What do you love about the competitive eating contest?

What do you love about the competitive eating contest?

Arnie "Chowhound" Chapman (Competitive Eater) gives expert video advice on: What do you love about the competitive eating contest?; What is your favorite competitive eating contest?; How do you get ready for a competitive eating contest? and more...

I love the fact that you challenge yourself no matter what. There is sort of an accounting that occurs between you and yourself and how you did, unlike other sports. If I'm playing basketball with somebody, they make a move, I make a move. There is some kind of interactive aspect to it. Competitive eating, for the most part, is about you and that food in front of you. It's about not letting yourself down. For that part of competitive eating, the responsibility is with you. When I was in high school, I was a track guy. I did cross-country, indoor track. I played in the basketball church league. I think there is a commonality, strangely enough between something like marathon running and competitive eating. Although you could be, for example, on a cross-country team, how another person performs could impact you on some level. But there really is a kind of a personal accountability that you have to make with yourself in terms of successfully doing whatever it is you want to do, whether it is eating three pounds of pickles or finishing under 18 minutes on a five-keg.