A Necessary Correction

Last Sunday, at the 3rd annual Farrell's Ice Cream Eating Challenge, we witnessed the debut of the Professional Eaters' category.

I misreported the finish of that illustrious 7-man race. Though prizes were only offered to the top 3 finishers (Wells, Reda, Koch), all of the other eaters continued to plow until time was called for Ron Koch.

Shawn Kirby, Matt Cohen, Kevin Ross, and Frank Paulin all ate to the very last moment. Words chosen in the last blog entry incorrectly implied that some of the food warriors gave up early. Competitive eaters have more heart than that. They have more stomach too.

In particular, a couple sentences suggest that Matt Cohen stopped eating early. That wasn't true. Matt finished more ice cream than some of his competitors to boot. Came across a couple high resolution photos (taken by Pablo Martinez) late in the contest showing that the "Sweet Tooth" battled to the end. I'm sorry for my mistake. In the future I will work harder to write more dilligent posts.

Looking forward to the next "sweet, dairy, and cold" contest in Southern California. Will Red Cup bring back a fourth installment of the Gallon Froyo Challenge?

Farrell's 2012 Recap

Farrell's Ice Cream Eating Championship concluded its third annual installment yesterday. The contest was hosted at the Brea location and featured a stage. As an event, it can't yet compete with larger productions but it's certainly getting there.

This was the first year that the contest featured a "Professional Eaters" division. Damon Wells, Kevin Ross, Matt Cohen, Frank Paulin, Ron Koch, Shawn Kirby and I filled the chairs of this brand new division and we represented it well.

Matt "Sweet Tooth" Cohen, last year's Men's Champion

Previous years did not have a "Professional" division. The seperate Men's and Women's championships were decided by whomever could finish a 6-scoop Pig's Trough the fastest. This year, pros qualified for their special section by eating the Pig's Trough. I ate it several times for various promotional events, and my best times were 1:30 and 1:45.

At the championship, each eater would be responsible for tearing through a 5.5+ lb Zoo Sundae. This mammoth dessert comes in a huge bowl and packs in standard scoops of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream along with different types of sherbert and whipped cream.

Things change when you go from eating a 6-scoop sundae to a bowl holding 30 scoops. The contest goes from one favoring short-gamers to people who eat for the long haul. Additionally, ice cream is a difficult contest food. Sweet, dairy, and cold isn't for everyone, but it's one of my best. I knew this would be close.

Damon Wells, your champion. He finished in 6 minutes and 2 seconds

The contest was staged under first-to-finish rules. We were provided with warm water and coffee at our discretion. They gave us short introductions, and before long we were off. Chugging away like madmen starving for dairy.

Damon Wells and I stood next to each other at the center of the contest stage. Matt Cohen really deserved center stage because he was last year's champ, but they decided to give us the spots because we had the fastest qualifer times (1:45 and 1:44 respectively - edge to Damon). The newly independent Wells gave me a run for my money, and I did my part to push the hell out of him.

When the smoke cleared, Damon froze his mouth to a jaw dropping win at 6:02. That's nearly 6 lbs of ice cream in six minutes... the rest of us paused a second, but remembering there were prizes for second and third place, plowed on. I finished my bowl at 7:17, marking my first contest finish ahead of Ron Koch. Ron finished maybe 20-30 seconds later.

No one else finished their bowls at that point, and I can't really blame them. There was nothing else up for grabs. Ouch and ouch. My teeth and mouth were stone cold at the end, and I didn't realize it until we stopped eating. Cohen stopped eating minutes before, and Kevin Ross stopped with about a pound to go. This was my first finish ahead of Kevin in a non-hot dog eating contest. Ice cream's definitely not his food of choice, but it was his birthday and a hell of a way to celebrate. I know he'll slaughter me (not literally) the next time we meet.

Shawn Kirby stood at my left. One enthusiastic soul.



Frank Paulin came hungry and left happy

The view from the stage is incredible

Took second place, finishing in 7 minutes and 17 seconds.

Until next year! Yum!

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!

(En)grossing Thoughts

Probably some of the most disgusting pictures I've come across are the "after" shots. The ones we take of finished plates. It's an attempt to prove that the meal was really eaten and not merely thrown over the shoulder. It's kind of feeble. Before I resorted to video it made sense. Now it's kind of gross.

What does a tray full of sauce and grease really prove anyway? Obviously a tray full of wing bones and empty ice cream containers don't prove anything. They're good to tack onto the end of a video, but that's it.

And who the Hell smiles after eating 7+ lbs of chicken? That's gotta be the world's second fakest smile.

Because this is the world's first fakest smile, taken after eating 12 lbs of pizza. In the future I'm going to opt for a more realistic post-game pose. Yes, an eating challenge is about winning. I don't need to look like I climbed a mountain, all triumphant and such.

When it's all over, it really feels like a mountain climbed you. And that's nothing to smile about.