find it on the Web; taken later in the day at the 4th of July picnic:

Judging from the photo, Obama seems to have gained some motivation by watching the Nathan's contest. This is not an ordinary bite, he is attacking the dog! Michelle is shown in the background of the picture looking proud of Barack's bite but probably saying to herself "now don't get carried away Barack."

Clearly, Obama should be President of our great country!

John Ascuaga's Nugget Rib Results - 8/27/08

2008-09-04T09:24:00.000-07:00

John Ascuaga's Nugget Rib Championship Results - Reno, NV:

12 Minute contest (rank in parenthesis):

1 - Joey Jaws Chestnut (1) - 9.8 lbs. (WR), $2500
2 - Pat Deep Dish Bertoletti(2) - 7.4 lbs, $1500
3 - Erik the Red Denmark (12) - 4.7 lbs, $750
4 - Rich the Locust LeFevre (7) - 4.6 lbs, $250
5 - Ron the Optic Koch (NR) - 3.4 lbs
6 - Jason Erbivore Erb (34) - 2.8 lbs
7 - Shawn the Vacuum Kirby (48) - 2.5 lbs
8 - El Toro (41) - 2.2 lbs

my first 5 lb. tray of pork ribs still in tact

Great contest. Joey was dominate and impressive. The ribs were pork and were really flying off the bone. I knew early on in the contest that the Reno record of 7.0 lbs would be broken probably by both Pat and Joey. They ribs were served in 5 pound trays, Joey was on his fourth tray, Pat and Rich were on their third tray and I finsihed nearly two trays. Usually rib contests really come down to jaw stregth and tolerance, not so much capacity but I think a lot of us on stage felt more full than usual after this contest. I only ate 4.7 pounds but I started to feel pain with about 5 minutes left in the contest.

I feel fortunate to have edged out Rich by only an ounce and a half. Rich and I were standing on opposite ends of Joey and Pat so I really had no idea where he was during the contest but you know when a 12 minute contest comes down to a couple ounces, obviously every bite (or non-bite) mattered. Rich is so consistently good in all foods, especially in the rib discipline, he is really tough to beat but he gave me a chance in Reno and fortunately I took advantage. I still love ya Rich.

The only unfortunate aspect of this contest in my opinion is that it takes place on a Wednesday evening. I realize that the days of the week seem to not be important in places like Reno and Las Vegas, everyday may as well be Saturday in these places. But, the BBQ festival is huge and the weather is always perfect so I would love to have been able to hang out and celebrate with the natives a little longer.

Some pics:

Ron Koch made a tirumphant return to the Reno rib contest dressed as the Undertaker or maybe a Jedi. Looking very creepy either way.

pre-contest jitters before we take the stage

Pat has new glasses

Joey holding the 1st place trophy, the pig on top is classic

The crowd was rowdy and the Chestnut's were there to harrass the Joey challengers (Lucky and Paul Chestnut in lower left)

Russian Walks 20 km for Olympic Gold?!?

2008-08-21T16:20:00.000-07:00

I am an Olympic junkie. Watching the Olympic Games has always been a tradition and pastime in my life that has sucked my attention and interest like a vacuum. This summer is no different. The summer Olympics are clearly in my opinion, more compelling than the winter Olympics. Because well honestly the athletes are more compelling and usually are more visible and easier to connect with because they are not wearing layers and layers of clothing as are the winter Olympic athletes. Put bluntly, way less clothing in the summer Olympics, way more entertaining.

The Beijing games have provided me with hours of entertainment day and night and have revealed some amazing performances and athletes so far. On the top of my list is definitely Jamaican Usain Bolt, who has shocked the world by dominating the 100 and 200 meter sprints with world records while looking calm as a Rasta man doing it.

Next on my most impressive athletes list is USA gymnast Nastia Lukin. Lukin, despite being grossly underscored on many of her individual apparatus routines, managed to leave the crooked judges with no options but to give her the Gold in the all-around. Lukin impressed me because she is actually a full grown human being competing against rubber like underdeveloped 13 and 14 year olds (mostly from China) who weigh nothing and don't nearly have the same impact in the air and when landing as Nastia.

Finally, there is Michael Phelps going 8 for 8 winning Gold's. Phelps performances were impressive and dominating but when you think about the fact that while setting a WR, it still takes him 1 minute 42 seconds to swim 200 meters and Usain Bolt just set a WR by running 200 meters in 19.30 seconds, Bolt is more exciting.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Olympics often give exposure to obscure and non-traditional sports such as field hockey, trampoline, rhythmic gymnastics, and ping pong. But last night when I turned on CNBC at 11:30 pm and saw the 20K women's race walking competition, I nearly fell off my couch. Now, I didn't realize that this has been an Olympic sport since around the mid 1950's and it is probably at the least very annoying and difficult to keep the race walking form for 20 km but wow, showing the whole 1 hr 30 minute "race" on TV? Russian race-walking rule bender Olga Kaniskina won the race. Walkers are penalized and even disqualified for breaking walking form by not having at least one foot on the ground at all times. Are ya kidding me? This is a sport that is dominated by rule breakers; it seems the best walkers are the most deceptive rule breakers.

Anyway, I don't mind that the obscure and even ridiculous sports like race-walking and synchronized anything are included in the Olympics; I don't. I actually kind of enjoy watching these spectacles. But now when I see these fringe sport/skill events in the Olympics, only one thought comes to my mind:

"COME ON, IF THIS IS AN OLYMPIC SPORT, COMPETITIVE EATING HAS TO AT LEAST HAVE A CHANCE TO BE AN OLYMPIC SPORT RIGHT?!?"

Don't tell me you haven't thought that as well this summer...We can all at least dream that some day some one will turn on CNBC at midnight of a long summer's evening and see hot dog shrapnel hitting their screen with the Olympic Rings showing in the upper right hand corner and they can yell at their TV - "how can this be an Olympic sport?" We can dream.

Major League Eating: The Game "Interview"

2008-07-23T13:06:00.000-07:00

(An Interview with Erik the Red from Cyberspace):

So, have you played the game yet?

Yes, I downloaded it from Wii Ware a couple of days after it was released last Monday.

What are your initial impressions of the game? Give us some highlights.

I think the game is very entertaining. Anytime you take something from reality and turn it in to a video game, I think the hope is that there is a subconscious reaction inside of the player that makes them feel like they are participating in the reality; and this game does that for me. I like the game because it is a challenging 2 minutes of competition that requires skill and focus just like a reality eating competition. And actually the game requires a lot of physical exertion, my arm is sore right now in fact from an intense burp-off duel I had recently with El Toro.

One of my favorite features of the game is the sounds that the characters and the announcers make. There is constant action in the game while getting the food to the mouth, chewing, clearing your stomach, burping, farting, biting your tongue, or suffering a reversal of fortune - the sounds and the vibrations of the Wii remote bring the action to life and defitnitely add to the comedy of the game. Good to hear Badlands' and George Shea's voices mixed in the game as well.

How does it feel to play yourself in a video game?

I pretty much continuously laugh when I am playing as myself or against my avatar in the game. It is an honor and it is a total blast to have a digital replication of myself that is based on me but yet still acts autonomously. Even though the character in the video game is based on me in reality, I don’t feel emotionally attached to my character however. For example, I recently competed as Crazy Legs against my girlfriend who played as my character in a hot dog eating contest. When I beat her and made her/me reverse the dogs I was happy that I won and had no sympathy for “Erik the Red”, the video game character, for blowing chunks. Though, I will admit it feels especially good to beat people while playing as myself.

How do you like your character’s look? Anything you would change?

My character has a fun look. My hair is super spiked; the bandana is obviously a signature of mine that I am glad they captured well. I like that my character is recognizable as me, in that the features do somehow look like mine (so I have been told) but also, some features are exaggerated, such as my elongated chin in the pre-match screen. I would obviously like my character to have more muscle mass and more capacity but okay reality gets in the way again.

Two small things I would change about my characters physical appearance would be my green shorts in the game mode and my sunglasses. Everyone knows that green shorts don’t match a red shirt, I think white or black shorts would look better on my character. And a more updated pair of sunglasses, the sunglasses my character is sporting look a bit like a classic pair of Vuarnets from the late 80’s. But all-in-all I am very happy with my character’s appearance.

Have you been able to beat the game by defeating all of the characters in the single-player mode?

Honestly, I have not been able to defeat Tim Janus at burritos yet which means I have not made it very far in the game. I guess the game is a little too much like reality in that sense.

How can someone get their hands on the game?

If you don’t own a Nintendo Wii yet then first you will need to buy one of those. If you already own a Nintendo Wii, than it is pretty simple, you can do it from your couch. The game is only available online through Wii Ware:

1. Connect your Wii to the Internet using WiFi or a lan line (requires USB converter sold separately). The Wii is already setup for WiFi so if you have a wireless internet connection at your home this is preferred and is really easy to setup (refer to the Wii owner’s manual for simple instructions).
2. Once your Wii is connected to the Internet, go to the Wii Shop Channel from the Wii Menu, Click Wii Ware, and search for Major League Eating the Game.
3. If you have never purchased anything from the Wii Shop Channel, you will first need to purchase Wii Points. 1,000 Wii Points are required to download the game. 1,000 Wii Points = $10.00 ($10.90 including tax). You can purchase Wii Points from the Wii Shop menu using your credit card (points show up immediately once your card information is approved).
4. Once you have the required 1,000 Wii Points in your account, Click on the game icon and click download the game (takes approximately 10 minutes to download)! The game will show up on your Wii Menu once it is downloaded. That’s it, start playing!

Do you think there will be future iterations of the game or a possible hard copy release?

Hopefully the downloaded version of the game will be a big success which could lead to a future hard copy release of the game. I would hope that a more robust hard copy version could include more current and old school eaters, more scenarios, and options to customize your own character. But I really think it all depends on the success of the current Wii Ware format.

Any final thoughts about the game?

The game really is comical and challenging to play especially in the Versus mode against your friends. For only $10.00 dollars, it is a steal and will help ease your hunger pains between competitive eating competitions.

I would like to say thank you to Major League Eating and Mastiff for making the game a reality. Don’t wake me up please.

(I will be posting some video of actual game play soon)

Chinook Winds BBQ Ribs Results 7/13/08

2008-07-18T16:38:00.000-07:00

Lincoln City, OR

12 minute contest (IFOCE rank in parenthesis):

1 -Joey Jaws Chestnut (1) - 8.05 lbs
2 - Rich the Locust LeFevre (7) - 5.3 lbs
3 - Erik the Red Denmark (12) - 4.55 lbs
4 - Jason the Erbivore Erb (34) - 3.7 lbs
5 - David Brickhouse Braunstein (31) - 3.35 lbs
6 - Andrew McKirdy (NR) - 2.75 lbs
7T - Carl the Hungarian Freight Train Ronto (NR) - 2.65 lbs
(Carl was the amateur champion the past two years)

complete results:

(Scott Sayer is "Scott S"), "Earthquak Jake" won the media contest with 2.75 lbs in 6 minutes the day before

Déjà vu all over again. This was my third straight year participating in this contest and the top four finishers have been the same each year. Obviously, I was hoping for better this year but Rich and certainly Joey are stallwarts at this contest. This contest has been a bit of a victory lap for Joey the past two years after winning at Nathan's, he has been able to ride the wave and run away with the title. Rich always manages to keep a frantic yet steady pace for the entire 12 minutes, one that I have not been able to match.

This year we were presented with 5 lb plates (meat and bone) of pork ribs as opposd to years past when we had 3 lb plates I believe. Not a big difference, but it does help to get an idea of pacing if the plate increments are smaller. Either way, I think I ate at about the same pace the entire contest, which is totally against how I usually eat. The ribs came off the bone pretty easily but the meat was more chewy (maybe more fatty?) which made it harded to swallow in my oipinion.

It is not a satisfying feeling at the end of a contest to feel totally normal and no pain or discomfortort from the food that was just eaten. Sounds backward but really it is the worst feeling in competitive eating. It hasn't happened often in my career, I usually feel like I want to crawl out of my skin at the end of a contest. But after the ribs I felt totally comfortable, like I had just eaten a big lunch after the contest. This is not a good feeling, it means I didn't get close to my capacity. My total poundage for this year was slightly below what I ate last year (4.7) but I felt 10 times better after the contest. I don't know what that means, I guess I need to figure out how to eat ribs faster.

Regardless, this is one of my favorite venues and contests on the circuit and it is the only regular contest that I can drive to. It really has been a no-stress envirnoment, just a chill weekend at the beach and slamming some ribs on Sunday. Thanks again to Heather and the Chinook Winds Casino and Resort for being such great hosts. I'll be back next year.

Click Here to view my pics from the contest

Click Here to view News Guard article recapping the contest

Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Championship - Overtime keeps the Mustard Colored Belt in US with Joey Chestnut, 7/4/2008

2008-07-07T23:27:00.000-07:00

Coney Island, NY - The original Nathan's at the corner of Surf and Stillwell

Complete Results (current IFOCE rank in parenthesis):

1 - Joey Jaws Chestnut (1) - 59 + 5 in OT
2 - Takeru the Tsunami Kobayashi (3) - 59 + 4.5 in OT
3 - Tim Eater X Janus (4) - 42
4 - Pat Deep Dish Bertoletti (2) - 38
5 - Sonya the Black Widow Thomas (6) - 34
6T - Humble Bob Shoudt (5) - 30
6T - Hall Hoover Hunt (8) - 30
8 - Juliet Lovely Lee (10) - 29
9T - Erik the Red Denmark (12) - 28
9T - Juris Dr. Big Time Shibayama (17) - 28
11 - Tim Gravy Brown (13) - 27
12 - Eric Badlands Booker (NR) - 25.5
13T - Rich the Locust LeFevre (7) - 25
13T - Patrick Van-damage Vandam (45) - 25 (nickname coined by Kate Westfall)
15 - Crazy Legs Conti (11) - 24
16 - Allen Shredder Goldstein (15) - 21
17 - Pat from Moonachie Philbin (21) - 19
18 - Nasty Nate Biller (30) - 18.5
19 - Pete Pretty Boy Davekos (25) - 18
20 - Arturo the Natural Rios (14) - 16
21 - Kevin "00" Ross (29) - 14

Just before the eating begins...(pic taken by valjean615 , used with permission)

The contest was truncated to 10 minutes this year; it has been 12 minutes for every contest in the modern era. 2 minutes may not seem like a lot but in terms of competitive eating it creates a drastic change in psychological and physical preparation. Joey and Kobayashi proved once again, maybe in even more of a staggering light this year, that they are the elite of this sport. The two of them drive themselves to a place that honestly I think makes the both of them dread going. But it is so entertaining and invigorationg to see Chestnut and Kobayashi so determined not to lose and so driven to prove themselves that they go way beyond the point they would ever go without each others' competition.

The result after 10 minutes was a virtual tie at 59. The overtime format was decided on the fly to be the first one to eat 5 HDB's. This is not a traditional overtime format; usually overtime would be either a one or two minute sudden death. But, I actually think it was a good decision by George Shea, Charles Hardy, and Ryan Nerz to go with a first to 5 format because they were both already so close to their physical limit that any more than 5 dogs would likely have pushed one of them to reverse. Neither of them was going to give up and with a cleared mouth they could both probably do more than 5 dogs in one minute even after 59 down already.

Despite what I thought was a fair format, the overtime decided almost nothing because they were virtually tied again. It was a blur of stuffing, but both Koby and Joey had a ball of buns and meat in their hands that they were trying to stuff in first to claim victory. Initially it looked like Kobayashi had gotten the food to his mouth first, but after the both of them stuffed the mass in to their mouths, Kobayashi still had about half of a bun in his hand that he had to go back and grab after Joey had stuffed the last bit in and that was the difference. Joey raised his arms in victory a bit premature before it was called, but he quickly lowered his arm and gulped some liquid to clear his mouth first after George screamed that they needed to clear their mouth. It was hard to see from the ESPN broadcast and even from the crowd that Koby still had food left in his hand during that last stuff and many believed that Kobayashi should have been declared the victor.

It is hard to say that Kobayashi did not deserve the victory on the 4th but Joey was technically a fraction better and just as deserving. In the post eating interview with ESPN, Joey had a good quote when he said that "he (Kobayashi) wanted it but I needed it." Well said Joey and you definitely proved it. Takeru probably could have stuffed a bit more in at the end of regulation (he mentions in his blog here), Joey was behind in the last minute and I know that hurts Kobayashi and will drive him for the next re-match. The good news for Kobayashi is that he seems to have moved beyond his jaw injury and although he has lost some power, he has made adjustments in his eating style and mentally he is back in the game now.

Kobayashi is confident the day before at the weigh in and
Joey signs autographs in Coney after his victory

I managed to eat a personal best for any time limit of 28 HDB's. My goal going in to the day was to put up a PR and finish in the top 10. I ended up in a tie for 9th place so I have to say I am satisfied with the result. My 28 dogs and improvement of +4 HDB's from my qualifying number was a bit of an anomaly as almost everyone in the contest failed to eat as many as they did in qualifying. Only Crazy Legs (ate 21.5 to qualify) and I actually improved on our qualifying number (I ate 24 to qualify) and I believe I was the only eater on stage to post a personal best for any time limit.

I'm swinging my..., getting ready, and interacting with the crowd (pic taken by valjean615 , used with permission)

The low numbers would suggest that the conditions were tough for eating and that a better day would have produced much bigger numbers. But, it is hard to attribute exactly why everyone seemed to struggle to perform their best. I think the shortening of the contest was a big factor because it usually takes a couple of minutes to get in to the rhythm of eating on the 4th for whatever reason, But the last few minutes are always easier to make up ground because of the incredible energy of the crowd and the moment. This year, there was no time to make up any ground that was lost in the first couple of minutes because of the 10 minute format.

Obviously, there are more distractions on the 4th than with any other contest. The stage and the crowd is so electric and there is so much anticipation of the event that it is so easy to not be able to focus solely on eating what is in front of you. I know it happened to me last year when I only managed to eat 23 in 12 minutes in the finals which was considerably lower than my capability and my qualifying total. I used the experience I had last year as motivation to focus only on eating this year and to try and not get too caught up in the theatrics of the event. Even though I thoroughly enjoy all of the entertainment of the day aside from the eating, I know that not putting up a big number hurts and takes a long time to get over. Either that or I just sucked in my qualifier this year which made my final total look like such an improvement. Either way, it feels good to put up a personal best on the biggest stage.

Despite the fact that not everyone put up their personal best, there was some impressive results this year. Crazy Legs' (24 HDB) nearly reached his goal of 25 HDB's, in fact he had them in his mouth but his judged discounted 1 HDB for debris. Hall Hunt posted 30 HDB's and finished tied for 6th continuing his rise up the top 10. Eater X improved from 4th last year to 3rd this year finally taking home some hardware with his consistent attack on the 40+ HDB mark. Badlands' (25.5 HDB) return was a welcomed relief; we need Badlands at the table eating not just rapping. Gravy Brown (27 HDB) threw up some huge numbers this year in qualifying and improved significantly over last year's final number (22.5 to 27). Both Juliet (29 HDB) and Sonya (34 HDB's) represented the "X" chromosomes well finishing in 8th and 5th respectively while taking up virtually no room at the middle of the table. Patrick Vandam led in impressive group of rookies to the final table. Despite not achieving his eye popping qualifier total of 31; Vandamage still impressed with 25 in the finals. And Dr. Big Time (28 HDB) did indeed prove he has top 10 talent.

The 4th of July has quickly and easily become my favorite day of the year. I had a great time competing and hanging with all of the eaters in NY. The fraternity of competitive eaters is a uniquely entertaining and elite group of talented nut cases. Special thanks to Crazy Legs and Nicole for arranging the after parties. It was great to see so many new faces and impressive rookies at the final table, the experience will be a propeller for better things to come.

A lasting image of Arturo following his wardrobe malfunction walking in the shadow of the Wall of Fame

The Road to Nathan's is complete for this year and now we look forward to the Krystal Burger Championship on September 28, one month earlier than last year. See you all soon!

See you all next year! (pic taken by valjean615 , used with permission)

Detlef Schrempf Celebrity Golf Classic

2008-06-23T00:34:00.000-07:00

Today I will be participating in the Detlef Schrempf Celebrity Golf Classic. I am honored to be a guest this year for the first time in the tournament and to help support Detlef's charity foundation. Ever since I started receiving recognition for competitive eating, it has been a parallel goal of mine to get myself in to the ring of celebrity golf tournaments. It is not like I know Detlef, I met him for the first time yesterday. But I am hoping I will make a good impression on my fellow celebrities/competitors and the people who will donate thousands of dollars to Detlef's great charities to participate in the event. I imagine I will have to play great golf in a 5-person scramble format and I will likely have to embark on some impromptu speed eating exhibition to really make my presence known. It should be a great time, that is if my team can win...

Check out the pics of the brochure with some of the honored guests that will be in attendance. Kato Kaelin has to be one of the most intriguing celecbrities; hopefully I won't get to drunk and ask him anything stupid like "did he (OJ) do it?" I am sure he has heard that one a million times.

Nathan's Qualifier Results, Kansas City 5-31-08

2008-06-03T12:30:00.000-07:00

Nathans Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest Qualifier Results:

10 Minute Contest:

1st - Erik the Red Denmark (12) - 24 HDBs
2nd - Chris the Mad Greek Abatsas (20) - 23 HDBs
3rd - Nic the Incredible Bulk Fry (NR) - 21 HDBs (impressive rookie debut)
4th - Pat Bruss (24) - 20 HDBs

pciture courtesy of the Kansas City Star

Click Here to read the Kansas City Star article by Ryan Young recapping the contest

Sam's Club hosted this contest in Overland Park, KS as part of their effort to promote Nathan's hot dogs being sold in Sam's Club. I noticed the line for hot dogs inside of the store was lengthy; I am pretty sure they will sell very well with the Sam's Club patrons. A slight difference in the way that Sam's Club prepares the Nathan's dogs as compared to vendors in New York however - they boil the dogs and use the skinless version of Nathan's instead of the traditional grilled dogs with casings. That's okay, the texture and taste was a little different than what we are used to eating in the contest, but they weigh the same.

The Mad Greek and I have had a couple of close battles, most recently in the final Chowdown episode on Spike TV where I edged him out in hard boiled eggs 61 to 59.5 to win the title. I know Chris was looking forward to the opportunity to avenge that narrow loss, and I did give him a shot on Saturday (not on purpose). I rather enjoy having a competitive rival, I really have not had one in my CE career. If I can bring out the best in the Mad Greek and he can do the same for me than I welcome the challenge.

I did feel a little bad when Chris told me that he is having to drive to every contest this year because his birth certificate and citizenship documentation was lost in a fire that burnt down his building last year. He drove all the way from Cleveland for this contest and drove to Houston and back for the Gyro contest a few weeks ago. He said he is waiting for his birth certificate to be shipped from Germany but that it takes 6 months or something - ouch. I hope you have another chance to qualify Chris.

By the time I got to Kansas City on Saturday I had already been on the road for four days putting in some work time in St Louis during the week. I was relieved to finally be able to focus on eating and to have a chance to qualify for this years Nathan's finals. The contest is a bit of a blur for me, I am not sure if I was just burnt out from working all week and traveling from city to city or if I was too nervous to be able to calm down. For some reason, I always feel anxiety before Nathan's qualifiers that is magnified more than any other contest. Probably because the consequences for not winning are so severe; the qualifiers really have carried more pressure for me.

In years past I have put so much effort in to getting ready to qualify that I have not been able to improve on my numbers in the finals, breathing a metaphoric sigh of relief after qualifying and not pushing myself harder than before the qualifier. This year, my goals are to put up much bigger numbers in the finals. Knowing that I did not have my best day in Kansas City, all of my focus is now on the 4th of July and to make sure that no matter what my final number is, I know that I will have my best day ever in eating hot dogs. See you in New York!

2008-05-31T11:33:00.001-07:00

Nathans KC Results:
Erik - 24
Mad Greek - 23
? Incredible Hulk - 21
Bruss - 20

Northwest Afternoon (ABC) TV Appearance

2008-05-22T15:46:00.000-07:00

Click Here to watch my appearance on the emmy award winning Northwest Afternoon show Thursday, May 22 (filmed in Seattle). I was honored to return to the show for this weeks features of the shows favorite guests from the past couple of years (I appeared last July and ate jalapenos on the show).

The new MLE video game is featured and the host, Kent, wants a re-match in a 30-second eating competition; this time with a mystery food of his choice.

Groz-with-Gas Radio Interview 5-16

2008-05-16T16:46:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-29T14:10:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-26T13:34:00.001-07:00

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

2008-04-24T00:16:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-02T14:42:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-22T11:37:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-24T15:59:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-21T10:40:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-01T15:31:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-18T15:29:00.000-07:00

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

Krystal Square Off Qualifier - Memphis, TN 9/30/07

2007-10-04T12:24:00.000-07:00

Entrance Fee Paid

I embark on yet another journey
Into the insecurity of self-evaluation
My need for validation is revealed
And yet disguised in the inevitable action of massive consumption

This is a sub-culture so bizarre
It has encapsulated me as would a tornado I imagine;
No hope of fighting its magnetic pull,
No time to brace myself for the inertia,
Rather an immediate if not forced acceptance
An entrance fee paid for the mind and body-
To a world foreign to the blue and white stained collars

An ignorance of reality creates intrepid desire
To keep the hope of finding answers deep within
And when those milestones are reached
And my body feels the eye of this storm
The results – which come with exceeding speed and no shelf life
Are yet immeasurably satisfying

When the reverb of immediate answers settle
I know only that the questions become more complex
And the exploration becomes more intense and magnified

The rush; the overused adrenalin
The immediacy of potential
To find the illusive revelations
Now stands ominously around the corner

My heart pumps gong-like beats
My skin tightens and bubbles.
With hairs standing on end I wait…
To hear my name called
And enter once again into the unknown

And the Results:
8 min contest (IFOCE rank in paranthesis)

1 - Tim "Eater X" Janus(4) - 73
2 - Erik the Red Denmark (12) - 43
3 - Chris the Mad Greek Abatsas(25) - 24
4 - Jim Hammer Hamrick (42) - 23
5 - Damon Serignet (NR) - 22
5 - David "Killer" Kousky (NR) - 22
? - Rick Petralia (NR) - DQ'd after eating around 27

I guess I found the answers I was looking for - got my ass kicked by Tim but could find satisfaction with being on top of the Wildcard Hunt for now. It's back to the self-evaluation drawing board with new insight.

Groz-with-Gas-a-Thon Results - Two Records!

2007-09-18T12:11:00.000-07:00

The 2007 Groz-with-Gas-a-Thon was a great success. The one day charity auction managed to raise over $100,000 for three local charities. I was honored to be a part of this event once again this year. I was on the docket of guests that included a superstar lineup of Seattle sports stars past and present. I think I was able to entertain everyone who was in attendance by putting myself through some serious pain and establishing pepper eating records, 1 Guinness World Record and 1 Major League Eating Record, that I am very proud of:

Guinness World Record Jalapeno Eating Results (1 minute):
26 Jalapenos (beats previous record of 16)

Habanero Pepper Eating Results (1 minute eating with no substances during and for 5 minutes following):
32 Habaneros (establishes new MLE record)

The jalapenos were first. I wanted to get that one out of the way. Ray the Bison Meduna was on hand once again this year to judge and validate the results, a very crucial ingredient to legitimize the record for Guinness. Ray is very gracious with his time and energy; he is truly an asset to our sport.

The jalapenos were all large; they had to be at least 3” in length to count for the record. I didn’t realize how hard it would be to find enough jalapenos large enough to qualify for the Guinness standards but I probably went through 15 pounds of peppers to pick out the 31 that I brought with me to the event. I had gone through a few practices with the peppers and the first couple of times I could not get more than 12 down. I was a little worried, I really had to concentrate on eating with a different style than I would normally in order to be able to swallow each pepper completely and independently before moving on to the next. The last practice I did before the event I was able to get down 21 in one minute. So, I was pleased with the end result of 26 in one minute, I think that record will be hard to beat (though I think it is doable).

Click Here to watch the entire video of the jalapeno eating

The Habanero record was the one I was really gearing up for. Once I got the jalapenos out of the way, I chugged a little milk and started to prepare my body for some intense pain. The habanero pepper is the hottest commercially sold pepper in America I believe (there are only one or two species hotter in the world). They pack a heat that builds on itself almost as like parasite, building momentum with each drop of saliva that is swallowed. I knew that every pepper I would eat during the one minute would exponentially intensify the post eating burn. I only did one practice with the habaneros to make sure that I was capable of swallowing them without liquids and to see if I could survive the 5 minutes of waiting without any substance to soften the pain. I ate 16 in my only practice.

When I starting chomping down on the peppers at the event, they were going down fast and I had so much adrenaline pumping that I was able to distract myself enough to not let the thought of slowing down enter my mind. As soon as the one minute was up and 32 were down, my body was in shock. My face swelled, I started sweating almost immediately, there were tears involuntarily streaming from my eyes, my nose was running continuously. My friend who is an EMT took my pulse about 2 minutes in to the 5 minutes and he announced that it had jumped up to 110 BPM (my normal pulse is around 55-60 BPM).

Those were the longest 300 seconds of my life, I wish I had the ability to slow down time like that at other times in my life when I actually wanted moments to last forever - each second was a battle. As soon as the 5 minutes ended and the worst was over and the record was mine - I started chugging milk and eating ice and candy and anything else to try deflate my head. I was able to talk about 15 minutes later. My taste buds and stomach are still soured four days later. I am very proud of the 32 peppers; hopefully I won't have to defend this record any time soon.

Click Here to watch the entire habanero eating video
Click Here to watch video of my interview with Groz-and-Gas after the eating
Click Here to view pictures from the event

Hot Pepper Records to be Attempted Tomorrow!

2007-09-13T21:16:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I will embark upon a fiery journey. I will blaze a trail for new pepper eating standards of the 21st century. I will set two new hot records. Ah, okay enough bad puns. But seriously, I am totally stoked about the opportunity to exhibit what I believe is my most unique and unbeatable talent in competitive speed eating - hot spice tolerance.

Rediculously spicy hot foods have long filled me with an insatiable desire for the flaming rush of releasing endorphins. It was my initial desire to prove my tolerable love for spicy food that drew me to wanting to competitively eat. Only after I couldn't find the particular type of spicy food contests I was looking for did I find myself curiously distracted and attracted by competitively eating all food types.

As an attraction to the venerable Seattle sports community tradition, I will be competing for two pepper eating records tomorrow (Friday, Spetember 14) at the 11th annual 950 KJR Groz-with-Gas-a-thon charity auction.

I will make my record attempts back-to-back (maybe a few minutes in between). The first record I will be attempting is A Guinness World Record for jalapeno peppers eating in one minute. The current record is 16 set by Alfredo Hernandes in September, 2006. 16 in one minute does not initially sound that impressive but Guinness has put their own particular twists on the record which make it much more difficult than just putting away peppers. First off the peppers must be at least 3" in length, they can be pickled however. Second, each pepper must be consumed individually meaning it must be swallowed and the eater must open and show his/her mouth to the judge after each pepper. The swallowing of each pepper separately and opening the mouth significantly slows things down. I can eat only about 50% of my potential with these strict rules. Click Here to read the complete rules.

The second record I will try to establish (there is no current record) will be a Major League Eating record for the most habaneros eaten in one minute without the aid of liquids or solids or any substance. This is the record that I will be most proud of if I can pull it off. Habanero peppers are about 100 times as hot as a jalapeno. Anyone who has ever tried to eat a habanero most likely as a dare knows that these peppers must be respected. The rules of this competition I have established myself. The eating will last one minute but the duration of the contest will continue for 5 minutes after the one minute of eating is up. During the 5 minutes following the eating, no liquids or solids or any substance may be consumed. Click Here to read the complete rules. My goal is to set a record that no one will be able to beat.

I will be making my record attempts tomorrow at the event site at Anthony's on Pier 66 (for those of you in the Seattle area) at around 5:00 pm PST. Anyone who is near a computer can listen to the event live through the Internet at 950 KJR.com (click 'Listen Live').

This year the Groz-with-Gas-a-thon auction will be raising money for three great and worthy local charities: The Central Area Youth Association, the Northwest Literacy Foundation, and the Greater Eastside Junior Football Association. Please visit the website, view the auction items, come to the event, or just listen online to see what happens.

Captain Capsicum

2007-08-22T11:09:00.000-07:00

Click Here to listen to my most recent interview on 950 KJR where I announce my intentions to break a Guinness World Record for jalapenos eaten in one minute and establish a new Major League Eating record for habaneros eaten in one minute without the aid of liquids.

Guest Appearance on Seattle Untimely

2007-07-27T14:46:00.000-07:00

I recently filmed an episode with the local sketch comedy genius' at Seattle Untimely. They provide very entertaining and witty humor about current world news and entertainment similar to the glory days of SNL and more recently, the Jon Stewart Show. Anyway, I don't need to promote the show too much, just check it out.

Click Here to watch the most recent episode where I play a proponent of 'supply-side economics' in a competitive eating/political issue debate with Charlie Stockman, a proponent of 'green economics' with anchor, Charles Armstrong as moderator. The show turned out really well and it is damn funny.

Komo4 News Interview - 7/24/2007

2007-07-25T01:16:00.000-07:00

Click on player and hit play button to start video
If player does not work or is too slow then click here to link to video

Chinook Winds BBQ Media Promotion Video

2007-07-24T18:56:00.000-07:00

Rich and Carlene LeFevre join me in promoting the Chinook Winds BBQ Rib Eating Championship (filmed July 11, 2007). The promotions were all done live on the most popular morning news shows in Portland, "Good Day Oregon" on KPTV Fox 12. In the video we eat waffles, hot dogs, and chili. But there are two more segments with birthday cake and ribs that we also competed in for the show that are not included on this video(I am trying to get the rest of the footage loaded).

I was on Komo 4 TV News (ABC Seattle)at 4:00 pm today (July 24) doing eating demonstrations with the news anchor and promoting the Pie eating contest this weekend as well. I will load the video when I get it hopefully by tomorrow.

ABC TV - Northwest Afternoon Appearance

2007-07-18T15:40:00.000-07:00

**UPDATE** 3:55pm 7/20
Click Here to watch the video of my appearance on NWA from the KomoTV website

.......................................
For those of you in Washington State, you can see me on the popular mid-day talk show, Northwest Afternoon on KomoTV (ABC)tomorrow - Thursday, July 18 at 3:00 pm PST.

During the segment I will answer questions from the hosts Kent and Natasha and we will have a one minute jalapeno eating contest. Hopefully, I will be able to get a digital copy of the show so I can post it here and likely the segment will be posted on the show's website as well tomorrow.

2007-07-15T17:11:00.000-07:00

Chinook Winds Bbq Ribs Results:

Joey 7.65
Rich 5.75
Erik 4.7
Erb 3.6
Brickhouse 2.95

The Mustard Yellow Belt is Back in the USA!

2007-07-08T11:42:00.000-07:00

Results from Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Championship

Coney Island, NY - July 4, 2007
12 Minute Contest, IFOCE rank in paranthesis:

1 - Joey Chestnut(2): 66, $10,000
2 -Takeru Kobayashi(1): 63, $5,000
3 - Pat Bertoletti(3): 49, $2,500
4 - Tim "Eater X" Janus(7): 43.5, $1,500
5 - Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas(4): 39, $1,000
6 - Bob Shoudt(5): 35
6 -Chip Simpson(6): 35
8 - Rich LeFevre(8): 31
9 - Hall Hunt(16): 29
10 - Juliet Lee(37): 26
11 - Dale Boone(12): 25
12 - Pat Philbin(24): 24
13 - Crazy Legs Conti(11): 23.5
14 - Erik the Red Denmark(14): 23
15 - Tim Brown(47): 22.5
16 - Arturo Rios, Jr(9): 21
16 - Allen Goldstein(25): 21

Joey is swarmed by media and fans after his victory

We were all witness to these amazing feats. Joey and Kobayashi were the focus, Kobayashi gave a herculian effort to overcome his jaw troubles (which were legitimate) and Mount Joey. Joey looked confident, unbreakable and determined throughout, finally overcoming the most prolific eater in history and representing an American dream on July 4th.

Four eaters broke 40 including Pat with 49 and Eater X with 43.5 - these were both PR's and unfathonable performances even in a time when the unfathonable is expected. Sonya finally got past her two year watermark of 37 and almost broke 40 for the first time; the best performance ever by a woman - surely we cannot overlook her accomplishments. Bob Shoudt, who for the longest time in his career struggled to even qualify for Nathan's, put up a PR of 35 along with Chip Simpson, who still managed an incredible number despite spending the last three weeks in Italy and completely removed from CE. Rich LeFevre, who did his training on the qualifying circuit, takes the award for the highest total HDB's eaten this year with 131. Hall Hunt finally found the speed to match his capacity and came the closest out of the rest of us to reach the next plateau of 30 - he separated himself this year on the 4th.

I finally got a chance to watch the replay on ESPN just last night for the first time. Of course, the replay version is edited to cut out Kobayashi's reversal in the last 5 seconds. If Kobayashi's reversal was enough to be edited out of the show, doesn't that imply that he should have been DQ'd? I have seen the video of Kobayashi's incident, I saw his T-shirt soaked in vomit as he ran off stage to get a clean shirt.

This one the IFOCE definitely got wrong. There are no excuses, no explanations why. It would have been a hard decision to DQ Kobayashi considering what effort he put out but one that the judges should have and needed to make considering that prize money was involved and other eaters who did not throw up were screwed.

The vast majority of people who watched the show, including the ESPN announcers and Rich Shea, assumed that Kobayashi and Joey were tied at the end of regulation and that the eventual three hot dog victory margin for Joey was a result of an imposed deduction on Kobayashi. In actuality, kobayashi was not deducted anything for the reversal although I am pretty sure he was not credited with the hot dog that he continued to eat after he had thrown up on it (both a disguistingly prideful and impressive action).

I heard from someone who was watching Joey on stage that he was eating from multiple plates at the same time. This was more than likely a ploy to make it difficult for Kobayashi to determine where Chestnut's actual numbers were at. This was a brilliant tactic by Joey because not only did it confuse Kobayashi, the judges totally messed up his count as well. Joey maintained at least a 3-5 hot dog lead throughout the competition. Joey's counter was off by as many as 5 hot dogs for the entire second half of the contest when it looked like Kobayashi was catching up. The contest was never tied, not even close. Joey cleared his mouth with amazing ease in about 10 seconds after his final stuff, partly because he was so infuriated with his judge for screwing up his count, he wanted to tell him. If you read Joey's lips he can be seen clearly telling his counter that his count was off by five repeadtedly when he clears his mouth at the end of the contest.

I wanted to bring up the point that we do not need two judges in front of us to count each person. Clearly it did not help in Joey or kobayashi's circumstance. When there are two judges it just means that one of them will almost always be paying attention to other action especially if they are not on one of the eaters at the middle of the table. Having two judges in front crowded the stage and made it even more difficult for dedicated fans and media to see the action. George Shea literally threatened to throw any judge off the stage if they did not get down with about 4 minutes left in the contest. What we really need is one judge in front and a counter/bunnette behind everyone at the table instead of two half-baked judges stealing the best seats from the fans.

I don't blame Kobayashi for what happened at the end of the contest, he was not fighting for second place, he put it all on the line. I admire him for eating to the point of reversal, it is not a shame at all. Kobayashi was not bitter or upset after the contest, he was very respectful and humble. In fact he stayed on stage for almost one hour after the contest to shake hands, sign autographs, and take pictures with every fan who wanted one. Kobayashi will always be a true champion.

As for my performance of 23 hot dogs. I could eat 23 HDB's in my sleep which apparently I did. I really wanted to put up an awesome number but the day just was too slow for me. I didn't get in to any rhythym and I have to say I was a bit distracted by the battle between Joey and Kobayashi. I had a lot of strong emotions througout the day that made me think of my Mom who passed away earlier this year. I know what she would have said to me after the contest. That is why I am not going to be upset or dissapointed with anything that happened on stage on the 4th - it was an honor to be there. I know maybe some eaters did not reach there expectations for the day but we should all be proud of the show and for being part of a memorable and unique contest, the best to date for Major League Eaters.

The Road to Nathan's has been traveled for this year, there were many who took the road in great triumph and some who ended in supreme dissapointment. Most of all, It was an amazing ride, and before we know it the pathway will be cleared once again for next year. But for now I am taking a break from hot dogs - thank God.

I have many pictures to post and video of the entire contest taken by my Dad yet to come...

Click Here to watch Youtube video of the last five minutes of the unedited ESPN broadcast
Click Here to read post contest article/interview in the Seattle Times

Seattle Times Sunday 7/1 Article

2007-07-01T01:05:00.000-07:00

Did you read the article by Greg Bishop?

An article with me as the subject appears on the front page of today's Seattle Times Sports section. The article and some additional media content is available on-line as well: Click Here.

Please leave me a comment or a question regarding the article if you have one. Anonymous comments are okay. Thanks.

Pigs Feet Results, NJ State Fair, 6/23/07

2007-06-29T12:24:00.000-07:00

Complete Results (IFOCE rank in paranthesis):

10 Minute Contest:

1 - Arturo "the Natural" Rios(9): 46 Oz., $750
2 - Erik the Red Denmark(14): 30 Oz., $350,
3 - Crazy Legs Conti(11): 19 Oz., $150
4 - Pat "from Moonachie" Philbin(24): Total not recorded

Sorry for the late update, I have been trying to digest what happened at this contest for the past week. It wasn't pretty in a lot of ways. Starting with the food: the pigs' feet were boiled and then chlled on ice and spritzed with lemon juice before serving. They were prepared by a local butcher and though this may have been the best or most traditional way to serve pigs' feet, I think it was a bad idea. The contest was originally supposed to involve pickled pigs' feet, which are by no means any tastier than the boiled pigs' feet, but are more of a novelty and they would have been easier to eat and easier to judge in my opinion.

these were more like pig legs - giant and nasty

It was apparent as soon as the food arrived in the coolers that this contest would not be an easy one to plate or judge. There were large chunks of pigs feet - bones, tendons, skin, nails, I don't know they were all there. Each leg probably weighed around 1.5 pounds but there was probably only 25 percent yield of meat. Only four eaters showed up for the contest - four! I have never been to such a contest.

Pat Philbin was coming only to watch and help out with the judging since he lives literally down the street from where the contest was being held. But Pat wanted nothing to do with the pigs' feet and I don't blame him. But since only Crazy Legs, Arturo, and myself showed up, Geroge Shea and Charles Hardy virtually begged Pat to come up on stage and at least pretend like he was eating sot that the stage would not be so empty.

Charles, Crazy Legs, and I spent about an hour trying to get the pigs' feet in somewhat equal trays and trying to determine how we could properly weigh them. The contest started about one hour later than it was scheduled even though there was only four of us there because it took so long. We ended up putting about 170-175 Oz. in each tray - around 11 pounds. Each eater was given 2 trays. Pat Philbin's trays were not really marked since he agreed to go on stage but he insisted he did not want to "compete".

Staring at the pigs' feet before the countdown to the start of the contest did not induce any feelings of hunger. The only saving grace for me was that a brought a bottle of Barrel no. 51 habanero BBQ sauce to dip the pigs' feet in to drown out the taste and texture of the pigs' feet. My friend makes the BBQ sauce and I am a big fan of the spicy habanero flavor. The first few bites however, made me gag. I dug straight in to the soft thick skin first but that was the worst part. Once you got past the first couple of layers, there was bigger chunks of meat close to the bone that actually did not taste too bad, kind of like cold pork.

As the minutes went by it got harder and harder to get to the meat, I felt like this was a digging contest as much as an eating contest. I ended up cleaning one tray pretty thoroughly and got in to about one fourth of the second tray. I didn't look up once during the contest, I kept my head down focused and tyring not to think about the fact that I was eating the whole feet of a dirty animal. Once the contest mercily ended, I looked up and saw that Arturo had picked chunks out of legs from three trays and were stacked in a large pile.

It was really hard to tell how much anyone ate until everything was throroughly weighed. In the end, Arturo was able to pluck off more meat from the legs. I have to say this was the most intimidating contest that I ever participated in. This would have been a nice title to have, a unique title. But to tell you the truth, I don't neccesarily regret not having eaten another pound of that shit.

2007-06-23T17:19:00.001-07:00

Pigs feet results

1 Arturo Rios
2 Erik the Red
3 Crazy Legs

Going for 'the Glory' this weekend

2007-06-22T14:12:00.000-07:00

This weekend will be one of the most exciting and I am sure memorable weekends in MLE history. With the Nathan's Molly Pitcher, NJ qualifier that was won today by Pat Philbin (congrats Pat), and the four contests Saturday there will undoubtedly be enough food and winners to go around on the circuit. Nathan's qualifiers will be held in San Francisco and Atlanta tomorrow along with now circuit giant contest with a $10,000 purse, Shoo-Fly Pie in Lancaster, PA.

And then there is the Pigs' Feet eating Contest; sure to be one of the most classic novelty contests in MLE history to take place at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ. I can't let a weekend like this go by without getting involved; since I have already qualified for Nathan's (thank God), and super sweet foods are never going to be good for me, I will be going for the glory of becoming the Pigs' Feet Eating Champion of the world.

The pigs' feet were originally supposed to be prepared as pickled pigs' feet (you know like the ones in that nasty red vinegar jar at the local biker bar) but apparently the supplier fell through so now a local butcher will provide the pigs' feet and they will be boiled and prepared with squeezed lemon juice. So, who knows how they will taste or feel now but from my limited encounter with the swine hoofs, they will be "challenging".

Yummmmmm..............

From what I have heard, Crazy Legs, Justin Mih, Skinnyboy, and I will be the ranked eaters in attendance. In addition, there is rumored be a challenge between the winner of the undercard Amateur Funnel Cake Champion and the winner of the Pigs' Feet Chmpion for additional cash.

The contest will take place at 3:00pm EST, I hope to be able to provide results immediately after the contest on my blog via my cellphone. Check back for results.

Post Shea Qualifier - 950 KJR Interview

2007-06-09T01:50:00.000-07:00

Click Here to listen to my radio interview with the Groz on 950 KJR regarding my qualifying win at Shea Stadium which advances me to the finals at Coney Island, NY on July 4th.

Nathan's Shea Stadium Qualifier, Queens,NY 6/3/07

2007-06-07T11:41:00.000-07:00

Results, 12 minute contest, IFOCE rank in parenthesis:

1st – Erik the Red Denmark (14) – 26.5 HDB's, 3.5 in OT, first to swallow
2nd – Pat from Moonachie Philbin(24) – 26.5, 3.5 in OT, lost in swallowing
3rd – Allen the Shredder Goldstein(25) – 35.5
4th – Russ the Black Hole Keeler(30) – 20
5th – Big Brian Subich(26) - 19
6th – Darryl Newman (NR) – 17
7th – Pete Pretty Boy Davekos(40) – 15

That is a wince, trust me, I am happy but hurting

Uh, I am a little speechless. It is always hardest to find the words for things that are so gratifying. I definitely have been re-living the experience of this contest in my mind for the past four days. I would have to says without a doubt that this was the biggest win of my career up to this point. The win last year at Coney lsland the day before the fourth was huge but this one just feels so much more satisfying.

This contest was a serious battle. Allen Goldstein came out of the gates hot and held the lead for 10 minutes of the contest. Pat Philbin was probably keeping pace the whole way but he was two people down from me so it was hard to tell where he was really at. When regulation ended and I finally passed Goldstein, I thought all I needed to do was swallow what was in my mouth and the contest would be mine.

There was that moment when Charles Hardy told me that it was a tie that my body and mind said no, but it was only a moment, overtime in an eating contest are moments to live for and when it came I was ready.

I can't really describe what happened in overtime. My eyes were blurred not only because I was in such a zone of pain, determination, adrenalin and stress but also literally I did not wear my contact lenses for this contest. I thought it would help me a bit not to wear contacts because they have a tendancy to dry out my sinuses which is not good for swallowing. I guess it worked. Well we both ate 3.5 in overtime again and I needed the moisture to get those dogs down first.

Honestly, when the contest finally was called by Hardy and I was the winner, I was so happy and relieved but I was struggling to be able to smile. But that was such an awesome moment and an awesome contest. Not only for me, but for Philbin and Goldstein and the crowd as well.

It was a great crowd which included pretty much all of the NY eating legends: Cookie Jarvis, Badlands Booker, Charles Hardy, Don Lerman, Crazy Legs Conti, Brian Seiken, and Tim Janus. Not to mention the new world record holder with 59.5 HDB's, Joey Chestnut, my one and only west coast ally. I know that probably many of the eaters in the crowd were rooting for Goldstein because he is a NY guy that has been around the block as well. But I did also feel the love from them and I hope that they know I respect what they have done for the sport and bringing it to where it is today.

To say that I came from the West Coast and stole this NY qualifier from those guys might be somewhat true; but come on, it is a free-for-all on the circuit right now and you have to be willing to go anywhere to get a win. I hope that Philbin and Goldstein get their shot to make it as well, I have a feeling they will.

Click Here to read a post contest interview I with Liz K. and True Fan
Click Here to watch video of the contest provided by Beautiful Brian (the contest footage is at the end).
Click Here to see photos from the contest taken by Seattle Times Reporter Greg Bishop

I created a spreadsheet that identifies the growth in numbers being put up this year on the Nathan's circuit. Through 6 qualifiers, here is what I put together: A list of eaters' personal best HDB performance who had previously competed in a Nathan's contest before this year. Their previous PR's and this years' PR's are listed. The list is sorted in descending order by the percentage growth from this year:

2007 Nathan's PR Differential:

I retrieved most of my data from the Eatfeats database. If there are some people I missed or there is incorrect data, feel free to leave me a comment. The numbers are impressive. Obviously, those who had low numbers previously have a better opportunity to raise their percentage increase significantly. Anyway, I am ranked 7th on the differential list so far. I will update the spreadsheet as more contests go by.

Heroes vs. Villains: The Villains Take the Crown

2007-05-22T13:36:00.000-07:00

The world admires a hero but has a love affair with a villain. Maybe it is a love that is filled with hatred or dissent but at the very least we love to hate a villain. In the arena of sports and entertainment there has been and will always be heroes and there will always be villains. And despite what an organization or an entertainment/media company will tell you, the real everyday story lines are usually focused on the villains. Competitive eating is no different.

To be a successful villain, you have to have some endearing or unique characteristics along with the antagonism. Villains cause controversy and heroes dissolve controversy. But often it is the villain who gets the bulk of the attention because it takes balls to put your reputation on the line, to say fuck you to those who may have at once helped you, to be a spiraling-out-of-control-side-show that everyone loves. Carrying out a villain's personality comes at a price, a high price usually. Usually you have to sacrifice the respect and kinship of those in your sport or industry in exchange for public popularity.

Maybe I am being a bit unfair including the whole world in my analogy because I am generally basing my opinion on American popular culture. Before I go further in my analysis of heroes and villains in CE, let me describe some top villains in some other sports:

The first person who comes to mind is Barry Bonds - he is the quintessential sports villain, raked with controversy and talent. Barry has long been a nemesis of the media and has often been referred to as a selfish and arrogant a-hole. He has obviously split fans and formed a cloud of darkness over himself with the allegations and inevitable conclusion that he used steroids. But what makes Barry so interesting and likable (in terms of a story) is that he may be the best power hitter to ever play the game and when he breaks Hank Aarons career home run record, the most revered record in baseball, he will be the biggest and most popular villain the sport has ever seen. As much as the media and the casual fans may dislike Barry as a person and discredit his talent because of his steroids use, he is still always the biggest story in baseball, on the field and off the field.

Dennis Rodman was also a classic sports villain during his illustrious basketball career. Rodman made a name for himself as a bad boy on a team full of villains including Bill Lambeer in Detroit in the late 80's and early 90's. Rodman led the NBA in rebounds and led the Pistons to two championships before going loony, dying his hair like a rainbow flavored snow cone, and dominating the league in tattoos, body piercings, and technical fouls while winning three more championships with the Chicago Bulls. Rodman, despite being hated by opposing teams because of his dirty play and antics, was loved by the fans and always created headlines with his behavior. But people cared because Rodman had talent and validity as a player as well not just a freak show.

In the NFL, Terrell Owens stands out as public fascination No. 1. Owens has loads of talent as a receiver and can seemingly put up hall of fame numbers without trying or caring but his love of the spotlight has made him the big headlines. He drove himself out of San Francisco and Philadelphia because of his selfishness. It seems as though he drove one of the most respected coaches in NFL history, Bill Parcels, out of Dallas because of his on the field and off the field controversies which included an alleged suicide attempt. He has maybe alienated all if not the majority of his teammates, gathered numerous league and team punishments because of misbehavior, and pissed off all of the fans in every place that he has ever been; but who is the top story in the NFL?: Terrell Owens and the Dallas Cowboys.

Boxing has Mike Tyson - a model villain. Tyson's antics go beyond a call for attention, they border on frightening, a literal and figurative villain. Tyson's impressive resume include dominace as a heavyweight fighter, multiple incarcerations and suspensions, and bitting the ear off of Evander Holyfield. But my favorite Tyson villain moment is when he started rambling and spouting out threats in the direction of Lennox Lewis leading up to their title fight in the ring; Mike's closing statements went like this "Lennox Lewis, I'm coming for you man. My style is impetuous. My defense is impregnable, and I'm just ferocious. I want your heart. I want to eat your children." - that is a true villain.

In the world of women's sports, figure skater Tanya Harding has to be on the top of the list of villains. Tanya took a pretty bold route to gaining popularity as a villain when she hired her ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, and a group of hit men to take out her main American rival, Nancy Kerrigan's knees with a baseball bat before the 1994 Winter Olympics. Tanya had a bit of a reputation as a bad girl prior to the planned hit on Kerrigan but that move shinned a solar sized spotlight on Harding. After her involvement in the incident, Tanya Harding and women's figure skating was front page news.

So the question is, are there any true villains in the sport of Competitive Eating?

The first name that comes to mind is obviously Dale Boone. Dale fit’s most of the criteria – controversial, unpredictable, arrogant, boastful, antagonistic and he has been suspended multiple times for misbehavior as well. The one thing lacking in Boone’s resume as a villain is legitimacy as a top eater. He may have been in the top ten in talent at one time but now his shouts of self confidence and guarantees of victory seem more like mere antics than real threats. Don Lerman definitely walked the line between hero and villain throughout his career and was always a fan favorite because of it. Don's late career and post career antics have been less than successful however as well.

Another potential CE villain candidate could be Sonya Thomas. Sonya’s nickname, the Black Widow, certainly carries weight as a villainous character. But Sonya, despite being one of the most interesting stories and still possibly the biggest enigma in CE, does not have the appeal of a villain. She is not regularly boastful or arrogant before contests, she does not break rules purposefully or insult other eaters - she is rather cordial, polite and humble in almost all of her interactions in person and online. She is a fierce competitor and often losing has brought out the worst in her but her stock as a villain is pretty low.

Are there any other current top eaters that could be villains instead of heroes?

Joey Chestnut? American HERO
Eater X? Mysterious HERO
Pat Bertoletti? Punk HERO
Humble Bob? Humble HERO
Rich LeFevre? Retired HERO
Chip Simpson? Dr. HERO
Crazy Legs? Obvious HERO
Seaver Miller? Literal HERO
Arturo Rios? Natural HERO
Me? Wanna be Viking HERO

Which brings me to Kobayashi. Is Kobayashi a villain? His off the plate antics would not indicate Kobayashi as a villain – he is very respectful, he is truly committed to advancing competitive eating as a sport, he has revolutionized the sport. So, he can’t be a villain, right? He is not a villain in the true sense of the definition laid out by other sports, but to many in America, he is a patriotic villain for stealing the coveted Nathan’s Hot Dog title on America’s Independence Day for the last 6 years.

I know Kobayashi wants to be a hero, not a villain, but part of what makes him so interesting is that rebellion against the establishment of America. And it has to be considered that when Kobayashi first came to American on Coney Island in 2001, he had to be thinking – “I am going to destroy all of you.” When it comes to the table of competitive eating, it is us against him and he continues to thrive despite our efforts. Of course, I respect him for this, for his talent and his showmanship, but he is the closest thing that CE has to a legitimate villain and it has brought the sport to a new level.

Current and future competitive eaters should consider their persona before embarking on a career. I noticed some eaters trying this lately - El Toro and Ron Koch for example, but once again results at the table have to provide interest as well. I think competitive eating could probably use more legitimate villains for the purpose of story lines but choosing that path does come with at the least, a social cost. Some people are better suited to be villains, you have to be different, you have to be vain, but you have to still be likeable - so if you think you have the right mix of good and bad, you may have a recipe for great success.

950 KJR - Groz with Gas Interview - 5/16/07

2007-05-16T17:27:00.000-07:00

Click Here to listen to my most recent appearance on 950 KJR with sports broadcasting legends Groz and Gas. I talk about my upcoming Nathan's qualifier and other MLE related topics.

Tamales Results - Woodlands, TX - 5/5/07

2007-05-10T14:55:00.000-07:00

Berryhill Baja Grill Tamales Results (IFOCE rank in paranthesis):

12 minute contest:

1st - Joey "Jaws" Chestnut (2) - 53.5 tamales, $2500, 18 points
2nd - Pat "Deep Dish" Bertoletti (3) - 51, $1000, 12 points
3rd - Humble Bob Shoudt (5) - 45, $500, 6 points
4th - Chip "the Phenom" Simpson (6) - 39, 4 points
5th - Erik the red Denmark (14) - 27, 3 points
6th - Nasty Nathan Biller (NR) - 21, 2 points
7th - Brickhouse Braunstein (36) - 20, 2 points

Joey, Pat and I eat and drink at different heights

Everyone in the contest celebrated Cinco de Mayo in pain; in honor of Mexico defeating the French at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. Despite the fact that Cinco de Mayo is not widely celebrated in Mexico, except heavily in the city Puebla,Puebla, and it is not (contrary to popular belief) the Mexican Independence Day (celebrated on September 16, who knew?), we in America and particularly Texas want to eat and drink in celebration. Well, mostly we just want to drink but on this day we ate tamales - heavy, seasoned beef stuffed, starchy, lukewarm tamales.

I love tamales, I really do. In fact, I highly recommend that if you happen to spend a late night at the bars in albuequerque, NM, that you make a point to stop by a street vendor and grab at least two steaming hot tamales in the corn husk and eat them drunkily in the middle of the street. But as eating contests go, you have to cook a ton (almost literally) of food at once, keep it warm (not hot), and throw them all on plates so they are ready to eat.

What am I getting at? I lost track, oh yeah, contest tamales are tough to get down. Not tough because they are really chewy or require a lot of jaw strength, but tough because the flavor, texture, and volume overwhelms you quickly. Not to mention the tamales for this contest do legitimately weigh 3.5 oz and it is virtually impossible to swallow them without the aid of mass amounts of liquids - I understand why there were a number of reversals in last years contest. I estimate that I probaly drank around 5 cups of 16 oz liquids during the contest and I imagine that Joey, Pat and Bob probably almost drank double that to get all of those tamales down.

In the end, this contest was all about speed and ultimately capacity. I think that is why you saw many of the top contenders that will be at Nathan's this year competing in this contest - the numbers will be comparable and this was a good heat check. 27 for me is not bad but still the gap is too much for me to be satisfied between me and the sports elite 8. I expect my HDB number to be better.

Pat definitely had at least a 4 or 5 tamale lead early on, he noted that the tamales seemed slower this year than last year - possibly due to the fact that the contest was late in the day, the temperature was a little colder, and thus the tamales were cooled and did not hold their form well. Joey eventually overtook Pat in the last couple of minutes. Humble Bob's 45 should not be overlooked either, that is a huge number and Bob should gain a lot of confidence from this contest going in to his Nathan's qualifier. Chip was visibly upset by the result and he did not stick around to celebrate Cinco de Mayo (the American way) with the rest of us. I know Chip's expectations were higher and I respect the fact that he just wants to win and 4th place paid nothing this year. Nasty Nathan Biller showed he could do some damage this year on the circuit and Brickhouse is obviously this years top contender for most dedicated journeyman.

Berryhill took care of us and they put us on stage in the middle of the festival in the Woodlands where an estimated crowd of around 5,000 people watched us eat under the lights - that was pretty sweet.

Cheers to Mexico for giving us tamales and tequilla, and allowing us to eat and drink in their honor!

Click here for the TexasObserver wirteup of the contest

2007-05-05T18:34:00.000-07:00

Tamales Results:
Joey - 53.5
Pat - 51
Humble Bob - 45
Chip - 39
Erik the Red - 27
N Biller - 21

Deep Fried Asparagus - Stockton, CA 4/28/07

2007-05-01T12:25:00.000-07:00

Results from the 10 minute contest (IFOCE rank in paranthesis):

1st - Joey "Jaws" Chestnut (2) - 8.6 lbs, $1500, 18 MLE points
2nd - Erik the Red Denmark(14) - 4.25 lbs, $500, 12 MLE points
3rd - Kevin Ross (NR) - 3.75 lbs., $250, 6 MLE points
4th - Jason Erbivore Erb (27) - 3.6 lbs, 4 MLE points
5th - Brickhouse Braunstein (36) - 3.5 lbs, 3 MLE points

Joey and I sweat out the final minute of the contest

I am not sure who finished 6-10, only the top 3 were announced at the contest. I am not positive about Erb and Braunstein but I was standing next to Erb in the contest and it looked like he and Kevin Ross were very close in amount eaten so I would give the nod to the Erbivore (my fantasy teammate). Congrats to Mr. Ross for a solid first time asparagus performance and taking home some cash.

The Stockton Asparagus Festival and the deep fried asparagus contest is a unique experience. Stockton is a nutty town, deep fried asparagus is a nutty food. I don't even think you can find deep fried asparagus anywhere but at this fair once a year. Last year, in preparartion for the contest, I tried to make fried asparagus at home - good luck unless you have the special batter and an industrial size deep fryar. After many failed attempts, I ended up just eating grease soaked asparagus. This year I would have the memory of last year to pull from, I wasn't going to try that again.

This was the first time that I have been in a repeat contest in my career - I guess my rookie season is finally over. Of course, I have competed in the same food multiple times - chicken wings, ribs, hot dogs, burgers, jalapenos, but never the same food at the same venue for the same contest - I think this is a distinct advantage. Last year I ate 4 pounds in 10 minutes and although I finished in 5th place and out of the money, this was the first contest where I felt like I really got in to a good rhythm of swallowing more than chewing and I was able to eat for the entire contest. I finally felt like I belonged there.

This year my expectations were much higher however. I did finish in 2nd place, which is an improvement and I ate 4.25 pounds, which is an improvement but really I expected more. The first one pound plate went down fast, about 1 minute 15 seconds, just a few seconds behind Joey. Before I go on let me tell you it was literally 95 degrees in Stockton on Saturday. I hven't been that overheated at a contest since the 4th of July at Coney Island, it was sweltering and my thick skin is still thawing out from the long sheath of the Seattle winter.

As I started in to the second plate it seemed as though my mouth shut down and lost all moisture, I don't know if it was the heat or the excitement or the nerves of not competing in so long but it suddenly turned in to a grind. Meanwhile Joey was picking up the pace and he just got in to sick rhythm. By the time my second plate was done he was already on plate 5 and Joey continued at about 1 pound per minute. In the end, Joey doubled my total. I was hoping to get down at least 6 pounds because I know I can. But listen, I am not going to be a bitch and complain, it was an awesome day, it felt great to be back at the table competing after four months off and to be able to take home second place.

This contest has to be one of my favorites. This years contest setup was even better with the addition of a 15-foot jumbotron screen next to the stage for the fans to follow the action. The trophy that Joey wins every year has to rival as one of the most creative and sought after trophies on the circuit, they really don't belong in his closet. The crowd was pumped up again despite the early start time (12:00 pm), the weather was rediculous, and the people in Stockton and the surrounding areas just love their asparagus. I heard a report that there would be 50,000 pounds of asparagus consumed at the two day festival this year! Amazing. I was proud to get a little piece of that and I will definitely be back next year to try for a little bigger piece.

Click here to view my Flickr album of the contest (pics taken by my friend Andrew Buck)

Click here to read the Recordnet.com article about the contest
Click here to watch the KCRA 3 video of the contest

Juiced-up at Starbucks Corporate

2007-04-12T13:35:00.000-07:00

An afternoon excursion to Starbuck's corporate office in downtown Seattle is a good idea if you are looking for a legal high. My roommate, Tim, works at Starbucks corporate now but he started as a Barista at the original Starbucks at Pike Place Market and later became a Coffee Master. Tim heads a group of in-crowd caffeinators who gather each day at a random location and time in the office for a themed drink Tim invented back in his days at Pike Place called the Commodore.

The Commodore is a shot of raw sugar infused espresso poured over fluffy whip cream. My one word descripiton of the drink would be "jolting."

I was invited to attend the commodore drinking ritual as a guest; as a competitive eater; as Erik the Red. So, naturally I wanted to do something that hadn't been done before. So, I offered to take 8 commodore shots instead of the sufficiently electric and traditional 1 shot. I mean, how could I pass up 8 free shots of espresso if they were willing to offer them to me?

Here is the video (taken by one of the employees with her phone) of me taking down the 8 shots. I was so jittery by the time I got to the 7th shot I nearly knocked it off the table:

I have never smoked crack, but the feeling I had after taking the 8 shots of espresso and sugar had to be close to the same high. I was HIGH! I was vibrating! Seriously, I felt epileptic for the next two or three hours.

After the 8 commodores I had a very pedestrian single shot latte as Tim gave me a tour of the office. I took a break to pose with some barista mannequins...

Umm, yeah.

MLE 2007: Stuck in the Starting Gates

2007-04-07T00:02:00.000-07:00

The 2007 MLE season has seen many changes, with exciting new twists and turns and fierce competition so far. No that doesn't sound right, let me re-phrase that: the 2007 MLE season is building momentum with the institution of new rules and restrictions, new contests, more exposure and uncovering new talent. No-no, that doesn't quite capture it. Okay, how about this: the 2007 MLE season has brought exciting new changes, a new point system, a new name, a new network television deal and open competition. Hmm, somewhat true but just doesn't quinch it either. Okay, last try: the 2007 MLE season has been full of anticipation with a new network deal and a new look but has yet to deliver any lasting excitement due to lack of activity and exclusivity. Yes, this feels more accurate.

Alright, I don't want to come out harsh but honestly I have been a bit dissapointed or at the least a bit restless with the MLE season so far. There have been some very promising changes in the circuit; the new point system was announced early in the year - a new way to position eaters against each other and further incentive for all eaters 1-10 to perform well in every contest. Unfortunately, the point system has yet to deliver the excitement that I believe it can because there have been very few contests, the IFOCE has not updated the standings since the third contest of the year, and there has been no indication as to what the point system will reveal at the end of the season. Some of the problems may be associated with a member of the IFOCE that was very involved in the point system leaving but that is just my speculation.

The new deal with Spike TV is definitely promising with four televised events planned for this year - 1 event per quarter. The first was held during St. Patick's Day weekend with Pat Bertoletti (a fitting name) taking the title impressively beating an overheated Joey Chestnut in the 5-minute jalapeno finale. I thought the contest showed very well on TV with the Sheas, Crazy Legs and Eater X starring as commentators. Honestly, I thought it was a good show and the next shows will only get better.

Of course, what I did not like about the Spike TV show was that only the top 8 ranked eaters were invited to compete; similar to the scenario with the Philly Wing Bowl 15 held in early February, where only 5 top ranked eaters were selected to eat by the IFOCE. I know that if I want to be involved in these invitationals, I need to improve my current ranking of 14 and break in to the top 8 to have a better shot, but honestly open competitions are much more exciting in my opinion and is what our growing sport needs more of to get more eaters exposure and experience.

The IFOCE has morphed its image into a new name for the eating circuit: MLE (Major League Eating) and with this have revealed a new website at MLE.com . I like the look of the new website and I definitely approve of the interactivity features, but it is still a long way from finished and I am still not sure what is going on with the whole Bunnettes angle. I am not sure that the seemingly large focus on Bunnettes, if they ever do materialize on the website, will be a step in the right direction towards legitimacy for our sport. I will hold off my final judgement until I see the actual product though.

Last year at this time (April 8) there had already been 14 open competitions sanctioned by the IFOCE. This year, to date, there has only been 4 open competitions and 2 invitationals (Wing Bowl was open to Philly residents only) . The lack of activity and the blank screen for upcoming contests has been depressing for an active and hungry eater like myself.

Obviously, the loss of Golden Palace as a sponsor late last summer was unexpected and it has been difficult to find sponsors to fill the void in the first few months of 2007. The impact of such limited activity early in the season could be a big factor as things start to pick up. Most of the eaters in the top 8 have still been fairly active but everyone else has basically been waiting for the contests to start popping.

It will be interesting to see if eaters 9-25 and beyond have been maintaining their competitive eating shape and if anyone will come out ready to challenge those in the top 8 or if the gap between them (us) has gotten even bigger. Juliet Lee was the only person to make a splash in the IFOCE ranks in the past few months in my opinion but she has not had enough opportunities either to see where her ranking should really stand. According to the new Hall "Hoover "Hunt rankings this year, Juliet should be somewhere in the top 15.

The Nathan's season began with a strong showing by Chip Simpson pounding down 39.25 dogs in a rain soaked Sunrise, FL. But May and June will be the true testing ground to see who will be a contender and who will be a pretender this year on the Nathan's and MLE circuit.

It has been nearly 4 months since I have dawned the CE table, by far the longest layoff of my now one-and-a-half year old career. I have actually signed up for every contest that was offered this year but have yet to be able to make an appearance. I am eager to get back to the table and prove I am ready for the challenge of this new season. I will be breaking out of the starting gates on April 28 at the Stockton Asparagus Festival. My first qualifier for Nathan's won't be until June, all of the qualifiers I signed up for are in June. My diet is heavily weighted with hot dogs right now and I am feeling good about the numbers I will put up this season.

A few new upcoming contests were just posted on the IFOCE website last week which was a relief and a great sign. with Nathan's and Spike TV coming in to focus as well, I think we are just experiencing the calm before the storm right now. Regardless of what happens this season, I will be grateful once again to just be a part of it all and carrying on in this bizarre yet meaningful journey with some of the most interesting and genuine characters in the world. See you all soon...

The First to Feed Me

2007-03-01T12:56:00.000-08:00

I have been absent from competitive eating and the physical world for over a month now. My Mother, Karen, passed away on Friday, February 16 after a three year battle with stage IV breast cancer. She was a beautiful person here on earth with a selfless, giving, and loving heart and spirit. She was probably the biggest influence and motivation in my life. It is going to be hard to go on living with joy without her support and love. She never questioned my motivation for starting in competitive eating, she may have shook her head and laughed, but she always just wanted me to be happy and succeed in whatever I did.

I am coming back to competitive eating soon and I still have very high expectations for myself this year. I will dedicate any and all of my successes and victories this year to the memory of my Mom. She was the first to feed me and she fed me a lot.

Thanks to everyone who posted messages on Eatfeats and on this site for your kind support.

The Bears Ruined My Week

2007-01-22T22:09:00.000-08:00

Remember this Chicago? A defining moment of the 80's

Alright, I guess I am finally coming to terms with the Seahawks-Bears game last week in which the Chicago Bears defeated the Seahawks 27-24 in overtime. This was an excrutiatingly painful loss. The game was early last Sunday on the west coast with a 10:00am kickoff. I had vowed to eat a hot dog for every point that the Seahawks scored in the playoffs (along with a few other stipulations for eating).

Well, it was Sunday morning, the morning after Saturday night so I woke up a little late and I missed the first few minutes of the game. I had to scramble to throw some hot dogs on the skillet as the Bears scored a thouchdown on their opening drive and the Seahawks were driving. The first quarter ended with the Seahawks down 7-0 but with the ball inside the 10 and ready to score. Now since, the Seahawks didn't score in the first quarter, the rules of my hot dog challenge were that I would have to eat 4 HDB's before the start of the next quarter. But, I guess I was too in to the game and I forgot so when the Seahawks scored on the first play of the second quarter, I was already behind 11 HDB's and I had already violated the rules.

I quickly ate 5 HDB's but you know I just wasn't in to it. Maybe it was that there was still a hangover from the previous week's high after eating 22 hot dogs at the game and I couldn't get that same feeling sitting on my couch, but my spirit just wasn't in it and so I decided I was going to just eat casually and enjoy the game. Fuck, what a mistake.

I don't want to go over the whole casualty of the game but it ended up being extremely tight and down to the wire with the Seahawks having multiple opportunities to pull off another stunning victory in a tough environment of Soldier Field. But, as you know if you watched the game, the Bears pulled it off in overtime making that one more play that the Seahawks were desperately lacking to get in to field goal range and give their kicker a chance. That was it. The season was over and I couldn't help but feel somewhat responsible after not carrying out my vow to eat hot dogs to give the Seahawks support. I let them down again, but like last year I guess the feeling is mutual.

To make matters even worse, Pat Bertoletti was very timely with his text message after the game politley rubbing in the fact that his Bears had crushed the Seahawks and my spirit. Not only that, but he also claims to have eaten 54 Hot Dogs during the game - 2 hdb's for every point the bears scored. You fucker, could you make it any worse? Okay Pat, I give you that, you and the Bears kicked our arses (nothing new actually) and blah, blah, blah, the Bears are going to the Superbowl now. But I do appreciate the added motivation to get better as a fan and an eater and I don't take it personal.

Oh and the perverbial "there is always next year." I hate that saying, there is now and only now, when you have a shot you have got to take it and on that note...I can't wait for the new year of eating.

22 Hot Dogs and a Seahawks Miracle

2007-01-07T15:20:00.000-08:00

If I was writing a headline for last nights miraculous first round playoff game between Seattle and Dallas, the headline would be:

“Seahawks Respond to Hot Dog Challenge with Win.”

As I was getting prepared for eating hot dogs and watching football yesterday afternoon I received an offer from my Brother-in-law Matt, whose family has season tickets, to go watch the game in person. Of course I was elated to have the opportunity to get in to the sold out game but I was also very determined to carry out my promise of eating a hot dog for every point that the Seahawks would score.

My first thought was that I would just buy hot dogs at the stadium as needed for each time the Hawks scored. But not only would this be costly but it would also be very distracting to the game. I decided to make a batch of hot dogs to bring with me to the game to get started and if I ran out I would buy more. I made 24 Nathan’s hot dogs but I gave away one to Matt and one to my roommate, Tim, leaving me with 22.

22 would turn out to be a very serendipitous number.

The game began with a blast, the crowd in Seattle was LOUD.

I wrapped each hot dog and had them in a bag under my seat

The Seahawks scored a field goal on their first possession to open the scoring and the hot dog consumption. I ate them quickly, they were still warm. That would be the only points for the Hawks in the first quarter.

1st Quarter Score: Cowboys 3, Seahawks 3.
3 points = 3 hot dogs

The Seahawks never really got in to any rhythm on offense in the first half and only managed to score a field goal in the second quarter as well. The hot dogs were no longer warm but still enjoyable and no real sense of urgency to the game or eating yet.

2nd Quarter Score: Cowboys 10, Seahawks 6
3 points = 3 hot dogs

I still had 16 hot dogs left and with both defenses actually playing very well it didn’t seem like I would need a whole lot more so I didn’t buy any at half time. The third quarter began with a great drive by the Seahawks methodically moving the ball and squeezing the ball in to the end zone finally to take the lead in the game. The extra point was made and I had seven more dogs to put down, YES! Except, just as I started my second hot dog the Cowboys struck on a shocking kickoff return for a touchdown to take the lead back and the momentum. Suddenly, the hot dogs were cold and dry and difficult to eat. But I finished them and no more points were scored in the quarter.

3rd Quarter Score: Dallas 17, Seahawks 13.
7 points = 7 hot dogs

As the fourth quarter begins I have 9 hot dogs left in my bag and Seattle is down 4 so I know I will need to eat at least 6 more hot dogs in order for Seattle to win (5 for the points + 1 victory HDB), but the game is too close for me to want to get up and buy more hot dogs at that time. Dallas puts together a long drive and they get a field goal out of it to make the score 20-13 and now my hot dog number is exactly 9. In reality though, it would be very unlikely that the Seahawks would score 8 more points exactly considering the most likely outcome for them to win would be a touchdown (7 points) to tie the game and a field goal (3 points) to win it.

It was about midway through the fourth quarter, the Seahawks had just gotten the ball back, I only had a half a bottle of water left, and I needed more reserve hot dogs as well. I rushed out of my seat to the nearest concession stand which, to my surprise, was shutting down and they were sold out of water and hot dogs!? I ran to the next closing stand and it was the same story, and the next one as well. Crap, no water and no additional hot dogs, I was in trouble.

I went back to my seat when the Hawks drove the ball quickly to the Dallas 1-yard line. First and goal from the 1-yard line, surely this would be a touchdown. But no, the Hawks lost yardage and on fourth down from the 2-yard line they failed to score. Great, my bad hot dog karma was affecting the game. But the craziness that ensued can hardly be explained. Let me do it quickly to save the drama - the Cowboys fumbled from the 2-yard line in to the end zone, the Seahawks recovered out of bounds for a safety. The score was now 20-15 Cowboys ahead, and I needed to eat two HDB's quickly as the Seahawks would get the ball back.

The hot dogs were getting hard to eat, the meat was cold and rubbery, the buns were devoid of all moisture, and I had almost no liquids to get them down now. I shoved the two dogs in and with a mouthful of meat and buns, I screamed in jubliation as the Seahawks struck for a 37 yard TD to Jerramy Stevens with 5 minutes left in the game. The Hawks went for the two point conversion and missed making the score: Seahawks 21, Dallas 20. I had 7 hot dogs left in my bag and needed to put down 6 for the score. Perfect, now we just need to hold Dallas and the last hot dog could be saved for the victory.

But Dallas came back and moved the ball down the field with ease while taking time off the clock. They moved the ball inside the Sehawks ten with two minutes remaining. Dallas then got what seemed to be a potentially game clinching first down but the referees reversed a third down spot making it fourth down. Dallas would have to go for a field goal which would give them a two point lead with under one minute remaining. I still had 3 hot dogs remaining to eat and the only liquid I had left was a quarter of a beer I had bought back in the first half. Oh, this was not good, not good.

But once again the unexplainable happened as Dallas rookie QB Tony Romo quizzically fumbled the field goal snap and went frantically running for the end zone but somehow came up short - the crowd is going wild, pandamonium, uncontrollable excitement and shock is consuming the stadium. The Seahawks got the ball back with the lead and I still had time to finish my hot dogs. With the adrenaline pumping I mashed the final hot dogs in and washed them down with the warm beer - could it be? And I still had one hot dog left for the victory.

Dallas got the ball back with 2 seconds left on the clock and a Hail Mary shot at the end zone. The video below captures the last play of the game and a bite of my final hot dog.

Seahawks Win: 21-20
Hot Dogs Eaten = 22 (21 points + 1 victory HDB)

22 seems to be a very serindipitous number for me; that was the number of hot dogs I qualified for Nathan's with, it is the number I ate at the Nathan's compeition on July 4th, and now it is the excact number of hot dogs I brought to the stadium and ate while there.

So, now Mr. Pat bertoletti, I pose the question to you - how many hot dogs should I make for next week's game at Chicago? I am thinking a lot.

Seahawks Hot Dog Challenge Update

2007-01-06T15:18:00.000-08:00

Ah, so my plans have changed a bit for today. I was actually offered a free ticket to the game just a half hour ago and no way I can turn it down. I am going to the game.

So, I contemplated whether or not I will still try to honor my challenge and eat a hot dog for every point the Hawks score while at the game and I have decided that YES I still will do it. This could end up being very costly with stadium hot dogs costing around $5 dollars but I am confident that it is neccessary for me to uphold my end of the deal and the Seahawks will as well.

I will take pictures to document the eating and the progress of the game while I am and update my site when I get home with the results later tonight. Go Hawks!

Cowboys Suck.

Seahawks Playoff Challenge Announcement

2007-01-04T15:53:00.000-08:00

I like to integrate eating challenges and sporting events, it is after all, a harmonic relationship. Last year in one of my first posts on this blog, I vowed to eat 40 hot dogs throughout the duration of Super Bowl XL in honor of the Seattle Seahawks winning (my optimistic prognostication) the 40th Super Bowl.

The game was close in the first half and I had put down 18 hot dogs through half time. The second half was devastating though with poor play by the Hawks, deplorable officiating, and my stomach swelling, I only ate 2 more hot dogs to finish with 20 and the Seahawks lost the Super bowl to Pittsburg 21-10. I will take part of the blame for this loss as I did not have the stomach capacity and like the Seahawks, I did not have the will to push through the pain of the game.

This year the Seahawks are in the playoffs again but have struggled mightily to get there going 9-7 and losing 3 of there last 4 games. I think it is apparent that the Hawks will need a lot more help this year to make it back to the Super Bowl and fortunately I am much better equipped now to provide them with the support they need.

That is why I am instituting a new challenge for the playoffs this season. This year, I vow to eat a hot dog for every point the Seahawks score in the playoffs.

The stipulations of the challenge are as follows:

I will eat a hot dog (hot dog and bun) for every point the Seahawks score during each game.
I must complete the hot dogs for each point scored before the Seahawks score again with the exception of when the Seahawks score a touchdown (6 points), I will wait until the extra-point (1 or 2 points) is made or missed to start eating. The result will be 6 (if XP is missed), 7 (1-point XP is made), or 8 (2-point XP made) HDBs to eat before the Seahawks' next point is scored. Field goals = 3 HDBs, Safetys = 2 HDBs.
If the Seahawks go an entire quarter without scoring, I must eat 4 hot dogs before the start of the next quarter. If the Seahawks do not score in the fourth quarter and the game ends (there is no overtime) I will not eat 4 additional hot dogs since the game will already be decided and I can do no more to help.
If and when the Seahawks win, I will eat 1 additional victory hot dog at my own leisure.
If the Seahawks lose I will throw hot dogs at the TV and drink beer.

The Seahawks first playoff game is this Saturday (5 pm PST) against the Dallas Cowboys. The Hawks are missing three of their four regular defensive backs with both starters out with injuries and the Cowboys have been horrible defensively of late. With both defenses struggling, this game could turn in to a shootout and could take at least 30 points to win which will equal many hot dogs consumed. I look forward to the game and the challenge and an opportunity to support my boys.

I will document this challenge real time with pictures and updates on my blog this Saturday. Go Hawks!

Chock Full O'Nuts - New York

2007-01-02T17:37:00.000-08:00

Complete results (totals from Beautifulbrian.com) from Chock Full O'Nuts Date Nut Bread Eating Championship, NYC 12-20-2006:

8 Minute Contest (IFOCE rank in paranthesis)

1st - Pat "Deep Dish" Bertoletti(3)- 29.5 Sandwiches, $2500
2nd - Joey "Jaws" Chestnut(2) - 26
3rd - Humble Bob Shoudt(5) - 18.75
4th - Tim "Eater X" Janus(7) - 16.5
5th(tie) - Erik the Red Denmark(14) - 13
5th(tie) - Juliet Lee(37) - 13
7th - Arturo "the Natural" Rios(9) - 12.75
8th - Justin Mih "So Hungry"(13) - 11.33
9th - Crazy Legs Conti(11) - 10.5
10th - Wild Bill Myers(29) - 7.5

Click Here to watch video of the contest taken by Brian Seiken

You can tell Pat wasn't even happy to be holding this
oversized $2,500 winning check...right

The contest was held in New York at historic Madison Square Garden and to me the venue of New York is uniquely suited for competitive eating. Although, I am from the West coast and would desperately love to see more contests closer to home, I do have an affinity for the Northeast region of the country. Although, I have had mixed results on the East coast, mediocre at best in fact, if you don't consider the final Nathan's qualifier that I won on July 3 (22 HDB's) and my performance on the fourth (22 HDB's) which I am very proud of. But, regardless I do welcome the challenge of competing in the home city of competitive eating and I hope for improved results on the East coast this coming year.

Here I am trying to catch some luck (not necissarily a miracle) on 34th street

The date nut bread sandwiches turned out to be a much bigger obstacle than expected. The bread was very sweet and dense and the cream cheese was spread thick whcich as the contest wore on became virtually unbearable to many. Pat and Joey perservered and pulled away from the pack, especially Pat who clearly has a great tolerance and technique for sweet foods. It was Pat's day all the way; he built around a 5 or 6 sandwich lead going in to the last minute or so and held on for a decisive victory. I was a bit surprised at how dominate Pat was considering I know he only slept for about 2 hours the night before. Chestnut flew in on the red eye once again to NY from San Jose the morning of the contest and I am sure he wouldn't make excuses but from personal experience that really fucks with your system.

I can't say the 13 sandwiches was a great accomplishment for me and really the totals 3rd - 10th should not carry too much weight in my opinion, everyone seemed to struggle. Juliet Lee was a bit of a surprise as she did very well and she is sweet too (personality). She will definitely need to work on speed and capacity though if she wants to improve. I think she is going on all natural ability right now which is impressive and potentially very scary how good she can be.

The night before the contest a few of us met up with Kobayashi for dinner (one should never pass up this opportunity), who was in New York to film a commercial with Sonya Thomas. We met up at Pizza Gruppo where Tim Janus was working the bar and serving pizza. We didn't get too crazy since it was the night before the competition though it was hard to hold back. The thin crust pizza was excellent and the service was even better. Some pics below:

Kobayashi looking determined to enjoy this pizza,
or destroy it, it's hard to tell

Janus takes a break to pose with us while Kobayshi plays photographer

Click Here to see the rest of the pictures from this set on Flickr

Are the Competitive Eating Gods Calling?

2006-12-07T17:50:00.000-08:00

This last Sunday, for circumstances undisclosed I found myself at a large hospital in Seattle called Swedish Medical Center. The reason I was at the hospital is not important I was there for a family member.

After spending all day at the hospital and eating three meals from the cafeteria I had enough, and I needed some relief from the vending machines. To my delight, the vending machines were like a whole food court by themselves as they were the only vending machines for the entire hospital complex. There were six vending machines to choose from so I closely examined each machine. When I came to the fifth machine to my utter shock and dismay, they were offering Krstal burgers.

Krystal burgers in a vending machine in a hospital in Seattle? You have got to be shitting me.

There isn't a Krystal burger West of Texas and they don't even sell frozen Krystal burgers anywhere. Trust me, during the Krystal Square-Off qualifying season I was trying desperately to get my hands on some frozen Krystals or even White Castle burgers to no avail. So I was starting to get a little suspicious about my sanity but trust me they were there, check out the pics...

In honor of the unexpected and unexplainable occurrence, I had a few Krystal burgers and they even tasted like Krystals!

Well, I moved on cautiously until about four hours later when on my way home from the hospital at 2:00 am I stopped at the local market for…I don’t know more food. As I walked through the doors the market was empty but there was a large sign in the front display staring me down that read “Wookey Hole” (cave aged cheddar) in large orange letters (See pic below).

Just one week earlier I would have thought nothing of the sign but wouldn’t you know it that just a few days earlier the first ever big IFOCE sanctioned eating contest in the UK, a Minced Pie eating contest was held at the Wookey Hole caves in Somerset, UK. Totally random right? I mean who has ever even heard of Wookey Hole? Sonya Thomas destroyed the competition in this contest but that’s not the point.

I had to chuckle at the irony of these things happening to me but the point of it all is that to the untrained or non-believing eyes these two random competitive eating references could seem insignificant. But many great discoveries and inventions have been founded by people who had a keen eye and who refused to ignore curious and seemingly unexplainable anomalies. Take the invention of the microwave for example – one day in 1946, a Raytheon engineer named Dr. Percy Spencer was working for the government testing radar technology when he stopped in front of a magnetron tube which was generating high-frequency radio waves. As Spencer stood in front of the magnetron he realized strangely that a chocolate bar that was in his pocket had melted. Spencer was intrigued by this occurrence so he decided to test other foods. He proceeded to place a bag of popcorn seeds in front of the magnetron, and to the utter shock of those wathcing, the seeds popped! The invention of the microwave followed at Raytheon.

To me, there is no doubt that what I experienced was more than coincidence and undeniably meaningful signs in the same ilk of that chocolate bar melting in Doc Spencer’s pocket.

So the question is, what should I make of these signs? Are the competitive eating Gods trying to send me a message? If so, what message are they sending me? Will I win the Krystal Square Off or be chosen to travel overseas to kick everyone’s ass at Wookey Hole next year? It’s possible. But I have my doubts that the message being sent is that deliberate. I have to search deeper for answers. I think the most reasonable thing I can do is run some tests on myself, challenge myself, see if I can harness the energy and we’ll see what happens.

Haiku Contest, Homer says D'oh

2006-12-07T12:07:00.000-08:00

I posted on Eatfeats as well. I suppose I won't enter the contest (See Dec. 17th) in an act of vanity afterall.

If I could I would (Steakbellie form)...

You caught me offguard (Haiku)
Momo is ready!
Tremont Six Four Seven calls
frozen by red light

Am I Too White for MTV?

2006-12-05T14:44:00.000-08:00

In a recent conversation I had with an IFOCE official I was told that I was not chosen to appear in a hot dog eating exhibition on an upcoming episode of MTV’s dating show “Next” because I did not fit MTV’s preferred demographic – they chose Arturo Rios instead. Hmm, how can I change demographics? Or maybe demographics was just a code word for ‘not ranked high enough’. I don’t know that would actually make me feel better, at least I have a chance to influence and change rankings but my whiteness is hard to change.

A New Path for The Road to Nathan's

2006-12-04T01:03:00.000-08:00

My Blog will change.

No longer will I write merely in observatory re-telling of competitive eating events and results (although this will still be part of my blog). I intend to be a bit more open and ethereal, more aloof and reflective. I hope to raise more questions and present more answers to myself and readers. This won't be a cosmic shift, I just want to open it up more, create more posts, utilize more of my creativity, and hopefully present a more telling and wholistic picture of who I am in the world of competitive eating.

Competitive eating is both figuratively and realistically an internal self-exploration for me and in my opinion, if you are a professional eater and you haven't learned anything new about what's inside of you, than you need to start doing something different. I'd like to share more of what I have experienced and learned, so here goes....

A Soothing Pre-Game Warmup Routine

2006-12-01T12:01:00.000-08:00

Prior to an eating competition the nerves and adrenaline are always pumping high so as a way to relax I like to crank up the Smooth Jazz and sing along. My spoken word and lyrics may be a bit incomprehensible but I am putting myself in a Zen-like state where I can't really be responsible for what comes out.

I was able to capture a bit of my warmup in the video below en route to the Posole contest in New Mexico while driving on Interstate 40....

Sky City Posole Results - Acoma, NM 11/18/06

2006-11-21T10:53:00.000-08:00

Results from contest (IFOCE Rank in Paranthesis)

12 Minute Contest

1st - Pat "Deep Dish" Bertoletti(3) - 9 lbs. 2.25 oz, $1000
2nd - Helen "Swellin' Melon's" Haggerty (X) - 8 lbs. 10.75 oz, $500
3rd - Rich "The Locust" LeFevre(8) - 8 lbs. 8 oz, $350
4th - Erik the Red Denmark(14) - 7 lbs. 5 oz, $250
5th - Marco "Mongo" Marquez(NR) - 6 lbs. 2 oz, $150
6th - Wild Bill Myers(29) - 5 lbs. 1.25 oz
7th - Andrew "Skinnyboy" Lane(33) - 4 lbs.

Some pics from the contest:

Pat calls first dibs on the controversial Helen Haggerty and her swellin' melon's

A pre-contest symmetrical arrangement of posole

Before the contest Pat, Rich and I enjoy the setting

Getting dirty with the posole, it was spicier than expected,
a welcome surprise to me

The Remains of the day from Pat (right) and Rich (left)

At least a couple ounces in my teeth to pick out

Posing with the cook after the comp., I got my shorts a little messy

Sky City Fry Bread - Phoenix AZ, 10/28/06

2006-10-30T10:46:00.000-08:00

Results from Sky City Fry Bread Championship (IFOCE rank in paranthesis):

8 minute contest

1st - Erik the Red Denmark(12) - 9.75 (New World Record), $1500
2nd - Jalapeno Jed Donahue(18) - 8.5, $1000
3rd - Jason the Erbivore Erb(35) - 6.5, $500
4th - Tim Brown(49), 6.4
5th - Frank Wach(26), 6? (Not exactly sure)
5th - Wild Bill Myers(41), 6? (Not exactly sure)
7th - Andrew Skinny Boy Lane(36), 4.5

From L to R - Frank Wach, Jed, Erbivore and I grind through the fry bread
(photo published by Arizona Republic)

I know I am a little slow in updating this competition re-cap but I guess I just wanted to enjoy the victory for awhile. Winning always feels good and it is the best cure for losing (see Krystal qualifiers).

Just before I came out to the stage at the Arizona State fair where the competition would be held , there was a group of us eaters watching the Krystal Square Off finals (in Chattanooga, TN) on ESPN at a bar in the pavilion of the fair. We witnessed Kobayashi and Joey Chestnut go crazy on the Krystals with Kobayashi finally outlasting Joey again with 97 Krystals to Joey's 91. Damn, awesome performance from these two and everyone else in the contest quite frankly exceeded expectations. It is getting tougher and tougher to shock the world like Kobayashi did in 2001 when he ate 50 hot dogs but I have to say this year's Krystal totals by both Koby and Joey have to be up there as the second biggest shock in the history of the sport.

Meanwhile, back in Arizona after witnessing the eating display at the Krystal finals on TV, I felt a sense of pride, motivation, and kick-in-the-assidness (just made up this phrase). How could I possibly except the thought of losing after realizing that our sport of competitive eating had just received another jolt of energy and publicity? I couldn't is the answer.

As we were standing on the side of the stage getting ready for the introductions, they brought out the fry bread in stacks of 10 on a plate. They dumped a pile of powdered sugar on the top of the stack so only really the top couple had any significant amount of sugar on them. Looking at them, I figured I could proably eat about 20-30 depending on the density. When the contest started and I took my first bite, I knew that 20 would not be possible in 8 minutes. Although, each frisbee sized slice of bread probably only weighed between 6-7 oz., they were like rubber. Dipping the bread in water helped but since the bread is fried it didn't absorb much. So the key to the contest really was about jaw strength and swallowing technique. Chewing fast and swallowing chunks of bread consistently, I managed to get through the whole stack of fry bread (minus a quarter of the last slice).

When the final tallies were made and I was announced as the winner to the crowd, I received a nice ovation - the crowd was a bit rowdy at first cheering heavily for the locals and somewhat jeering at the professionals as they were announced but they were very kind to me. I felt very satisfied with my performance and the victory and somewhat vindicated for not making the Krystal finals. But this victory is just one step in my plan and my future goals in competitive eating, and although there may not be many contests in the next coming months, I do not plan to take any time off.

As a side note, I had hoped to get a chance to go by the Heart Attack Grill after the contest and try my luck at the quadruple bypass burger record set by Jed Donahue. I had exchanged emails with Jon Basso from the Grill and he notified me that they were only open on the weekdays from 11-9, which I found to be shocking considering the type of crowd and atmosphere I envisioned for the restaurant. Jon responded and told me that the Heart Attack Grill in Phoenix is currently a test pilot restaurant for a franchise store. He did also offer to open the restaurant special for me on that Saturday just so I could come by and give the burger a try but unfortunately I didn't get the email until I came back home to Seattle. Dang, next time.

Krystal Qualifier - Jackson, MS 10/15/06

2006-10-18T12:41:00.000-07:00

Full Results from Jackson (IFOCE rank in paranthesis)

8 minute contest:

1st - Crazy Legs Conti(11) - 38 burgers
2nd - Arturo "the Natural" Rios(24) - 35
3rd - Erik the Red Denmark(12) - 32
4th - Ken "Mongo" Federighi(34) - 26
5th - Morris Mermelstein(NR) - 23
6th - Terry Brown(NR) - 20
7th - Damon Serignet(NR) - 19
7th - Kris Barnhart(NR) - 19
7th - Michael Parlaman(NR) - 19
10th - Mike Richardson(NR) - 18
11th - Justin Mih "So Hungry"(33) - DQ (had 37 in his mouth but could not swallow it)

I hate you Magic

What? What the hell happened here? Well, I fucked up and didn't make it in to the finals in Chattanooga on October 28. 32? I know it's pathetic. 32 is my new least favorite number and 37 (the number I needed to hit) is my new second least favorite number. Magic Johnson, Sandy Koufax, Jim Brown all wore number 32 - I hate you. Shaun Alexander, running back for the Seattle Seahawks wears number 37 - I don't hate you but I hate your jersey.

There were a number of circumstances that contributed to my poor performance - I was sick all week, my throat was soar, the burgers were dry and cold, the humidity was high, I lost something very important (medicine) prior to the contest, but honestly none of that shit mattered - I underachieved, and I know it.

So, now I am left to ponder, what if? What if I had made it to the finals? What would be my entrance for the ESPN crowd? How many burgers over 40 would I have eaten? How much could this nationally televised event and this contest boost the popularity of competitive eating? And how much of an impact could I have made? I think I could have made an impact for sure.

Well, I have confidence that the eaters who qualified will put on a good show and not disappoint the crowd. Kobayashi should be ready and as focused as he was at Bratwursts which means Joey, Sonya, Pat, Humble Bob, Chip, Tim and Rich will all need to raise their level beyond what any American eater ever has to have a chance in the end. The beautiful thing about this contest is there is hope, realistic hope that Kobayashi can be beaten and there will be more than just Joey to push him I believe. I'll be watching with bitterness and regret in my stomach that I can't be there. But soon after I will take the stage in Arizona and have a chance to take out my frusteration on fry bread.

I intend to use this most recent failure of mine as fuel and motivation - I will be back, I will be better, I will be stonger, I will make a difference, and I won't be denied again.

As for the DQ incident with Justin Mih in Jackson - I don't like the way that Krystal wrote up the competition recap . It makes it seem like it was my mission to get Justin DQ'd so that I would get third place, that I followed him around the corner and watched him throw up and then starting yelling profusely for his disqualification - this is not what happened. What actually happened is about two minutes after the contest had ended, Justin was still struggling to swallow his 37th burger, I wasn't paying attention to him, I was in my own world of frusteration when I looked over and saw Justin's body jerk and a force of burger chunks and liquid shoot out of his mouth directly on to the table. It wasn't like he let everything go and stomach bile was all over the place but it was clear that the stomach acids had reacted and forced an outward projectile of food from his mouth. Mike Castellano was standing in front of Justin on the stage but was half facing the crowd so he missed the moment but he could see the remains on the table. I asked Mike if he had just seen what happened and that Justin had just had a reversal. Mike investigated and then Kenny from Krystals reviewed the tape and determined that Justin would be discounted 1 burger for the reversal giving him a total of 36. After the contest results were announced I went to Kenny and Mike and asked them what they had seen and how it was determined to only discount 1 burger. They both reviewed the video again and they determined that Justin should in fact be disqualified.

The reason I pointed out the reversal was not for my own personal benefit, Justin did have a better contest than me and I thought for sure he would be able to get everything down. I didn't give a shit if I got third place or fourth place, I actually at first was thinking that it would affect Arturo Rios' wildcard position but I later remembered that since Crazy Legs had won, Arturo would still get a wilcard spot regardless of what happened with Justin. Basically, I think it comes down to maintaining the integrity of the sport to make sure that the rules are clearly set and are clearly followed and if I see something that is not right I am going to point it out, it's a reaction - it is up to the judges however to make the final decisions. I hope Justin does well in Chattanooga.

Jalapeno Results - Dallas, TX 10/8/06

2006-10-13T12:47:00.000-07:00

Click Here to listen to my interview and 1 minute jalapeno eating exhibition on Dallas news station 1080 KRLD

Reults from Jalapeno Contest (IFOCE rank in paranthesis)

8 Minute Contest:

1st - Rich the Locust LeFevre(8) - 247 peppers, $2000
2nd - Sonya the Black Widow Thomas(3) - 239 peppers, $1000
3rd - Pat Deep Dish Bertoletti(4) - 226 peppers, $700
4th - Erik the Red Denmark(12) - 108 peppers, $300
5th - Allen Earl Jones(NR) - 90 peppers

First off, let me say congratulations to Rich LeFevre, he deserved a big victory and he definitley earned it against a strong field. Many people want to say that maybe the contest wasn't fair in some way but it definitely was fair and Rich won outright. The peppers that were used were La Costena out of the jar, the same as the ones they use at the Laredo jalapeno contest. The number of jalapenos consumed seems like a huge number considering that the 12-minute record set by Pat Bertoletti in NM was 177 but let me describe why I think the numbers were so high:

The jalapenos were varied in size, some small, some medium, and very few were large. Also, the peppers had been left uncovered in the sun for at least 20-30 minutes which caused them to absorb the vinegar, get softer, and evaprate some of the heat that is inherent in a fresh jalapeno. Regardless of these factors, I think Rich would have set a record anyway, he was literally and figuratively on fire that day.

As for my performance, it wasn't the best, but considering I could have eaten 117 more and still placed 4th, maybe it wasn't such a bad choice to stop at 108.

Click Here to read The Star-Telegram article about the contest
Click Here to Read the Dallas Morning News article about the contest
Click Here to read the AP newswire article about the contest

Erik the Red in Sweden

2006-09-25T22:22:00.000-07:00

Click Here to listen to my radio interview with the Swedish radio station P3, which aired in Sweden on Monday, 9-25-06.

New Spot Shrimp Record Success!!

2006-09-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

Here are the official results from the 2006 Groz-with-Gas-a-thon spot shrimp world record attempt, 9-22-2006:

12 minute contest

Erik the Red Denmark(12), 4 lbs. 15 ozs. - New World Record

Ok, so I wasn't competing against anyone but myself, time, and the aura of the Godfather, Hungry Charles Hardy. This contest was really a new experience for me, all of the attention was on me, which seems to elevate things a bit in a good way. Of course, the goal of my stunt was to bring some excitment and attention to the purpose of the event, which was to rasie money for three great local charities. I am proud to say that this years event also set a record for the most money they have rasied in one day in the ten year history of the event with over $77,000 dollars rasied for charity.

The shrimp were very well prepared, spot shrimp is a meatier breed of shrimp and the tails are about 25% bigger than normal size shrimp. There was about 25-30 shrimp on each one pound plate and I managed to make through almost seven plates in the 12 minutes. I estimate I ate around 185 shrimp. It is difficult to say when exactly the record was broken because the tails ended up weighing around 2 pounds, which made the final outcome very close. In the first five minutes of the contest I was soaking the shrimp in cocktail sauce to make them easier to swallow but I noticed that I was getting a lot of sauce on the tails and in the "dump" bowl which would count against me in the end. I had to stop using the cocktail sauce and drink more liquids to facilitate swallowing at that point. As far as my performance, I am very proud of it, I was in a good rhythm the entire contest and I think I put out my best effort, which is all I could hope for.

It was pretty sweet to be able to perform for the first time in my hometown of Seattle and to be able to have many of my friends and family there to support me. Anthony's on Pier 66 is an amazing venue perching right on the shore of the Puget Sound with views of the majestic Olympic mountains in the background. Ray the Bison Meduna was on hand to judge the event and to oversee the final numbers. Ray is a class act and I knew with his presence that the contest would run smooth and our competitive eating strength would be doubled in Seattle.

There was a very impressive list of local sports and other celebrities that were present at some point during the day of the event. I feel humbled and honored to be listed with the following people who participated:

Tyrone Willingham - UW Husky Football Head Coach
Lorenzo Romar - UW Husky Basketball Head Coach
Greg Lewis - Former UW Husky Football Running Back
Bob Rondeau - UW Husky Play-by-Play Announcer
Warren Moon - Former Husky, Hall of Fame NFL Quarterback
Mike Holmgren - Seahawk Head Coach
Sean Alexander - Seahawk running Back 2005 NFL MVP
Mack Strong - Seahwak Fullback
Ken Hamlin - Seahawk Safety
Rashard Lewis - Supersonic
Nick Collison - Supersonic
Luke Ridnour - Supersonic
Bob Hill - Supersonic Head Coach
James Donaldson - Former Supersonic
Dale Ellis - Former Supersonic
Jack Sikma - Former Seattle Supersonic
Kevin Calabro - Supersonic Play-by-Play Announcer
Norm Charlton - Formet Seattle Mariner Pitcher
Dan Wilson - Former Seattle Mariner Catcher
Bill Krueger - Former Seattle Mariner Pitcher

It was truly a great day. Check out video and photos below...

Click Here for the Flickr gallery of pics from the event
Click Here for video of the contest introduction
Click Here for video of the last 10 seconds of the contest

I hope to get video of the entire contest posted soon.

Spot Shrimp Record Will Go Down!!

2006-09-20T12:12:00.000-07:00

This Friday, September 22 at 4:30 pm (PST) I will be attempting to break "the Godfather" Hungry Charles Hardy's record for spot shrimp consumption. Hardy's record currently stands at 4 lbs. 9 oz. in 12 minutes. I am not sure exactly what contest the record was established but Charles said the record was established in August of 2002 in Alaska.

My record breaking attempt will be a highlight in this year's Groz with Gas-A-Thon , which is a huge one day live on-air and online charity effort including a charity auction to support local Seattle organizations. The three main charities that will benefit from this year's effort will be CAYA – Central Area Youth Association, Northwest Literacy Foundation, and Habitat for Humanity of East King County.

I am proud to be a part of this great effort and cause and I surely intend to set a new world record for spot shrimp in honor of these Seattle charities and participating organizations.

CLICK HERE to listen to radio interview with Charles Hardy and Me on with Groz and Gas on Tuesday, 9-19-06

I invite everyone in the Seattle locale to come down to Anthony's on Pier 66 in Seattle on Friday to be a part of it. The charity event will be going on from 10AM - 7PM(PST) and I will be eating around 4:30PM (PST). If you can't make it or you don't live near Seattle you can listen to the event live on the radio at 950 AM, or live on the Internet at 950kjr.com (click the 'listen live' button on the menu).

My participation in this event has been approved and sanctioned by the IFOCE so the record (if I break it) will be official.

Oklahoma Fried Okra Results 9/16/06

2006-09-19T14:27:00.000-07:00

Top four Results (IFOCE rank in paranthesis)

10 minute contest

1st - Sonya the Black Widow Thomas(3) - 9.75 lbs, $1500
2nd - Pat "Black Out" Bertoletti(4) - 9.5 lbs, $1000
3rd - Erik the Red Denmark(12) - 5 lbs, $500
4th - Miles Karpe(NR) - 4.5 lbs

Click Here for NewsOK article about the event

Click Here for Lahunta Blog entry about the event

Photo courtesy of NewsOK coverage:

The okra was slippery and chewy but went down pretty fast

Krystal Square Off III Qualifier in Nashville 9/10/06

2006-09-11T19:32:00.000-07:00

Complete Results (IFOCE rank in paranthesis)

1st - Humble Bob Shoudt(5) - 52
2nd - Erik the Red Denmark(12) - 34
3rd - Juris Shibayama(NR) - 33
4th- Jim "Hammer" Hamrick(27) - 22
5th- Kevin "The Carborator" Carr(31) - 21
6th-Lynn Curley(NR) - 20
6th-Adam Dickens(NR) - 20
8th-Chris Wooten(NR) - 17
9th-Matthew Bailey(NR) - 16
10th-Andrew Wong(NR) - 15
10th-Justin Smith(NR) - 15
10th-Mitchell Miller(NR) - 15
13th-Brandon Williams(NR) - 14

2.5 inch buns, thin meat patties, chopped onions, and mustard. That is the simple makeup of a competition Krystal burger (the store bought version contains a pickle). They come on trays of 20 in their own individual branded box. Everyone gets as many 44 oz. branded plastic cups as they need for the competition. A Krystal must be consumed in full, no fractions of Krystals will be counted towards an eaters total. Dunking is allowed as well as separating or squashing or whatever else you could come up with to the eat the burger as long as all of it is consumed. The contest is a sprint, eight minutes, a full four minutes shorter than the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Competition.

My opinion - the Krystal Square Off kicks some ass. Nathan's should send some reps out to a contest and check out how it is done - simple, efficient, and standardized. Also, when the finals are complete in Chattanooga, TN on October 28th, Krystal will be paying every eater who qualifies a share of the $30,000 purse - take note Nathan's.

Anyway, about the contest - I had been looking forward to this test for awhile, especially since most of the contests I have been in since Nathan's have been either debris food (ribs, chicken wings), or unusaul ones like jalapenos or the "buffet bowl" which have not been strictly about speed, capacity and technique. That being said, I was fairly pleased with my result of 34. Of course, my goal for the contest was at least 37, which would have all but guaranteed me a spot in the finals with Crazy Legs (36 burgers) and Seaver Miller (35 burgers) holding the top two wild card spots.

I knew it would be tough to beat Humble Bob on Sunday with his Krystal experience from last year and Krystals being one of his favorite competition foods. But honestly, I don't think Humble Bob had one of his best days and he surely fell below his expectations going in to the weekend. But a win is a win and 52 is nothing to be ashamed of especially since that really means nothing in terms how the finals will play out. At least Bob knows he will more than likely be standing (or sitting) next to Joey at the finals assuming that they seat everyone according to their qualifying number not their rank.

This 8 minute contest was the shortest real contest I have ever been in (I don't count the Buffet Bowl). As with most contests, the biggest damage is done within the first 2 minutes so if anyone expects to do well, they better be sprinting out of the gate. I had hoped to get at least 18 down in the first two minutes and than incrementally work my way up to 40. After a good first minute (10 burgers), I slowed too much and I think I was at around 15 in two minutes. I knew I was behind where I wanted to be so I tried to speed up and just dunk without drinking water to reach my next goal marker of 25 in four minutes. I couldn't do it, I was having trouble swallowing and I slowed down to a near crawl, I managed only five burgers over the next two minutes, which left me way behind my pace. Finally, I tore off my cowboy hat and bandana to free up my brain and I picked up some water and managed to settle in to a decent second half rhythym.

As time was winding down I knew every Krystal I could shove in would be critical in terms of a wild card berth, not to mention that according to the numbers Emcee Ryan Nerz was spouting out, I was still one burger behind Juris Shibayama, an impressive rookie on a torid pace. I shoved two burgers in the last six seconds which left my mouth no room for oxygen. I am normally positive that whatever will fit in my mouth at the end of a contest I will eventually be able to swallow. But this time I had managed to get a whole burger patty wedged between my uvula and the back of my throat which was really causing me to gag every time I tried to chew what was in front of it. After some consternation I decided to take a chance and just swallow without chewing. This really could have been bad but fortunately I didn't choke and nothing came back up.

Juris Shibayama finsihed in third with 33 and he has a pretty interesting story. He is a spine surgen who lives in Nashville and though admitting to being a fan of competitive eating said that he really had not trained for the contests (he won the two minute qualifier the day before with 14). He has a strong, athletic build and definitely seems as though he would have the intelligence to work his body in to competitive eating shape. Though, he did mention that he won't be able to travel much because his job requires him to be on call a lot on the weekends. We'll see, I think he would fit in well with the rest of the nut jobs (myslef included) on the circuit.

Do I think 34 will hold up for one of the four wild card spots? Despite hope being a powerful ally of mine, I think it is likely I will be in Jackson for the last qualifier.

(I hope to get some pictures from the contest soon from Krystal Brad)

Acoma Jalapeno Results 8/25/06

2006-09-01T00:43:00.000-07:00

Results form the Showdown in Acoma (IFOCE rank in paraenthesis)

1st - Pat "Black Out" Bertoletti(4) - 177 jalapenos $1000
2nd - Rich "the Locust" LeFevre(8) - 155 jalapenos $500
3rd - Jalapeno Jed Donahue(18) - 144 jalapenos $375
4th - Erik the Red Denmark(12) - 107 jalapenos $250
5th - Buffalo Jim Reeves(19) - 73 jalapenos $150
6th - Donovan Busta(NR) - 56 jalapenos
7th - Don "Moses" Lerman(29) - 49 jalapenos

I think I am finally waking up from my travel and competitive eating induced coma over the past three weeks. I have been busy and honestly the schedule has worn me down a bit but let me recount my last three contest adventures for you starting with jalapenos (Excerpts of the following are taken from an interview with Liz and Krista and are published Here at Urban Honking's Truefan) :

I was not really surprised by the winning total of 177 and that Pat took the title. I was very surprised and impressed however that three eaters ended up over 140 and that I was not one of them. Pat, Jed, and Rich all had great days. It is a shame that this contest was not held at a bigger venue with more attention because it was definitely one of the most grueling and entertaining tests of 1. speed, 2. capacity, and especially 3. resistance from the vinegar, heat, and flavor of the jalapenos.

I personally was not that impressed by my own total of 107. I was doing fairly well in the first 8-9 minutes of the contest, I had about 90 down and I was probably 30-35 behind Pat. I stood up from a sitting position to try and wiggle the food lower in my stomach and the taste and the vinegar hit me suddenly and my body reacted violently - I threw up twice in my mouth and my cheeks were bulging as I was trying to keep it in, the regurgitated jalapeno juice started coming out of my nose! I managed to compose myself and swallow what was in my mouth but I was walking a very thin line the rest of the contest, I did not push it at all after that because a reversal and disqualification would have been devastating to me. This contest was a test of will.

As far as Don Lerman's performance, I think it is about what I expected. I laughed at the comments he made on his website, not because I don't respect Don but because I know he was really only trying to draw attention to himself and the contest and that he would use it as motivation. Don acts completely different in person than he does online, he was very cordial and reserved the couple of times I have met him. I feel bad that Don won't let go of the past and that he won't retire or at least take any real time off to try and improve his health and potentially gain some of the form he used to show. I appreciate the effort that Don puts forth but he finished with only 49 jalapenos and he can't be competitive with numbers like that.

Here are some photos from the contest courtesy of Jed Donahue:

Just makes me hungry to look at them

The professional eaters before the contest
sans me - AKA the stars of "Cats" the musical

Ok, here I am...

The calm before the storm in Jim Reeves stomach

The aftermath; Pat's plates are in background,
my leftovers are in the foreground...

"Black Out" Bertoletti posing with his plates

The Showdown in Acoma, NM

2006-08-24T17:18:00.000-07:00

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

2006-08-24T15:16:00.000-07:00

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

2006-08-16T13:49:00.000-07:00

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

2006-08-08T15:10:00.000-07:00

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

2006-08-04T11:03:00.000-07:00

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

2006-08-01T11:16:00.000-07:00

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.

New IFOCE World Ranking

2006-07-26T14:47:00.000-07:00

#12

The IFOCE updated their rankings yesterday and I moved up from #26 to #12. I was very satisfied in the beginning of the year when I was first ranked highly at #26. I believe I defended my ranking well; since being ranked, I only lost to one person ranked below me - Bryan Miller (was ranked #45) at the Nathan's Sunrise Qualifier in April. I did defeat numerous people ranked above me (I am not going to list them, that would be a dick move). But now the challenge becomes even greater to rise to the very top, to gain world titles, world records, and defeat the best in the world - those that I respect greatly. I look forward to the upcoming challenges in Sheboygan, Acoma, and Reno.

Chinnok Winds Rib Competition Video

2006-07-25T03:23:00.000-07:00

Here is video of the first 8 minutes of the contest (thanks Dad):

Read my writeup and results of the contest below...

Chinook Winds BBQ Ribs Results, July 16 2006

2006-07-17T00:45:00.000-07:00

Contest Results (current IFOCE ranking in paranthesis):

1st - Joey Jaws Chestnut(3), 8.4 lbs. $1500
2nd - Rich the Locust LeFevre(5), 5.05 lbs. $750
3rd - Erik the Red Denmark(26), 4.1 lbs. $500
4th - Jason Erbivore Erb(NR), 3.05 lbs.

I am not sure what Scott the Pork Slayer Sayer's(50) final total was but i am pretty sure he took 5th.

Well, sorry it has taken me so long to update (who am I apologizing to? I don't know). Let me tell you a bit about the contest - it was hot. I mean the contest was fun, I mean it. Not that all the contests I have been in were not fun (they were), but some are more painful or grueling or the crowds are not as enthusiastic. Obviously, after coming back from New York and re-living the Nathan's experience over and over again in my head; I feel envigorated with excitement and confidence in my skills. I know I have a little way to go before I can reach the upper echelon of competitive eaters in the world but I believe I am knocking on the door and soon I will be in.

This was my first rib contest and I wasn't quite sure what would be the most effective way to get the meat off of the bone. I knew I would need to use my hands and my teeth in conjunction to continuosly keep my mouth full of meat. The crowd that was gathered outside of the Chinnook Winds Casino were excited, it helped that the stage was set right in front of the beer garden, but they were very responsive to MC Mike Castellano, who rocked.

Anyway, I felt relaxed, confident and ready when the contest began - I was very relieved actually to be eating anything but hot dogs in contest after competing in 5 hot dog competions on the circuit. I picked up the first rib and took a bite of what I thought would be meat but to my surprise there was actually two bones on each rib cut - this threw me off right away and I abandoned any strategy I had in my mind and just started ripping the meat from the bone as fast as I could.

Despite being surprised by my first bite, I came out fast and was in a good rhythm. I finished my first plate (comprised of 2.5 lbs. of meat and bone) in equal time as Joey who was standing to my right. The second plate went down almost just as fast and I was just behind Joey when I started my third plate. I took my first bite of the third plate and I knew it would be a struggle; there was almost no sauce on the ribs, in contrast to the first two plates, and the meat was very dry. My jaws started to get tired and I had to consume way too much water to get the third plate down. Joey kept in his methodical fast and steady pace to finish three more plates (for a total of 5) and Rich probably passed me in the last two minutes of the contest. Third place and 4.1 pounds is not a dissapointment for me and I think I am capable of pulling a big upset in the near future.

I do have a video of the first 8 minutes of the contest, which I do intend to post but I need to compress it because it is over 100 MB's. Anyway, I will post this week.

Below are some pics, all from the last 4 minutes of the contest (taken by my Dad):

I am trying to rip through the meat to get it to my mouth
(it was very messy) as Joey is taking a sip to clear his mouth

Joey is filling his mouth full while I have turned to my teeth for help

This is about 8 minutes in to the contest,
Rich is just finding his stride as Joey is working on his third plate

Mike Castellano gets closer as the contest is winding down

With about 1:30 to 2 minutes left in the contest,
Scott Sayer (glasses) straightens up as
Rich is starting his fourth plate, Joey is working on his fifth,
and the bones are piling up from the end of my third plate

Erik the Red on 950 KJR with the Groz, 7-7

2006-07-07T15:42:00.000-07:00

Click here to listen with my latest interview on 950 KJR with "The Groz", Fri. 7-7-06

Nathan's Famous Contest Results, July 4, 2006

2006-07-07T13:51:00.000-07:00

Here are the Contest Results from July 4th (IFOCE rank in paranthesis):

1st - Takeru the Tsunami Kobayashi(1) - 53.75
2nd - Joey Jaws Chestnut(3) - 52
3rd - Sonya the Black Widow Thomas(2) - 37
4th - Pat Deep Dish Bertoletti(4) - 34.25
5th - Tim Eater x Janus(6) - 34
6th - Chip the Phenom Simpson(11) - 33
7th - Humble Bob Shoudt(7) - 30
8th - Rich the Locust LeFevre(5) - 28.5
9th - Eric Badlands Booker(9) - 24.5
10th - Pat from Moonachie Philbin(20) - 23
11th - Erik the Red Denmark(26) - 22
11th - Big Brian Subich(29) - 22
11th - Robert Anderson(NR) - 22
14th - Crazy Legs Conti(12) - 21.33
15th - Seaver the Achiever Miller (NR) - 20.5
15th - Allen the Shredder Goldstein(23) - 20.5
17th - Kamil the Hague Hamersky(NR) - 20
18th - Pretty Boy Hall Hunt(17) - 19
19th - Kenji Oguni - 16
20th - Jed the Jalapeno King Donahue(13) - 1

The Road to Nathan's is complete for 2006.

Watch the entire contest here

Nathan's Thailand Qualifier (on Coney Island) Results, July 3, 2006

2006-07-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

Here are the Contest Results (IFOCE rank in paranthesis):

1st - Erik the Red Denmark(26) - 22 HDB's
2nd - Arturo Rios(NR) - 18 HDB's
3rd - Wild Bill Myers(NR) - 16 HDB's
4th - Russ Keeler (NR) - 15.5 HDB's
5th - Don "Moses" Lerman(24) - 14.75 HDB's
6th - Jammin' Joe LaRue(21) - 14.5 HDB's
7th - Krazy Kevin Lipsitz(32) - 13.5 HDB's

I never imagined I would have such a strong bond with the country of Thailand. But, I do. Thailand is my new favorite country and I want to thank them for their genoristy in accepting me as their hot dog champion.

Although this was the "Thailand Qualifier", I do not believe there were any Thai citizens involved in the contest that was held on the grass behind homeplate before a minor league baseball game (America's pastime) between the Broklyn Cyclones (NY Mets affiliate)and the Hudson Valley Renegades (TB Devil Rays affiliate). The venue for this contest was awesome, I am not just saying this because I won the contest but we were perfoming on the field before the class A baseball game with a relatively good size crowd of 3 - 4,000 people.

I felt great during this contest, many of the eaters who were already qualified came out to cheer us on which was inspiring. Earlier in the day I had attended the weigh-in for the contest on the 4th, and I just knew I had to win this contest to be an official part of it all.

I got in to a great rhythm early in the contest, it was pretty tight between myself and Joe LaRue through the first two plates but LaRue who was out of practice, began to slow down considerably. I kept a steady pace and had finished 18 hot dogs with about 4 minutes remaining in the contest. I shoved in the remains of hot dog #22 with about 10 seconds left and I knew the contest was mine. I felt a rush of emotion and excitement as the contest ended, that feeling of victory had alluded me so narrowly just one week earlier. I had finally made it!

After the contest results were announced, a Cyclones representative handed me a ball and said wait here you are going to throw out the first pitch. What, are you serious? I said to myself. I hadn't thrown a pitch from an elevated mound since little league but I decided I would throw a fast ball from the windup. I was so excited and filled with adrenaline when I got to the mound that when I released the ball it sailed way right and over the catchers head and in to the backstop. Ha! Great! Who cares, I had just won a hot dog eating contest and I was going to compete in the Superbowl, the World series, the World Cup of competitive eating the next day. Oh shit, that's right I had to do it all again the next day.

Liz from UrbanHonking.com has a Flikr album of the contest here

Erik the Red on the Radio with the Groz

2006-06-30T15:49:00.000-07:00

Click here to listen to my latest interview on 950 KJR with "The Groz" from Friday, June 30.

Nathan's San Francisco Qualifier, June 24

2006-06-26T16:06:00.000-07:00

Here are the bloody results from the contest:

1st - Jed the Jalapeno King Donahue(13) - 19.5 HDB's
2nd - Erik the Red Denmark(26) - 19 HDB's
3rd - Ron Koch(10) - 15 HDB's

Shit. I could leave the post at that honestly, that is how I feel about the contest. Not that I feel I did poorly in the contest, I didn't. Not that I think I fell way below my potetnial at that particular moment, I didn't. Could I have won that contest? Hell ya. San Fransisco was a mess on Saturday morning; there was a stubborn cloud cover that kept the temperature cool, I mean cold. The public crowd was rather small, IFOCE newbie Eddie was the MC for the event - he didn't suck, he did fine, but the flow of the contest was a little broken because it was Eddie's first contest and he clearly does not know that much about competitive eating. He claimed that Ron Koch has eaten 81 pounds of pasta, that I am from Denmark, and he almost started the contest before introducing Jed Donahue. He miss-pronounced the LeFevre's names (who were in attendance) as the LeFleur's.

Anyway, that wasn't a big deal, a more important blunder for the contest was that they used the wrong hot dogs for the event - yes, the wrong hot dogs! The hot dogs they provided were Nathan's skinless hot dogs, which are fatter and shorter than the Nathan's they should have used with the natural casings. Some would say that this could provide an advantage and that the skinless hot dogs are easier to eat but I completely disagree - I consistently could eat more of the Nathan's dogs with casings than the ones without in practices. Besides, I was mentally and physically prepared for the hot dogs with casings, the ones that I trained with the last two weeks that I purchased from Nathan's online store and spent over $150 on in the last two months.

All that being said, Jed and I ate the same hot dogs and he did beat me by a half of a bun. As the contest was winding down, Jed and I were very close - we were neck and neck throughout the contest in fact. I finished my third plate just ahead of Jed with about three minutes left in the contest. I stuggled a bit on hot dog's 16 and 17 and Jed took the lead. With less than 30 seconds left, I was still on 18 and Jed was finishing 19, I prepared myself for a big stuff at the end. I cleared my mouth with one last sip of water with 6 seconds left in the contest and frantically picked everything I could off of my plate and shoved it in my mouth as time expired. With mouth full, I looked down and saw that I had one whole bun left and 1/4 of a hot dog; Jed's plate showed one half hot dog and one half bun - I knew I had lost by a half of a bun. The agony of losing by so little was so painful. I held my head in my hands under the table and stopped chewing what was a losing mouthful, I didn't want to look at the hot dogs or the crowd anymore.

I eventually swallowed what was in my mouth and showed my face again but the pain of the loss is still with me. I want to sincerely thank Rich and Carlene for coming to the contest and cheering for me and everyone else so graciously, they didn't have to come and cheer but not only are they legends at the table they are true fans and loyal friends. Joey Chestnut also helped me through the contest and although I know he could have beaten my total in two and a half minutes, I was inspired by his presence. Congrats on the win Jed. Alright enough shout outs, back to my despair.

Here are some photos that I basterdized from contestant and fan, Mike Wooldridge's Flikr album (Thanks Mike):

Carlene and Rich LeFevre: The Perfect Couple

Chestnut and I before the contest, I hadn't lost yet...

The beginning moments of the contest I am trying to find a rhythm and not bend over too much

A view of all the competitors, Jed is to my right, Ron to my left, and the crowd on the balcony, which I never noticed were there

Towards the end of the contest things are heating up; Jed is looking over at my plate as Carlene, Joey, and Rich cheer from the crowd

This is what it looks like to lose by a half a bun and to see a dream fade away - dejected, ashamed, lonely, and a mouth full of shit

Las Vegas Grilled Cheese Results

2006-06-12T12:48:00.000-07:00

GoldenPalace. Net Grilled Cheese Results 6-10-06:
(IfOCE rankings in paranthesis)

1st - 47 Sandwiches, Joey "Jaws" Chestnut(3)
2nd (tie) - 37, Pat Bertoletti(4)
2nd (tie) - 37, Sonya "the Black Widow" Thomas(2)
4th - 35, Rich "the Locust" LeFevre(5)
5th - 33, Chip "the Phenom" Simpson(11)
6th - 20.5, Ron Koch(10)
7th - 17.5, Erik the Red Denmark(26)

Click Here for video of the contest

Following the PRO contest, Tim "Eater X" Janus(6) took on AFL star Gear Gudmundson at halftime of the AFL Championship XX Skills Challenge at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Here is video from Eater X's dominating performance, winning the 5 minute contest 18 to 6:

On-Air Interviews with the Groz on 950 KJR

2006-06-06T15:32:00.000-07:00

Click Here to listen to my Friday, 6-2 interview with the Groz
Click Here to listen to my Monday, 6-5 interview with the Groz