How to be a Competitive Eating Champion
Even if you have been living under a rock for the past 10 years, you probably have heard about the ANNUAL NATHAN’S HOT DOG EATING CONTEST held every July 4th out on Coney Island, New York. This year is the 94th year, for those of you keeping count.
And thanks to George and Richard Shea, founders of the INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF COMPETITIVE EATING (IFOCE), you’ve also likely seen the ever-expanding hoopla on ESPN, broadcast live.
And since Web Watch wants to be sure that our readers are adequately informed about such monumental occasions, we’re going to share with you these HOT DOG TRIVIA FACTS, courtesy of Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs.
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How much money do competitive eaters make? On a per-calorie basis, not a whole lot of dough
Eat This Book: A Year of Gorging and Glory on the Competitive Eating Circuit
Competitive eating is not everything you may think it is. It’s not all glory on the playing field, and unless you really want to devote your life to travelling around the country in order to eat yourself silly, there really isn’t enough money to be made in eating contests to call being a “Professional Eater” a full-time career.
One has to wonder if the lack of cost-of-living raises is one of the reasons that Takeru Kobayashi, the former World Champion Hot Dog Eater, refused to sign a contract with the IFOCE and ended up rushing the stage at this year’s Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest.
And considering the amount of effort that the IFOCE and ESPN put into making the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest and its world-famous Mustard Yellow Belt a cultural lynchpin in our annual July 4th festivities, it’s really surprising that the NATHAN’S CONTEST WAS NOT THE COMPETITIVE EATING CONTEST WITH THE MOST PRIZE MONEY over the past year.
Continue reading "How much money do competitive eaters make? On a per-calorie basis, not a whole lot of dough" »