So this year’s Nathan’s contest is over and the champ has been dethroned, only managing 60 dogs and buns to the new champ’s 62.
Third place choked down 32.
Even as a one-time trencherman of regional note, I just can’t fuggin’ imagine.
It’s the woman’s champ that cracked me up, though. From the article:
Crystal Light. Gotta watch those calories!
This replaces my old standard of the woman who had a shopping cart full of Twinkies etc., and two bottles of Tab.
Sonya ‘The Black Widow’ Thomas held many eating titles, hotdogs and crabcakes I think among them. Saw her practice for a bratwurst contest. Brought a tear to my eye.
Both Miki Sudo and Sonya Thomas are fairly small and trim women. How does that even work? Do they have to regularly eat extreme amounts for training or do they only eat extreme amounts at competitions? I think at least one of them should come out with a fad diet book.
Seriously, have doctors studied how these people eat that much. That much food represents some extreme volume. Why does it go and how do they ever process it?
It all gets puked back up.
Either TLC or the Discovery Channel did a show about people who do this a few years ago. I never watched it.
Many years ago, my mother, who is not overweight and never has been, went apeshit at a buffet and somehow made it home before she threw it all up. :dubious: I heard the toilet flushed automatically; do you know how much you have to put into a toilet to make it do that? I’ve heard of bulimics who set out to do that, and nearly killed themselves in the process. :eek:
When I was a Girl Scout, we got to talking about these contests, and the leader’s husband said that the one time he did that, he ate 22 jumbo shrimp, “and then I upchucked about 22 times!” He said it was a long time before he could eat shrimp again.
This article explains how they do it, and also mentions there hasn’t been a lot of study about it, which I thought was interesting.
It always seems to be the little scrawny dude who wins these contests. Never the big fat guy. At least from my observation.
One technique that the Man Vs Food guy claimed to use was eating light for a few days before a challenge but drinking a shitload of water to sort of stretch out his stomach and clean out the system. Don’t know if its true or crap but there it is.
How much does it cost to enter a competitive eating event?
Yea, the fat guys that show up never get close to the top competitors. The theory I’ve heard is that being fat is a disadvantage, since all that extra fat packed in your abdomen resists your stomach expanding.
As to how they stay thin, they train with water or low calorie foods, and presumably aren’t downing sixty hot dogs as a regular thing. And I know at least Kobyashi is something of a fitness nut, and I’d imagine the others take similar measures to stay thin.
Your dignity.
Funny, I noticed before the contest that Chestnut seemed to have put on some pounds. I half-jokingly told my gf that he would lose because he was always skinny when he won. Then we turned off the tv because it was just too disgusting to watch, so never got a chance to gloat.
the Nathan’s hot dog eating contest has been a fucking joke since they stopped letting Kobayashi compete
they ruined competitive eating as a serious sport
It depends on the contest. For some you get in free but there are qualifications you have to meet - membership in a national or international organization (there are several), participation in a qualifying contest, or being strange enough to enter and lucky enough to be chosen. Some others, mostly done for charity, have some pretty hefty entrance fees with the proceeds going to whatever cause its about - winner gets x% of the pot. Sometimes it seems like every one is different.
Assuming it was ever a serious sport in the first place. It’s cool and all but to me it will always be a stunt. More like “who can swallow the most swords at once” or “who can spit fire the furthest” than say baseball or rugby. But since most of the sports (TV) stations have started to carry pool and poker tournies ----------- maybe I’m wrong about that.
The announcer at the contest said that all of the entrants were “professionally trained”. Whatever that means.
It’s certainly got a “freak show” aspect to it that’s part of its appeal. Still, I’m not sure its really any more arbitrary a physical activity than “who can swim across a pool the fastest” or “who can hurl a shotput the farthest”.
Plus I kinda like that its a sport no one takes really seriously. I remember watching the first match after Chestnut won, and both he and Kobyashi blew past the previous record by something like 8 dogs. Compare more serious sports, where when someone breaks a world record, its by fractions of a second. Its kinda fun watching something where the two top competitors can both exceed the previous record by more than 10% trying to catch each other. Even if the activity itself is silly (and more than a little gross).
The first year Kobayashi won was great because he ate 50 hot dogs and the previous record was 25
he completely changed the game
I wonder if the rationale for dipping the buns in Crystal Light is that by saturating the buns with liquid it might reduce the air spaces in the bread?