Competitive Eating Claim To Fame
How long have you been a competitive eater?
I'd like to think that I have been a competitive eater my entire life. I am the youngest of three brothers. But in terms of actual competitions, on a frequent basis since 2004, but I had done some contests before that, that I did pretty well in. I think before it became established as a legitimate activity, I had done some contests but never knew that there were organizations you could join, that kind of thing. But in terms of a frequent basis - since 2004.
How many competitive eating titles do you hold?
I have world records in clementines and pickles of course. I'm the world record holder in boneless chicken wings. And there's probably one or two of these things I'm forgetting about. I also have several major eating titles as well. I'm the national corned beef sandwich eating champion. I also have a wing title. I won a contest with wings—a pretty big contest. And probably a couple of other things that I'm just not remembering right now. But in the three years I've competed I've made a little bit of noise.
What is your 'champion food' in competitive eating?
Pickles! I don't think there is a man or beast that can defeat me in pickles. However, if people pay attention to my tricks you might say, not my tricks, but my secrets on how you eat pickles, there might be a few people out there who could give me a run, but pretty much I am the "Prince of Pickles".
How much food can you eat during a competitive eating contest?
It really depends on the type of food that you eat during the contest. Certainly, heavy foods that have a lot of dough products in them, meat products, usually you can eat a little bit less of them than you would on a vegetable or fruit item or some other type of item. Typically beef and bread items are the toughest. I've eaten a 7lb hamburger in about an hour before. I've eaten probably the most in one sitting - I did a training one time eating oranges and various citrus-type fruits getting ready for clementines and I think I ate somewhere around 11lbs - I speed ate 11lbs. But it really depends and some days you can hold more than other days.
What is your greatest competitive eating accomplishment?
I think it's eating 2.94 pounds of hard sour pickles in 3 minutes and 45 seconds. The great Kokie Jarvis had eaten 2.99 pounds, but he had an entire 5 minutes to do it. And really no one had even come close to what he had done. I pretty much did the same thing and shaved a minute and 15 seconds off. When you look at my eating resume, that's probably the thing one stands out. I did do 100 chicken wings in 8 minutes one time. That was a pretty good accomplishment. But I would say pickles was my number one thing.
