Buffalo Wing Eating Championship

rutt

This afternoon, Boston hosted a championship eating contest. The format of this event is:

1. The contest takes 10 minutes.
2. The goal is to eat as much chicken as possible within the time limit.
3. The contestents are given trays of chicken wings carefully weighed to exactly 3 lbs each.
4. At the end the trays (with the bones) are weighed.
5. Score = (3 x number of trays) - residual weight

This event is big league competitive eating. The contestents qualified during October in three different lesser events in Seatle, San Francisco, and Washington, DC.

Sonya Black Widow Thomas is the #2 ranked professional eater in the world and #1 in the US and holds records in sausage, deep fried asparagus, baked beans, bratwurst, cheesecake, chicken nugguts, to name only some highlights.



She weighs in at just 100 lbs, but what she lacks in size she makes up in form. She eats with a rhythm which would not be out of place in the ski slope of the ballet stage. Coming into this event, she held the world's record in this particular event, 5.75 lbs, set at the Washington, D.C. qualifier.

On the other end of the spectrum, is Eric Badlands Booker, #5 in the world. This guy has as much personality as he does flesh.



This is the local favorite, Mathew Playtynm Kelly from Medford.



There was some controversy during the judging having to do with the weight of the aluminum trays. The tension was palpable as the outcome hung in the balance.



The winner was Joey Chestnut from San Jose, CA, ranked #2 in the US.



His style was quiet and effecient. The smart money says he is on his way to the very top of the profession.



[Note to the moderators. I couldn't decide whether this fit best into People or Sporting Goods. Please feel free to move it, but if you do, please share the logic with me and others. Thanks.]

DavidTO

Rutt,

As much as I love Buffalo Wings, I think I'm going to be sick...


uh...good job.





Nice series.

Shakey

Cool shots Rutt Too bad the last one is too early for the Bird challenge:D .
The only thing missing here is the beer:booze

Tim

rutt

Shakey wrote:

The only thing missing here is the beer

You aren't getting it. These people are serious. Beer would be a handicap. The winning strategy is to drink just exactly enough water to get the wings down.

Shakey

Oh I get it alright,but then I think every picture needs beer in it.

Andy

:eat :eat :eat :eat

Brilliant! Great series, Rutt - and so well captured!

PossumCorner

DavidTO wrote:

Rutt,

As much as I love Buffalo Wings, I think I'm going to be sick...


uh...good job.





Nice series.

Like DavidTO said. Good shots of something kinda repulsive and unappealing. Is this a contender for the Hobbies Challenge 51??

pathfinder

Interesting. None of the contestants looks very happy. At all!!

Amazing difference in body habitus among the contestants also.

ian408

I was shocked when I learned these folks are "pros". I guess I figured they
were locals at the county fair or something.

Regardless, these shots capture the event well. Nice job!

I say leave 'em in P, C & P

rutt

Thanks everyone. This was a super fun event to shoot and post. These people do have a sense of humor about what they are doing, but are also extremely tough competitors. The professional press was out in force and having an obvious blast. Nothing better to do on a Saturday AM.

I thought about these for Ch 51, Hobbies & Games, but jeez, these people are professionals, so I don't think it qualifies as a hobby. Is it a game? I suppose it is if football or baseball or tennis or the like is a game. Actually more like middle distance running. Is that a game?

And what if one of them did actually make the finals? Let's see, on the one hand we have the beautiful shot of people watching birds or flying kites, and on the other hand... Hard to see as a contest winner, eh? About the same odds as Kodak taking as a PotD.

Anyway, I only processed a few out of dozens. In the end there was only so much I could look at them. If you like, take a look at the proofsheet with the unprocessed (and wrongly white balanced) out-of-the-camera jpegs here: http://rutt.smugmug.com/gallery/960665

Dee

I actually...
heard or saw on TV something, somewhere about Sonya, she's such a tiny thing to eat so much so fast. But this goes to prove size doesn't matter!

Nice pictures recording the event -- they let you get close?

Looking at that last photo of the tray of bones -- gosh! That's a lot of bones!
:

I didn't know that the #2 fastest eater was from my neck of the woods.

I could never, ever enter any of those contests -- I'm the slowest eater in my family and usually in any group.

You're getting around to some pretty interesting events lately.

rutt

You gotta see this
Well, this event was amazing enough, but someone sent me this profile of they guy who is #1 in the world:

http://www.ifoce.com/eaters.php?action=detail&sn=22