A good read in The Grauniad, if you can stomach it.
Competitive eaters are called gurgitators, apparently.
He insists competitive eating "is a sport, in every way", and says it is true that he has asked Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee, to include competitive eating at the Games. "I've lobbied him myself many times and not even had a reply!" he says, sounding incredulous. "I think the Olympics, as well as it did this year, suffered without us."
I ask Janus if he views himself as an athlete. "I do. I consider myself a competitor.
Comments
I saw that this morning, the size of that burger, incredible!
I'm not sure if it is a "sport," but I have a feeling I might be really good at it.
Out of curiosity, would it be in the Olympics or Paralympics?
Ah, the Devastator at the Red Dog Saloon. Yes, I've been meaning to have a go at that. I was originally put off by the 10 minute time limit but a 1-in-10 success rate means that it is actually feasible, and I can eat more than most. To my knowledge I'm still the record holder with an octuple eggburger at Greasy's burger van, and I've also managed a 48 oz steak with all the trimmings followed by a chocolate mousse. It wasn't a challenge mind, you had to pay for it. I think I'd had a reasonable NY deli breakfast that morning as well.
Not sure about anyone else, but I've been hooked on 'Man verses Food' since the first time I saw ithttp://www.travelchannel.com/tv-shows/man-v-food
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqIWPvCgi9g
I love it too - gorging by proxy - .
Must confess to being a Furious Pete (look him up on YouTube) fan, even though the concept of competitive eating hardly thrills me!
yup been watching man vs food too. It must be a sport because you have to train for it like you would a marathon I suppose? More you eat the more you can eat. The more you run the further you can go. But watching some of it and you really can help think that its very very distasteful. I see these people eating like this in the USA when their are genuinely children in the same country, same state or even town who are going without food that evening. Sorry to blow the trumpet. But that's what I think about it.
If we can have competitive eating, then why not competitive drinking ?
Winner is whoever can puke the furthest at the finish line ?
Or eat dessert on the bike and finish with a beer mile?
..Ahem... so anyway, this 8-inch tall burger, fries and shake to be consumed within ten minutes... no one told me about the red cabbage 'slaw, but I must admit it was very nice.
Three challengers. Off we go...
The burger went down surprisingly easily. Then you move on to the carbs. Oof...
Those fries really slowed me down. Hamster cheek time, only a couple of minutes to go...
Neil appears to go into burger spasm...
Chocolate milkshake comes to the rescue for the last mouthful, half a minute to spare. Neil and Tim throw in the towel.
MAN WINS. Ironically they only had an XL t-shirt in stock, so I'm getting something smaller in the post.
Dessert: key lime pie. That took less than ten minutes.
Congratulations!!! Am now curiously dissatisfied with my late night snack of tomato and cheese sandwich.
I'm more surprized you actually bought one of those "vegetables are what food eats" t-shirts and are wearing it to go out in?
i wish it were possible to high 5 people though the internet,