An Open Challenge

Originally, this blog post was going to describe a few challenges I completed in January. A conversation with a friend today changed my mind.

Chick-Fil-A at the La Habra Marketplace holds its chicken nugget eating contest three times per year. The next contest is sometime in May. I've won the local championship four times running, eventually doubling the house record from 106 to 212 nuggets. That's nearly 8 lbs of greasy, salty chicken.

Compared to most eating contests in the US, the format of this one is unique. It's two drawn-out hours of consumption. You get twenty nuggets to start, and ten more every time you clean your plate. It's about endurance and resillience as much as it is eating.

Along the way, I've gotten past some formidable talent. That led me to wonder who might challenge me in the next contest. If there's going to be a contest, you might as well use it to prove something. Breaking my own record has become unimaginative. Local competitors, like Johnnie Excel and The Spicialist, have shown little taste for the grease and salt.

That's when the idea hit me. Maybe it's time to provide an opponent with the incentive to provide competiton. Talking it over with The Spicialist, I came up with the idea of offering an independent eater reimbursed travel costs and a small cash prize - say $150 or so - if they come to the next nugget contest and defeat me.

It's a bold idea. I hope someone takes it seriously. Though the offering isn't excessive, it's more than what many challenges or contests pay. Ideally, I'd want to face someone that's never competed with me, or whom I've never beaten in competition.

Stephanie Torres could head the list of favored opponents, but technically we can't compete against each other since the contest features separate gender divisions. Maybe the restaurant would be willing to make an exception. Given our history, it would be an interesting confrontation. Our capacities over the long haul are similar. I snuck past her in the Lone Butte 30 minute Heavyweight Burger Championship last Summer, but she's defeated me in every short game contest we've had.

The list of independent eaters I've never defeated is quite long. The most interesting candidates, to my mind, would be "Furious" Pete Czerwinski or Randy Santel.

Many people have asked me if I could beat "Furious" Pete in a contest (call it the YouTube effect. Normally I wouldn't put myself in his league). He's fast as hell, but I think I'd have a shot in a longer contest or in a contest featuring disgusting foods. Since I don't think Pete would come on "Wreckless Eating" and throw down with live superworms, two hours of nuggets might be the equalizer. This is a rather small venue for him though. 

The other golden candidate would be Randy Santel. I would lean toward Randy because both he and I started in competitive eating via restaurant challenges. Regardless of our other endeavors, we remain challenge specialists. We've never faced off in a contest and never met in real life. I believe the confrontation would be epic. Legendary. The four-time champ against Atlas and Zeus, with everything on the line.

Of course, these are all pipe dreams. The great likelihood is that this entire blog post will be ignored. I'll go back to writing about other challenges and restaurants I've visited, and life will go on. Sometimes, you have to let an idea express itself. Go big or go home.

If any eater (anyone at all) wants to pursue this concept, you can contact me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or directly through this blog. There are certain legal components that I'd be responsible for, and I accept that. Let's see if we can't make the next nugget contest exciting.