Feeding frenzy

The rise of competitive eating

By John O'Connor

January 15, 2007

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“Ladies and gentlemen, there is no battle greater than the one fought here each year at Nathan’s Famous!” shouts George Shea into a microphone headset, his words barely audible over the din of the crowd. “The Mount Sinai of mastication! The Madison Square Garden of gurgitation! This is the sanctum sanctorum of salivation!”

It’s the Fourth of July, and Shea, with his younger brother, Rich, is emceeing the 2006 Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog-Eating Contest on Coney Island. It’s just before noon. The contest is minutes away.

Outside of the Nathan’s Famous restaurant are 20 speed-eaters, or “gurgitators,” standing at a long table. They’re surrounded by several hundred spectators, a few dozen reporters, and television cameramen; the contest is being broadcast live on ESPN. The gurgitators are poised to eat. As the cheering mounts, George has to scream to be heard.

The Sheas run a public-relations firm in Manhattan; they are also the founders of the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE), or what they call “the governing body of all stomach-centric sport.” At IFOCE contests, the brothers employ a tandem carnival-barker routine reminiscent of P.T. Barnum, complete with bow ties, navy-blue blazers, and porkpie hats. Rich, with his neatly cropped dark hair, plays the straight man, delivering pithy one-liners. The taller, stouter George, a literature major, quotes Shakespeare and, occasionally, channels Pentecostal-style preaching.

“And so now we go forth on our journey, here under the umbrella-blue sky of the Almighty,” roars George. “Today the finger of power shall descend, and all vision shall be obscured by the heat waves surrounding it, and it will initiate one eater and one eater only as it evaporates the impure! Ladies and gentlemen, let us find out who will win this contest!”

He gives the start signal, and the hot-dog eaters are off. Dog and bun fragments rain from the stage. The crowd begins to chant: “Eat! Eat! Eat! Eat!” Whichever contestant eats the most hot dogs and buns (a.k.a. “HDBs”) in 12 minutes wins a trophy, the coveted International Mustard-Yellow Belt, and two cases of Nathan’s Famous hot dogs. There is no cash prize.

When it’s all over, George announces the winner. The Japanese gurgitator Takeru “Tsunami” Kobayashi, a five-time reigning Nathan’s champ, is once again the victor, having eaten 53 3⁄4 hot dogs for his sixth consecutive win and a new world record.

Once the provenance of county fairs, public eating contests have gone primetime. There is corporate sponsorship, lucrative cash prizes, and a league of semi-professional eaters. For good or, more likely, for ill, it’s not uncommon these days to find men and women gorging on grub on national television for $25,000.

“It’s on the cusp of becoming something big, and it’s only going to get bigger,” says Jason “Crazy Legs” Conti, the 34-year-old reigning green beans (2.71 pounds in six minutes), pancakes and bacon (3.5 pounds in 12 minutes), and buffet (5.5 pounds in 12 minutes) international champion. Crazy Legs sports a Medusa-like mane of brown dreadlocks and stars in a documentary film called “Crazy Legs Conti: Zen and the Art of Competitive Eating.” Competitive eating, he says — tongue only partly in cheek — could become “the next baseball.”

George and Rich’s PR clients include real-estate companies, law firms, unions, and corporations. The competitive-eating side of the business began in the early 1990s, when the brothers took over publicity for the Nathan’s contest. Early on, George saw potential in competitive eating for a much wider audience.

“The appetite for contests was growing so fast, and there was no governing body to oversee events, so we just decided to do it ourselves,” Rich says. “We’re doing over 100 contests a year. I wish we could do more, but we can’t fit all of them into our calendar. There aren’t really any models for this.”

“Competitive eating is the sport of the new millennium,” he adds. “People are tired of coddled professional athletes with ridiculous salaries. Gurgitators are regular guys, and while it might be nice to watch superstars like Derek Jeter compete, it’s refreshing to see normal guys excel at something they’re good at. Plus, it’s no secret that Americans are big eaters, so competitive eating appeals to them. It’s the sport of the everyman, and I think people are right when they say it’s going to be the next big thing.”