Latest news with #competitiveeating
The Sun
19-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
We took on four of the toughest eating challenges across the country – but could we finish them?
THEY have long been associated with gut-busting Americans who think nothing of cramming calorie-packed meals into their supersized stomachs. But competitive eating contests are now going mainstream in the UK, with enterprising starved restaurants serving them up to attract punters. 5 As the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite, dozens of outlets are now offering a variety of food challenges, from finishing the biggest steak to gobbling up a mountain of burgers. The trend, which started with Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest in the States in 1972, is now popular with social media influencers. But how would the average Brit fare taking on the gargantuan meals? Four of our brave writers braced their stomachs to find out. NEWCASTLE 32-inch pizza to be finished in one sitting (They're open for 13 hours) - Difficulty 4/5 What is it? Massive pizza with 20,000 calories. Only two people have ever polished off one of these 32in pizzas – Pizzaholic restaurant owner Ilhan Ozcan and competitive eater Kyle Gibson. 5 It's big enough to feed someone for ten days. Staring at the humongous pizza, which I must eat all in one go, I realise that a single slice is bigger than my head. I am shocked by the sheer weight of cheese and crust. After 25 minutes, I have consumed 60 per cent of the pizza, but I am shaking with nausea and I am defeated, which means I have to pay my full bill, £93.99. Boss Ilhan said: 'It's popular. The rapper 50 Cent was here and we delivered one to Bryan Adams after his show in Newcastle. We used to challenge people to do it in 20 minutes but it was too difficult.' ALEX STOREY PLYMOUTH The Big 60: 60oz steak to be finished in 60mins - Difficulty: 2/5 What is it? 60oz steak equivalent to seven-and-a-half average servings. Barbican Steakhouse's 5,000-calorie steak is £64.95. Around 200 people have tried the Big 60 Challenge in the past decade but just a handful polished it off in under 60 minutes. As the medium rare slab was placed in front of me, I felt confident. But 45 minutes later, I threw in the towel with eight ounces left. Co-owner Tahir Bhatti said: 'Our best time was under 20 minutes. He was an average-looking guy, but the mad thing is his wife told us he'd had a bucket of KFC on the way.' BEN ENDLEY LEEDS The Paralyser: Monster English breakfast in 12mins - Difficulty: 3/5 What is it? Breakfast including four slices of bacon, four sausages, four hash browns and equivalent of a loaf of bread, plus trimmings. A 2,000- calorie feast. 5 Competitors have less than 12 minutes to finish the £18 meal and get their money back at the Greasy Pig. The current best time is 3.27 minutes. I managed four slices of bacon, three hash browns, two half slices of bread, half a sausage, a scoop of beans and a couple of mushrooms. Boss Mitz Bala said: 'It causes a stir on social media, it attracts influencers with huge followings.' SAMANTHA YULE LONDON Eating 13 burgers in 10mins - Difficulty: 5/5 What is it? Ten minutes to eat 13 burgers. I'm a glutton, so was looking forward to taking on Red Dog Saloon's burger-eating challenge. 5 But then I found out I would need to eat 13 6oz whoppers in ten minutes to claim £5,000, and my stomach began to shrivel. Professional scoffer Leah Shutkever ate 12 and it's her record you have to beat. My mood darkened as I was served a mountain of meat, cheese, onion and suffocating brioche bun. Halfway through the fourth, I surrendered. I ate three and a half. Tourists began to film me on their phones through the window of the Soho branch.
BBC News
07-07-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Bromsgrove competitive eater Leah Shutkever calls being female an advantage
A competitive eater has said being a woman in an area dominated by men gives her an edge, after she ate a dozen burgers in 10 minutes for her latest Shutkever, who lives in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, has been a professional competitive eater since 2018 and has her own YouTube said she had broken 40 Guinness World Records, including the most lasagne eaten in 30 seconds and the most jelly snakes eaten in 30 seconds."Being a woman has been a great advantage, because being underestimated is the greatest [tool]," Ms Shutkever said. She added that she enjoyed her job because she was competitive and she liked representing women in her Shutkever said she "fell into" competitive eating in 2013 by doing challenges at local restaurants, before being scouted for a Japanese TV show."They loved the idea that I was a woman and I beat the men," the former interior designer said. She said her feats have included eating a three-kilo burrito in about six minutes, as well as a challenge involving the Swedish fermented fish surströmming."The smell stays on your skin, on the walls of your house, embedded in the memory part of your brain," she said of the surströmming Shutkever likened herself to a professional sportsperson, saying she had many years of experience and knew how to manage challenges she made a YouTube video on her own, she took on challenges that were not high-risk for someone at her level, she she attempts a world record there is a team present to support her, and when she appears on TV shows there are risk assessments and on-site paramedics, she added. For her latest challenge last month, Ms Shutkever had to eat as many burgers as possible in 10 minutes."I'm a bit of an old hand at it now, so I know how I'm going to feel afterwards," she said, adding that she often feels "heavy" after a challenge but not post-challenge routine usually includes a long drive home, drinking lots of water, and going to the gym for cardio exercises if she feels up to said that, despite her day job, she still enjoyed food outside of work."I still love food, I'm a foodie," she said. Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Daily Mail
06-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Revolting tactics used to win hot dog eating contest Nathan's is revealed after this year's championship in NYC
Hot dog eating contests may look like a gross display of ravenous gluttony, but there's actually a science to the consuming of dozens of wieners in a matter of minutes. Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, held at its restaurant on NYC 's Coney Island boardwalk, is the Super Bowl of competitive eaters, and returning champ Joey Chestnut holds the world record for eating 76 frankfurters in buns in just ten minutes in 2021. While many people might think that makes champions like Chestnut and other contestants fast chewers, studies and pro eaters have revealed that downing that number of hot dogs has little to do with actually chomping the food fast - it's all about learning how to swallow properly while chewing less. Moreover, competitive eaters actually train their stomachs to hold that much food at one time without setting off the body's nausea reflex, to allow the eater's stomach to expand by ten to 15 times and hold more than four liters of food (over 50 hot dogs). As for how the famous competitive eater does it, Chestnut focuses on a unique training program of swallowing air, burping, and lubricating his throat. Chestnut told the New York Post: 'I do burping exercises where I swallow air and burp it up just to get those muscles used to being stretched.' 'Usually I'm in bed before 9pm, wake up about 5am, and start doing stretches and yoga and burping exercises to get my stomach loose and stretched after sleeping.' Along with stretching out his stomach and throat muscles, Chestnut revealed he also drinks plenty of aloe vera juice to make sure all the hot dogs slide down safely as he rapidly swallows them. Meanwhile, consuming drinks like milk and water, and low-calorie foods such as vegetables help the wiener eaters to stretch out their stomachs while preparing for these major eating events. Chestnut said: 'I do drink milk like a big baby. I'm a believer that if your body can digest milk, it's great for you. Every now and then I'll drink half a gallon of milk in the morning with some water. That's a nice healthy stretch.' However, once the contest begins, the focus shifts from the size of the contestant's stomach to their ability to get food down their throat fast. Last year, Chestnut told Food & Wine: 'Swallowing is one of the most important things in competitive eating.' Elite eaters try to reduce chewing to the bare minimum needed to break food into manageable masses for swallowing. Their goal is to shift the workload from the jaw and teeth to the throat and esophagus so they can start chewing up another hot dog - like a human conveyor belt. As plenty of viewers of Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest have seen, the competitors also famously dunk their dogs in water. Although that makes them pretty disgusting to eat, dunking the buns softens them up to reduce the need for chewing and allows it to slide down the throat easier. While professional eaters may swear by their secrets to success, studies have found that there are plenty dangers that go along with these eating techniques. A 2007 study by Dr David Metz at the University of Pennsylvania found that rapid eating can lead to temporary gastroparesis, a condition where the stomach struggles to contract and pass food. This can lead to bouts of nausea or vomiting. The researchers also found prolonged stomach stretching may lead to long-term issues like obesity or permanent damage if not managed carefully. The high sodium content in each hot dog can cause temporary water retention and dehydration if the competitors don't hydrate properly before and during the contest. That's why you'll always see plenty of cups of water on the contest tables. It's best to avoid sugary beverages such as soda and sports drinks, too, because they can spike blood sugar levels and lead to an energy crash while eating. Perhaps most obviously, there's also the risk of choking, especially since the competitors are unable to breathe through their mouths while shoving all that food in. Last year, Chestnut said: 'I have to sneak in breaths through my nose. So I exhale and I swallow, swallow, swallow, then I inhale and I swallow, swallow swallow. It's this block breathing and I keep a rhythm.' As for how many hot dogs the human body can possibly eat, a 2020 study published in Biology Letters revealed that 83 hot dogs is likely the limit, just seven more than the current record. The research analyzed 39 years of Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest data to estimate the theoretical maximum active consumption rate for humans, finding it's about 832g per minute, or about 83 hot dogs and buns in ten minutes. According to a survey of over 2,000 Americans, commissioned by CanadaCasino, Montana is the country's hot dog-eating capital, with the average resident eating 17 every month, around 204 every year - nearly three times the national average. Wyoming came in second, with locals eating 13 every month, followed by Delaware, where the average resident eats 11 a month. Overall, the survey found the average American eats seven hot dogs every month - about the same number champion Chestnut shovels down in one minute!
The Guardian
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Hot diggity dog: Joey Chestnut regains title in New York hotdog eating contest
Joey 'Jaws' Chestnut reclaimed his title at the annual Nathan's Fourth of July hotdog eating contest on Friday, cementing his status as the undisputed all-time champion of hotdog consumption. A rerun of Jaws was the blockbuster attraction in Coney Island this Fourth of July holiday, but not the classic Steven Spielberg movie enjoying a new lease of life on the 50th anniversary of its release. The jaws here belong to Chestnut, a leviathan in the world of competitive eating that has grown as a sporting spectacle to the point where it is a regular fixture on ESPN. Chestnut, 41, consumed 70 1/2 hotdogs and buns in 10 minutes, falling short of his record of 76 wieners and buns set in 2021. It marked the 17th win in 20 appearances for Chestnut at the internationally televised competition. In the women's division, defending champion Miki Sudo of Tampa, Florida, won her 11th title, downing 33 dogs, besting a dozen competitors. Last year, she ate a record 51 links. Enthusiasts of the annual Nathan's Fourth of July hotdog eating contest will recall that Chestnut, whose nickname is Jaws, was controversially booted from the 2024 iteration of the event he had dominated for the best part of two decades for signing a deal to promote a rival brand of plant-based wieners. It was, as the event's impresario, George Shea, declared at the time with trademark grandeur, the equivalent of Michael Jordan telling Nike – purveyors of his lucrative Air Jordan line of sneakers – that he wanted to rep for Adidas too. This year, to the relief of many, Jaws returned to the fold after serving a year's suspension. On Friday, the world record holder, with 83 dogs and buns scoffed in a single 10-minute period in an unrelated Netflix special in September 2024, was the star attraction once again in pursuit of his 17th Mustard Belt. 'I'm thrilled to be returning,' Chestnut, 41, said in a post on X before the competition. 'This event means the world to me. It's a cherished tradition, a celebration of American culture, and a huge part of my life.' Referring to the controversy that caused his exclusion, he was circumspect. 'While I have and continue to partner with a variety of companies, including some in the plant-based space, those relationships were never a conflict with my love for hotdogs. To be clear: Nathan's is the only hotdog company I've ever worked with,' he wrote. The straw-hatted Shea, mastermind of an event that draws tens of thousands to New York every year, and a television audience estimated to have grown to 2 million since the first contest in 1972, welcomed the return of the king. 'Last year we got as big a crowd as ever, more media than ever, and we had a fantastic contest that was actually more competitive because Joey has been so dominant,' he told the Guardian. 'That said, there's definitely more excitement now he's back. We and everybody, fans included, are very excited and looking forward to the Fourth, and his entrance into the arena will be triumphant and explosive.' Shea, whose colourful and bombastic introductions of the competitors are as much a part of the spectacle as the mouth-stuffing element that follows, said he had been working for weeks on how he will proclaim Chestnut's homecoming. 'It's not his nickname that makes him who he is, it's his performance that has defined him, and I believe that's been very significantly elevated by the introductions that I do of him as a larger-than-life figure,' said Shea, a New York-based public relations executive who says working the Fourth of July event is his 'annual treat to myself'. 'I try to create a mix that includes straight and grand introductions that describe what these people are doing on the eating circuit, with a mix of funny, absurd and poetic, and then epic when you get to Joey.' Shea admitted it would be hard to top his 2015 introduction, a fire and brimstone speech that somewhat melodramatically hailed Chestnut as an almost otherworldly being: 'A comet blazes to herald his arrival, and his victory shall be transcribed into every language known to history, including Klingon,' he pronounced. 'The bratwurst, and pierogi, and Hooters chicken wing eating champion of the world, eight-time Nathan's Famous hotdog eating champion of the world, the No 1 eater in the world, I give you America itself, Joey Chestnut.' The expectation for Friday, at least in betting circles, was that Chestnut would come storming back to recapture his crown from last year's winner, Patrick 'Deep Dish' Bertoletti, and a strong field of Major League Eating characters, perhaps even by topping his own event record, set in 2021, of 76 hotdogs. But the real winner, Shea said, was the sport of competitive eating itself. 'We've been talking, there was a lot of back-and-forth, and people had different perspectives, different opinions, different everything, but everybody wanted this to happen. We stayed at it, and we finally came together,' he said. 'What happened was unfortunate, it was disappointing not to have Joey there, but in the big picture it further elevated the contest, and you know, we're very conscious of that all the time.'
ABC News
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Australian James Webb places third at Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest
Cranberry juice and minimal chewing. That's how Sydney man James Webb said he was able to eat 45-and-a-half hot dogs in just 10 minutes. The massive feat landed the 36-year-old a podium finish at Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest in New York. He finished behind Patrick Bertoletti, who ate 46-and-a-half hot dogs, and 17-time champion Joey "Jaws" Chestnut, who managed to finish 70-and-a-half. Speaking to ABC News Breakfast after the competition, Webb described himself as "a little bit tired and hot dogged out". The competition comes after months of interesting training. As Webb described it, he had to "eat more to eat more". "So, grill up a bunch of hot dogs, line them up, and set the timer and off you go," Webb said. "It's been a crazy month of every second day eating hot dogs. "To be honest, I'm kind of glad it's over for another year." As a former gym owner, Webb is familiar with training. "I love lifting weights, I love training. But I also love to eat," he said. "So, trying to balance the two lifestyles — it's a fun challenge." Webb first rose to competitive eating notoriety after finishing a 5 kilogram hamburger with fries, wedges and onion rings in 27 minutes and 37 seconds at the Khartoum Hotel in Cessnock in 2021. He is the only person to do so in under 30 minutes. From there, he has become Australian #1 and world #4 in Major League eating and holds seven records, including 70 glazed donuts in eight minutes, 338 pistachios in eight minutes and 224 Chicken Wings in 10 minutes. "[It's] crazy how a random burger challenge on a random Saturday afternoon had such an impact," Webb said. "It's changed my whole life, my whole family's life. Eating is my life now." He said the competitions have led to some pretty cool things. "We're in New York City as a family on the Fourth of July, which is pretty significant for the Americans. "So to be a part of that in New York City, competitive eating has got me here, you know? So [I'm] super grateful." Alongside Webb on the hot dog podium was world #1 Major League eater Joey Chestnut. He returned to the hot dog contest after missing last year's due to a contract dispute over a brand deal with plant-based meat company Impossible Foods. Chestnut, 41, holds the title for the hot dog competition after eating 76 in 2021. This year marked the 17th win in 20 appearances for the Westfield, Indiana, eater at the internationally televised competition. "I wish I ate a couple more. Sorry guys," Chestnut told the New York crowd. "I'll be back next year." Defending champion in the women's division, Miki Sudo of Tampa, Florida, won her 11th title, downing 33 dogs, besting a dozen competitors. Last year, she ate a record 51 links. She also was apologetic for her performance. "I feel like I let the fans down a little bit. I heard people in the crowd saying, 'Go for 52,'" Sudo told ESPN. "Obviously, I'm always setting my goals high, but the hot dogs weren't cooperating. For some reason, the buns felt larger today." The annual eat-a-thon, held outside the original Nathan's Famous restaurant in Coney Island, Brooklyn, has been running since 1972. Chestnut bested 14 fellow competitors from across the US and the world, including Australia, the Czech Republic, Ontario, England and Brazil. ABC/AP
