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.

Interesting Results

Yesterday's chicken nugget eating contest wrapped up in under two hours. I won the contest for the fourth time with a record total of 212 nuggets, exactly double the 106-total my predecessor posted in the very first Chick Fil A (La Habra) contest.

The new women's division crowned a brand new champion in Cheyenne. She ate 50 nuggets and outlasted several talented opponents. After the contest, Cheyenne told me she decided to enter the contest after reading one of my old blog post's about Chick Fil A. Well, those were certainly very kind words. There was something cool about getting someone new into competitive eating.

Now, onto the interesting details of the contest. My main competition in the event was Johnnie Excel. At the start, he dominated the proceedings by eating 50 nuggets at a very brisk pace. I was behind Excel for quite awhile. He pushed me to eat aggressively. Johnnie slowed down around 100 nuggets, mostly because they were incredibly hot. I also believe that the sodium overload was setting in.

When Johnnie was almost at 120 nuggets, I was nearly at 130. This was 30 minutes into the event. I hadn't expected to take the lead that soon, knowing how quickly Excel can eat from past experiences. He decided not to drag out the two hour contest and stopped eating after 120 nuggets. This would actually be good enough for second place. In all honesty, the nuggets were viciously salty and greasy. It's not the type of food you want to eat for the long haul. One day, we will have a true capacity battle with a more palatable food.

This contest reflects a major accomplishment for me. It's my first-ever contest victory over Excel, though I would characterize it as a forfeit win. Johnnie was not maxed out when he stopped. Salted out maybe, maxed out no. I'm going to have to work very hard if I want to best Excel in another competition, short game or long.

Third place went to John Rivera, who ate 110 nuggets in his first-ever eating contest. He represented the High Desert well. There were people there cheering for him and he had a great time. I'm looking for him to do more damage in future competitions. His speed with hot dogs isn't bad at all. Fourth place went to The Spicialist, who ate 100 nuggets in a very non-serious effort. In fact, he ate 20 nuggets hands-free and doused several of his nuggets in ghost pepper flakes.

Though I broke my own previous record by 6 nuggets, I was not full at 212. The Spicialist told me not to go further, mostly because of the vast sodium intake I was dealing with. That, and to leave more ground to cover in future contests. There were still 20 minutes to go and I have no doubts that 230 was within my ability. Next time!

Special thanks go to Frank Paulin, who put up a personal best of 90 nuggets in his third appearance at a Chick Fil A contest. He weighed samples of nuggets and determined that I ate nearly 8 lbs. His share was 3.3 lbs.

John Kim participated as well. He ate 40 nuggets but didn't push himself to any limits. I'm looking forward to participating with him again next month at RA Sushi. Mary Bowers was on her way to winning the women's title but suffered an unfortunate reversal of fortune after consuming 50+ nuggets early on.

A little salt on an open wound perhaps, but she was a good sport about it. She finished the day smiling, which is more than I could say for myself.

Looking Down the Pike

When 2012 started, there were a few goals floating in my mind. One was to find an eating challenge that would defeat me. In that aim, I have succeeded. The first fail of 2012 was spectacular. It warrants its own post and there will be pics and video of it.

Closer at hand now is the Chick Fil A nugget eating contest this Saturday, in La Habra. I'm the three-time defending champion with a house record of 206 nuggets. My competition this time is impressive: Johnnie Excel, The Spicialist, and quite possibly Tom Gilbert. I will consider it a major triumph if I win. I don't doubt the 206 nugget record will be shattered by more than one of us.

My minimum goal is to put away 230 nuggets in the two hours. I am linking a charitable donation to my performance in the nugget contest, so I'm hoping my fellows and my own internal drive push me to put up a huge number.

And beyond that, I haven't forgotten that February is National Pancake Month. I'm hoping to do something outrageous in that vein before the Ides of March are upon us.

But first... chicken nuggets await.

Nugget Bowl

Once again, we find ourselves on a winding road heading to the next confrontation. This Saturday is Chick-Fil-A of La Habra's first nugget eating contest of 2012.

The contest is special for me because I'm going in as the champion. That's not something I can say often. My specialty in competitive eating is challenges. Few contests match my skill set for eating over a long period, but this one fits the bill. It's two hours of drawn-out nugget eating.

But two things make this contest unique. The first is the creation of a separate women's division. Mary Bowers is making her nugget debut this weekend, and barring an appearance by Stephanie Torres or Jessica "The Queen of Cuisine," I expect her to take home the title.

The second factor of interest is the stacked field I face in this contest. The three contests of 2011 attracted little attention, but my 206-nugget house record is bringing eaters out of the woodwork. Frank Paulin and The Spicialist are returning for another contest. The Spicialist proved my biggest threat ever in the last competition, downing 197 nuggets before calling it quits.

John Rivera of Joshua Tree is making his contest debut at Chick-Fil-A. His strong skill enabled him to topple my Hogzilla burger record at the Route 62 Diner in Yucca Valley twice. In fact, he is their current champion at 16 patties (4 lbs). No doubt, he will do some damage this weekend.

John Kim, who participates in various Southern California eating contests, will also be present. There's also a chance we could see participation by Stephen Obar and various members of Wreckless Eating.

However, that doesn't fully describe the magnitude of the threat facing me this time out. Johnnie Excel has decided to make his debut at the nugget contest this weekend. A long awaited capacity battle between us now looms.

I won the nugget title 3 times last year, but Excel may take it all away. He holds a 9-0 record against me in eating contests. The best chance I have against Johnnie is in a long distance contest such as this, where his edges in technique and speed are minimized.

No doubt it will be a close battle in La Habra. Johnnie Excel always takes his contests seriously. I will fight hard to keep the title a fourth time, establish a new record, and finally get a win over the most dominant eater in Southern California.



Rolling Out 2012

It's 2012. With a great year behind me, it's time to start looking at what I'm going to do with competitive eating in the next 12 months.

There's much fewer available restaurant challenges in Southern California. My focus will shift toward raising the bar. There's a few extremely large challenges on the horizon (Fat Sal's in Westwood), as well as some places where I'd like to try double-challenge portions.

On the contest horizon, I plan to help Chick Fil-A of La Habra promote their nugget eating contests and participate selectively in a few other local events. I'm also looking into the possibility of tying charity work to competitive eating.

I'll be doing more work with Wreckless Eating as well. I'm joining their cast as a regular member. Matt Zion and company have a few ideas for raising the bar on mass consumption, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens. There will also be more videos produced for my own YouTube channel, mostly challenge documentation and other short concept clips.



As far as this blog goes, there's plenty of old (and new) challenges to write about. In this New Year, a trip down to San Diego has yielded four wins and I'll write about them shortly.

Eat More Chicken

This is the post that's long overdue in some ways. In the year 2011, Chick Fil A at the La Habra Marketplace held three nugget eating championships. I won all of them, each time establishing a new record. I pushed the standard from 107 to 201, 205, and now 206. My strongest competition came from Frank Paulin and The Spicialist (197).

Chick Fil A's contest is unique because it follows the pattern of Japanese long-distance eating contests. Competitors get two hours to eat as many nuggets as possible. The format suits my eating ability and generally I outpaced my rivals by a wide margin.

By contrast, American-style speed eating contests are limited to 12 minutes or less. The Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Contest and most other contests in the US follow this format. Since my speed skills are not highly refined, my results in those contests aren't nearly as impressive.

Chick Fil A's nuggets have a balanced taste. They're made from white meat and the batter isn't overwhelming. All of the dipping sauces create a wealth of variety, though sooner or later you will endure flavor frustration. The texture of chicken nuggets becomes too repetitive (that's the problem with a two hour contest). I was happy they had several drinks to choose from. The sodium content is probably the most challenging element of this contest. I love chicken so this contest food is a good fit for me.

The next contest is in February 2012. If nothing else, I look forward to defending my title and possibly setting a higher record. This contest is special to me because La Habra is next door to Buena Park, a city I spent over 10 years. I graduated from Buena Park High and many of my friends still eat at this Chick Fil A and see my name on the wall. There's incentive for me to keep my name up.

To parody Tolstoy: how many nuggets does a man need? That's not really the appropriate question. Rather, it's: how many can a man hold in his stomach? I'll have the answer in February.