Secret Santa For Competitive Eaters, 2014 Style

Secret Santa is a game where a mysterious benefactor gives you a gift to commemorate Christmas. I suppose you can play the game anytime, since Santa is losing his sectarian spirit. Sorta. But when competitive eaters play it, you know there's gonna be a twist.

The competitive eating community on YouTube has played a mass Secret Santa game for two years running. The brainchild of Tracy Goode, a frequent competitor on the Major League Eating circuit, the game allows a wide array of eaters to gift each other with ridiculous (secret) parcels of food that must be revealed and consumed on camera. The mystery element makes this project a winner. 

Of course, not all participants have a mean streak in them. Some players choose to send nice things, such as boxes of chocolate and jars of Nutella. A few eaters will receive truly nasty nuggets of noxious nefariousness, but that's all in good fun. And the winner is you, the viewer, who gets to see the stunned reaction of the person trying to eat the weird food at hand. 

Molly Schuyler, All Pro Eating's #1 ranked eater, played the game this year. Though she holds world records in speed eating normal foods, the weird side of the aisle is not something she typically relishes. She does relish the fact that Secret Santa exposes eaters to things they wouldn't normally try. At least, that's the gist of what I got from an off-hand comment. And I totally agree. 

For me, this year's Secret Santa game offered a moment of sweet revenge. I sent "Cardboard" Shell two bottles of tamarind syrup. Seems like a good offering after the 24 century eggs she sent me last year. And again, the winner is you - the viewer. Disgusting eating makes for wonderful viewing. Just ask the boys over at Wreckless Eating, who've practically made a living off puking on camera. 

If you want to see what this year's smackdown was all about, feel free to check out the YouTube playlist here: Competitive Eater Secret Santa 2014 Collab Playlist!  (for those who don't know, a collab is short for collaboration. In Youtube lingo, it means that several people with YouTube accounts all worked together on a similar project to help gather traction for all their channels) 

And if you're a written list kinda guy or girl, the full list of names and respective videos is found here, posted in the order I received the links.

Naader "Freak8r" Reda: 

Wayne Algenio:

Deadly Sins:

Chuck From the Bronx: 

Matt Cohen: 

Cardboard Shell: 

Frohungry:

Badlands Booker: 

Yo You Hungry: 

Juan Rodriguez: 

Andrew The Bear:

Jon Bello: 

Stephanie Torres: 

Miki Sudo: 

Molly Schuyler:  

Whew, that was a lot of typing. Remind me never to do anything like that again. Another winner in this project was the US Postal Service, who had the professional pleasure of delivering all of our wonderful crates of cuisine. 

I know one thing for sure - I'm playing the game again next year. You'd better come and watch :)

I'm Back (2013)

Happy Halloween, Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year. I've been remiss in my posts but the blog still exists. The urge to write endures and so I shall return.

As usual, the subject will probably be eating challenges - things look bright in 2013, and already I have plans to take on several large challenges all the way from Los Angeles to Orange County to San Diego. There may even be a detour to Las Vegas for a 120 oz steak and a few burgers.

This Sunday, I team with Jamie McDonald, Damon Wells, and Kevin Ross to take on an old nemesis: the huge 54"x54" pizza at Big Mama and Papa's Pizzeria in Burbank. We will be joined by two fellow Wreckless Eaters seeking revenge. Wish us well! Happy times and full stomachs await.

Chili Fries En Masse

The picture does not do the plate justice. This "appetizer" at Heroes Bar & Grill in Fullerton, CA easily approaches 4 lbs. Most servers try to convince you order the half-size. At $11.95, it's a bargain for sensible diners who decide to share their food.

It's not an official eating challenge. Not yet, at least.

Two Sundays ago, Pablo Martinez and I converged upon Heroes to knock out their 6-pancake challenge in short order. We ended up splitting the leftovers of this platter after our challenges. Video coming shortly.

Farrell's 2012 Professional Eater's Contest

On July 15, Farrell's Ice Cream Parlours will bring back its annual Ice Cream Challenge for the third time. The event will be staged in Downtown Brea, along Birch Street. It will last all day and include community events.

For eaters, the actual event should be described as a contest. There will be a stage and several divisions in contention. The winner of each division will win a trophy and a year's supply of ice cream.

However, things are a little bit different when it comes to the brand new professional eaters' division. I discussed different ideas with Farrell's marketing team for months and, along with Matt Cohen, we finally came up with the current format.

Left: I hold all 3 ribbons signifying my prior completion of all 3 "Bellybuster" sundaes, making me a Triple Crown Champion. Right: Matt Cohen hoists the 2011 Men's Trophy

To qualify as a professional eater you'd need to consume a Pig's Trough (6-scoop sundae) in the fastest time possible. The 8 quickest qualifier times would then take on the 6 lb, 30 scoop Zoo Sundae at the final. Whoever finishes their Zoo first will win $500 and a year's worth of free ice cream.

So far, three people have qualified for the professional eater's division: Damon Wells, Kevin Ross, and myself. Matt Cohen (last year's men's champion) will qualify this Thursday night at a special event in the Mission Viejo location. Anyone else who wants to play has until July 5 to qualify for any division. You can stop by any location in Southern California to do so.

A Freak will also be appearing at the special event Thursday night in Mission Viejo. Cohen and I will be participating in a special radio broadcast with Tim Conway. My role is part of a donation fundraiser, in which donors give cash and guess my finish times on all 3 Bellybuster sundaes (basically all 6-scoop sundaes). The donors who most closely guess my times will win prizes.

The final event will benefit Children Hospital of Orange County and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Hopefully more people come out and eat for a cause. The pro division still has four empty slots!

Month of Mayhem

In seeking votes for the new July 4th hot dog contest, I offered a huge dare to my supporters last night.

It's right there on the Facebook page for Wreckless Eating: if the voters can put me over the top, I will give the public a new eating challeng video everyday until the contest on July 4.

That's a ton of videos, you're thinking. I already have over a dozen in possession ready to go. My YouTube presence is on heavy delay, usually limiting myself to updates once or twice a week. This time an exception will be made. The voters/viewers now have a big incentive to vote me into the contest.

Can I release 33 challenge videos in the next 33 days? There's one way to find out. Vote for me.

A Challenge To-go

Photograph courtesy Matt Cohen

Everyone's telling me about it. Dine 909 tweeted it to me last Friday, Dax Swanson told me over Twitter this evening, and Matt Cohen messaged me the picture about it in the afternoon.
Visit any participating Togo's sandwich shop in Southern California and you can take on the Pounder Challenge. Eat a family sized pastrami sandwich in 30 minutes or less to win a limited edition T-shirt and a certificate of completion.

What you won't get, win or lose, is a refund. This sandwich will set you back $21.95. Still, it looks like fun for someone wanting to try their hand at a first challenge. It's probably no more than 3 or 3.5 lbs.

What strikes me is how rare it is to find a chain offering an eating challenge. What's next, a Monster Big Mac challenge at McDonald's?

Changes

Following discussions with a few fellow eaters, I've decided to simplify this site. I will also begin setting up a forum for people where they may create threads to discuss competitive eating-related topics. Credit goes to Dax Swanson for prodding me in this direction.

Eatfeats offers an incredible database, and up-to-date news, but absoultely no means for users to create discussions. It's only natural that the CE community has some place to gather and discuss. The discussions on eatfeats become trivial because users post anonymously, sometimes off-topic, and use the cover of fiction to attack others.

This is a community of proud and vibrant members. It does not matter if you belong to a league or participate independently. We should respect one another, identify ourselves by name, and discuss openly. My work on this project (among others) will commence immediately.