I Don't Know About That - History of Competitive Eating

Episode Date: August 8, 2023

The truth can be hard to swallow when it comes to the history of competitive eating! Our expert Nick Charlie Key of the Food History Podcast (@foodhistorypod) tells the IDKAT what's what. Jim's new special "High & Dry" is now available on Netflix! ADS: BETTERHELP: Visit BetterHelp.com/IDK today to get 10% off your first month.

This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Sometimes in life we're faced with tough decisions and the path forward isn't always clear. Whether you're dealing with decisions around career relationships or anything else, therapy helps you stay connected to what you really want while you navigate life. Let therapy be your map with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash idk today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp.com. Penises. Vaginas. Which one's more important and why?

Probably an equal amount of importance. Maybe you could argue the vagina's more important because things come out a bit like children, but hello, everyone. Maybe you could argue the vagina is more important Because things come out a bit like children But Hello everyone Another podcast Which one's more important? Which one would you say to human life is more important? The penis or vagina?

Vagina because artificial insemination Yeah You could just chop off all the penises but still get the sperm But you still need a womb. I think he's right. I guess you could do it. But that's a womb. The vagina's not holding.

Where do you think the baby's being held in the vagina? Well, it's the opening. It's all in there. Come on. Vagina womb, tomato, tomato.

I'd say they're both. Join the conversation online. Look, he's a scientist so he knows. No, I'm not. Would you rather have too many vaginas or too many penises? What, you mean for storage? I feel like having too many penises would be like wearing fringe. It's a little bit fun, like swinging around.

No, we're not being silly here. We're not having like 15 of the things. I mean, how many is too many? We're dead serious. I've never thought there were any too many pieces would you rather have three penises they're all sitting next to each other oh okay right or three vaginas all sitting next to each other um probably vagina three penises would really get in the way it's it's lumpy it's it would be lumpy for sure

mine would all nestle into each other like a couple of cats sleeping in front of a fire yeah do you have do you have to have three periods if you have three vaginas because that's that's a lot to deal with they could all come at once the periods that's a that's a lot of period in one no no no pad or anything like that we just stick a trough under you for a week all right vagina's like an oil pan for an old car my my wife had her period i think i can say that she's not going to get upset by me mentioning she has them she has them i think she'll be okay with that yeah yeah she had functional she had one the other day and so she decided to make that an informative uh thing to teach my son about periods big chat glad i didn't have to do it i taught my

nephew about it yeah yeah yeah it's not even the answer this is what happens that's what happens and then it's like very clearly an incident that happened to my wife when she was in high school and if a girl has a period and you notice from behind be a gentleman maybe offer to give you her your jumper or sweater to tie around her waist until she gets there. And don't be like Lachlan Mills from my school. And don't call her Tasey. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't start yelling out bloody Tasey across the schoolyard.

She doesn't appreciate it. There was clearly something going on. It was a very definite incident that he's been advised to do. How did he take it? The same way I'd still take him now. Okay.

Why? No, he was alright. He's okay. He has some empathy. He has some empathy. When I was a kid, I wouldn't have been as good about the period. And my wife said, there'll be a day where you see a woman and she'll be bleeding through her pants or something like that. And if there's that, I'll go, I haven't seen it yet.

Why would he? It's never happened to me. Never happened to me. Me either. Yeah, me neither. I think my wife, she just doesn't know they're coming. That was the first thing when I got my driver's license. I was so excited.

You got your period? No. But my mom said, here's what you got. You got your driver's license. Go get me some cigarettes and tampons. And I was like 16, and I remember having to do that. I was like, this is what I'm going to have to do a lot. I just realized, buy tampons.

That's a good name for a chapter of your book. Cigarettes and tampons. Go get me some cigarettes and tampons? You are currently in Australia shooting the second season. How's it going? It's good. The Australians, I tell you what, doing this game show in Australia is just the contestants,

they surprise me every day with their intelligence, their empathy and their love. And I look forward to seeing you more. Okay. Okay. JimJeffries.com. It was so genuine sounding, nobody knew what to do with it. And moving on.

Yeah, go to JimJeffries.com. You got a bunch of upcoming dates when you get back to the States. Or you're going to be in the States and Canada, both doing lots of shows, entertaining thousands and thousands of people. And we have a live podcast August 29th at Flappers. That's coming up soon. Come out to that. Come out to that.

Come far and wide. Or if you live in the area, it's probably easier. Come far and wide. That's the chapter in my book. There's an airport right in burbank you can fly in see the podcast get some uh bill's burgers world empanada pappy's pizza yeah okay all right let's meet our guest all right please welcome our guest nick charlie key g'day charlie key which actually sounds like a thing that i used to do in alleyways. Charlie's a youth in cocaine and a key bump.

I didn't know that. So the Charlie key would be a real English thing. You can come do Charlie key with me son. Now it's time to play. Yes, no. Yes, no. Yes, no. Yes, no. Judging a book by its cover. His name is Nick Charlie key. Judging a book by its cover. His name is Nick Charlie Key. Yeah, the Nick doesn't mean... What, you're stealing coke from someone who's doing a key bump?

I'm telling you his name. I'll fucking nick the Charlie Key. Didn't know I nicked it. All right, go on then, son. All right, here we go. So, Charlie, I suspect that you're South African. Very much so. Born and bred Cape Town boy.

I just assume because your room looks like the cell that Mandela stayed in. It's honestly about the same size. His name is Nick. Yeah, his name's Nick. He keeps saying Charlie. Oh, I'm sorry, Charlie. Dude.

You can call me whatever you want, bro. So Nick from Cape Town. I know about Cape Town. I've been to Cape Town before. Very lovely. You go see the Dassies on Table Mountain. I've had a good time. Best calamari I've ever had.

Hands down. That is good. Our calamari is fresh. Oh, God. Fresh off the sea. You'll be glad to know I'm actually married to an Australian citizen. Oh, I don't like that. I don't like that type of crossbreeding,

a New Zealander and Australian getting together. What does that produce, like a New Zealander? I don't know. She's also half Italian, so there's a lot of stuff going on here. Oh, an Australian-Italian. They're worse than American-Italians. What are they like? I'll tell her you said so.

Yeah, they're fiery. Watch out. All right. So Nick, Nick, Nick, Nick, Nick from South Africa. South Africa is next to the water. Is it about, is it something to do with water? It's not to do with water. It is used in it.

Oh, it is used. Are we going to do the music of Rodriguez? Ooh, that's a very niche fact for you to know, but no, it's not. Jack Perrault. Jack Perrault? Jack Perrault? Is that the... Oh, no. Jack Parrow.

Jack Parrow. Jack Sparrow. Jack Sparrow, the group from... Are we going to do them? Jack Sparrow. Jack Sparrow. No, but that's even group from, are we going to do them? Jack Sparrow, Jack Sparrow. No, but that's even more niche. That's incredible that you know that.

I know South Africa. Don't you worry about that. Jim, this is something that if you weren't a comedian, you might be able to train to become. Yeah, you're like an amateur at this point in your life. Yeah, you already are an amateur pro at this. Is this masturbating in people's gardens? There we go. There we go.

There we go. That's why they brought me on. When did it first happen? You do need water. It's the only way to kill the evidence in a pool with chlorine. I thought you meant to say hydrating. This is something like,

okay, if you go on a first date, I mean, you're married, but when you went on first dates, you might have been conscious of not. You try to hide this aspect of yourself. Oh. Is it the mangina? Like you could be a pro at this probably. I could be a pro.

You're so fast at this. Awkward. Fast at doing this. Oh, eating. Oh, professional eating. Yeah, I could compete. Yeah, yeah. I could compete. Fast at doing this. You're so fast. Oh, eating. Oh, professional eating. Yeah, I could compete. Yeah, yeah. I could compete.

We're done. I tell you what, anytime we want a food challenge, like with Jack, like we've talked about it for years, just bring him in, Jack. Well, I didn't do it last time I did one. Not until I, what one did you do then? The one chip challenge. No, no, no, no. I need quantity.

I don't do heat. I did just order tacos for us but i knew that you wouldn't want to do a challenge right now because you're i'm i'm fast i'm fast and i'm trying to get in shape for the game show i'm trying to i'm trying to jack and i will compete we'll do it but uh i will i will challenge you to my height in uh jersey mics okay uh as many uh in and out burgers as you want yeah right i don't want to do a hot dog challenge because it's not too cliche and other people i want to be able to do a hot dog challenge because it's too cliche. I want to be able to break a record that no one else has.

Sure, yeah. So we're talking about the history of competitive eating. I'd be good. With fat sales opens. History of competitive eating with Nick Charlie Key. He is a podcaster, filmmaker, and cookbook author. In his younger years, he was a high school history teacher in South Africa, and now he hosts the Fantastic History of Food,

a podcast where he tells bizarre stories from history involving food. His podcast, you can find it everywhere that you listen to podcasts, The Fantastic History of Food, and his Instagram is foodhistorypod. How did you get into this world, Nick Charleke? Well, I mean, if you look at my bio, it kind of explains all of the melding of everything together. So I love podcasting.

I love food. I've got a cookbook. And I used to teach history. So it's like, let's do a podcast about food history. It kind of came all together. But I didn't want to just do like boring history because I know from being a teacher that kids don't really listen

or people don't really take it in if it's just boring history. So I wanted to try and find the more bizarre twists on history that would really ignite the senses and uh competitive eating was one of the big topics that we covered in in uh in the show and a lot to talk about i'd like to do a fast food podcast i've thought about that where you just eat a different fast food and then you just talk about it the whole time just read it i like that idea yeah you just go what fast food you brought in today we've got some chicken or whatever it's crispy it's that that that gets the conversation you can do it on the road too because there's like those

weird plates you know those regional players go to peters yeah yeah i think you'd have to record it like in your car oh that that's a podcast i would be very yeah i would like to do a fast food podcast but i don't know if not video though good for you. Not video, though. That's the new Patreon. Oh, no, no. I think video for that's all right, because then you're just like, fuck it. It's going to be all over your face. Yeah. It's going to get more disgusting.

Yeah, if you gain weight, it's for your profession, so people can't really touch it. You can only podcast once a week, and it wouldn't be like you were overeating, but you would have to have a full-size meal of something from somewhere. I think you do it seasonally. That way you don't have to do it every week.

I'm going to do 20 episodes. Yeah, 20 episodes. All right. Nick, I'm going to do 20 episodes. Yeah, 20 episodes. All right. Nick, I'm going to ask Jim a series of questions about competitive eating. And at the end of him answering them, you're going to grade them as accuracy, 0 through 10. 10 is the best. Kelly's going to grade them on confidence.

I'm going to grade them on et cetera. We'll add three of those scores together. 21 through 30, hot dogs. I think that's the standard. Nathan's. Nathan's is the company that you use. Say Nathan's hot dogs. I'll make it more official.

11 through 20, jalapeno poppers. Eh, no one wants their bloody... I think they've done... I looked these up. I know. Filled with cream cheese. They're very good, the popper, but, you know. Zero through 10, Peeps.

There's a Peeps champion. Peeps are shit. Terrible. Anyone who eats Peeps is a fucking idiot. I'm with you. Peeps are gross American candy. I don't know who eats them. Dog shit. All right. Let's start. Put my Peeps are gross American candy. I don't know who eats them. Dog shit.

All right, let's start. Put my peeps away. Who is widely regarded as the first modern-day competitive eater? The first modern-day competitive eater. He's got a name. The guy that's the world record, that's held the most titles, is the Michael Jordan. He's called like johnny

woodchuck or something like that chestnut johnny chestnut joey chestnut joey chestnut so he's the first modern day competitive okay joey chestnuts the king um in what country did the practice of competitive eating originate you see you would think that okay so so coney island with the hot dogs is where they have the big hot dog competition. You would think that maybe that's the place. But there seems to be a lot of Asian people who are excellent at competitive eating. But then I always think that competitive eating also has to do with fast food. So I will say America, but I will give an honorable mention to Japan. Okay.

All right. What was the name of the first major eating contest held in the United States, and what year was it? The first major one? Yeah. I would say it would be the Nathan's Hot Dogs Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Championship. It's on the 4th of July. They do this. And I'm going to say that that happened for the first time.

We came back from the war. Everyone was happy. We wanted to have new adventures. I'm going to say 1947. And the record for the most hot dogs at Nathan's famous hot dog eating contest. Do you know it wasn't how many hot dogs? Joey Chestnut.

Do you know how many? And Joey Chestnut would have devoured 96 hot dogs. I think it's 77. I'm going to go 77. 77. Yeah, but he had a couple afterwards. That's true. Just casually.

What is the term used to describe a competitive eater who trains their stomach to expand? What do you call yourself, Forrest? I thought about that joke for so long and then I thought I might hurt his feelings and then I didn't. What? You're all right.

You've said many jokes like that in there. I know, but that one was the most hurtful. I don't think it was. The one where he said I should disappear. That was a deforestation. Deforestation. That's not my fault. That was fucking laid up on a silver platter.

What is the world record for the most hamburgers eaten in three minutes? Oh, I would have broken that. Yeah. They just haven't fucking logged me in. You've got to log yourself in. record for the most hamburgers eaten in three minutes oh i would have broken that yeah they just haven't fucking logged me in you gotta log yourself i i okay first of all i'll eat two in it double doubles in under three minutes that's just if i'm not competing okay if i'm just hanging out just like if you if you're not paying attention so two for you but what's a world record for the

most eaten in three minutes eight eight which city hosts the world hamburger eating championships uh hamburg germany okay i like it checks out the international federation of competitive eating uh ifoce changed its name to what fatty boomba fatty boomba association yeah fba boomba it's more memorable do you guys use the term fatty boomba in this country I know the term yeah fatty boomba

is this something you say to fat people when you're bullying it's a fun thing to do we have it here in South Africa too the week on the fatty boombaddies fatty boombaddies and you go like this. You go, fatty boom bar,

boom bar, fatty boom bar. Like you can put a bit of stuff into it. And it's also, it's because they walk along, boom bar, boom bar. Like that,

fatty, fatty boom bar. Who is considered the greatest? You never said that. I've never heard that. Ah, fatty boom sticks is a variation you can say. Fatty boom sticks. She's like a bigger body

with skinny legs. Yeah, fatty boomsticks. Who is considered the greatest competitive eater of all time? My mum, God bless her. She's been away for four years and several fast food chains in our neighbourhood has shut down. The fairy bread

stocks in Australia have gone like, you wouldn't want to pay i've lost my mind sorry because now i'm like i'm gonna have to explain fairy bread is this is a lot favorite you talked about it on air yeah but do you have fairy bread in your country i don't know what that is it's where you put hundreds and thousands on buttered bread it's right oh yeah i don't know what we call it here. I don't know if it's ever going to be called the not-homosexual bread. You talked about it on the bread episode.

Don't look at that man with the funny wrist bread. What is the technique called where competitive eaters soak bread or buns in water to make it easier to consume? To shove it down your gullet. There's a technique. It's called.

Soak and drop. Soak and drop. Which food establishment is known for hosting the World Rib Eating Championship? Ooh. I want my baby back, baby back, baby back. I want my baby back, baby back, baby back. Chilies. We host a competition.

Chilies. Chilies, yeah. Why not? I like it. When did the first woman win the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest? I mean, if you know her name as well. I don't know. Has Joey gone to the other side?

No, there was at some point. Is it Jessica Chestnut? At some point, a woman won it. And do you know when it was? A woman won the world eating show. So this is going to sound very sexist, and that's not my way. But I will say that is, I don't know if that's a hot and attractive thing. No, I don't think so.

I don't think for men or women it's attractive. I don't think it's attractive for either way. I remember watching it like, that guy's really handsome. I've seen you eat and I've never been less horny. Turned on. Especially when it's hot dogs, I think as a man, it's just quite an aggressive image. You just slide them down. I'll tell you what eating competition I think is complete and utter bullshit,

and they do it a lot, is chicken wings. There's so many ways that you can leave a little bit of meat a little bit of meat no one's gonna pull you up there must be a judge or something too much meat yeah yeah and also i'm just a flats guy i don't want drums yeah so jessica chestnut's your answer jessica chestnut what year oh uh yeah jessica chestnut 2026 i've done some chestnuts in me day kelly hey on my own chest and others impressive 1987 what is the nickname of the competitive eater takuro kobayashi you nailed the japan thing yeah yeah the japanese are mad for it and they're really thin not like they bring out a couple of sumo wrestlers. These are thin people who fucking just, like, they do something to stretch their...

They're very good. Kobayashi. I remember this guy. He has a nickname. Do you know it? He's the Pat Rafter of eating. Pat Rafter. Pat Rafter.

Okay. I don't want to... Would it be deemed to be slightly... If I said it wrong, could I... I don't know the name. Could I get in trouble? I don't want to, like, would it be deemed to be slightly, if I said it wrong, could I? I don't know the name. Could I get in trouble? I don't know the name. Like, his name's not like.

You're saying you can't get in trouble, Kelly? Oh, I don't know. I don't know. No, I don't think you'd get in trouble. It's definitely something that's like a Japanese origin, but it's not an offensive Japanese word. So it's not the King of Pearl Harbor or anything like that? It's nothing like that.

It's a weatherish element. Cut that one out, Jack. Cut that one out. Cut the King of Pearl Harbor or anything like that? It's nothing like that. It's a weatherish element. Cut that one out, Jack. Cut that one out. Cut the King of Pearl Harbor out. No, it didn't get a big enough laugh. I laughed. I'm Japanese. It's fine.

Oh, the Japanese guy liked it? Yeah. All right. I'm back in. Yeah, we're good. We were trying to figure out what it was. Pearl Harbor did happen. It did.

All right, we'll go with that. It's an act of Mother Nature. Oh, the hurricane. Okay. The famous Japanese hurricane. Oh. Oh. it's an act of mother nature oh the hurricane the famous hurricane oh this is worse if I go tsunami if I said that tsunami is not a very

nice thing to say it's the right answer there is a Guinness world record for eating the most of this vegetable with what utensil in one minute oh the Guinness book of records for eating baked beans eating the most of this vegetable with what utensil in one minute oh um uh the guinness book of records for eating uh baked beans with a toothpick um and i don't know what the amount is but i'm a big baked beans fan and i've used toothpicks this is right in my wheelhouse next

question name as many foods that have competitions as you can like so you got hot dogs hot dogs wings baked beans with toothpicks hamburgers uh ribs which i think anything with bone shouldn't be done we shouldn't be having seen carcasses afterwards i agree uh it should just be like like chicken tenders would be a good one yeah don't know if it has it now are, are we counting food eating competitions that you can have in restaurants? Because then we're talking into the thousands. No, these are official. Because me and Jack one day are going to do the fat sows together just for his birthday or something.

I'm going to take him down to the fat sows. As mandated by the Fatty Boomba Association. There's 12 registered, and there's applicants out the wazoo every year. Me and Forrest once did an eating competition of some pancakes in Hawaii that I still feel like vomiting. Too much pancakes, aren't they? How many pancakes?

They can't be lifted. They had to be brought on a trolley. There's three of them? Three of them, that big. About this wide. That big, stacked on top, and then you have different toppings, and mine was covered in coconut and syrup glazed in vanilla

and the coconut and I finished like a quarter and I had to get on a plane you were staying there that long the plane ride was not good

I was just like there was larger Hawaiian men that were looking at us like we were maniacs on the way out no on the way out remember we looked

at the wall we looked at the wall the people had done it and there was a woman that couldn't have been more than 90 pounds that was just on the way out, remember we looked at the wall, the people that had done it, and there was a woman that couldn't have been more than 90 pounds that was just on the wall like, and you're like, oh, yeah.

That's not good. What was the name of that place? I don't remember, but the pancakes were good. Oh, look at Pancake Challenge Hawaii. What is a term used to describe a competition in which participants eat as much as they can within a specified time limit? So there's a name for that.

Oh, well, that's a time-sensitive competition. Which city in the United States is known for its annual pierogi festival and pierogi eating contest? Which city in the United States is known for pierogis? At the festival and the eating contest. I'm going to say Cleveland.

Cleveland had a big, after the war, had a big German inflexation. I know pierogies aren't German, but then also. What is a pierogi? Oh, my God. South Africans. What are they like?

We don't get them here. It's Polish. Pierogies are like Polish or Eastern European, but it's mostly Polish and Eastern European dumpling. So you might have potato or cheese in the middle, but they're very good. But they're like a dumpling, like an Asian dumpling, but filled with more like sausage or cheese or whatever.

It's a European dumpling. I found the pancake place. Sounds delicious. A little bit thicker. The actual coating, the pasta is a little bit thicker in a pierogi. What's the place? It's called Mac 24-7. That's the one, Mac 24-7.

It's five pounds of pancake. What's the place? It's called Mac 24-7. That's the one, Mac 24-7. It's five pounds of pancake. Yeah. It's a lot of pancakes. 14-inch pancakes. Yeah, they're huge. Yeah, I told you they're that.

And 90 minutes. You have to do 90 minutes. Yeah, that's right. There was a time limit. I couldn't do it over the course of a day. I did a quarter. The Coral Cafe does that here.

It's tapped out. Well, you're not in Hawaii. It's better in Hawaii. Hawaii. Just saying. It was fresh coconut, man. What is a prize traditionally awarded to the winner of Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest? A defibrillator.

Free stomach pumping. What is the record for the longest continuously running eating contest in the United States? It's me and my brother. Yeah, in the United States? I tell you what, so me and my brother. I've got two brothers. I've mentioned this before. I've got one brother who he likes food.

You know, he's into food, but he's not a pig. And then I've got my other brother who'll be upset when he hears it, but me and him share a pig gene. And our mother had the gene and all that type of stuff, and occasionally I'll just send him photos of fast food and stuff like that, and he goes, oh, that looks good. That's how our relationship. One time I just sent him the menu from Fat Sal's. him photos of fast food and stuff like that he goes oh that looks good that's that's our relationship one time i just sent him the menu from from fat sows he'd never been i just out

of nowhere just sent him the menu from fat sows which brother danny danny's got the fat man gene he's thinner than me but he's got the fat man gene like he can lose it at any moment if he's given a week yeah right and so so danny danny uh i said i sent him fat i sent him the menu from Fat Sal's, and he just huffed back, and he went, I get the fat Jerry. That's the right pick. This is a man who knows things. My brother and I have that connection. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We have that connection. We fat man it up every now and again. We just look at each other and go, what are you eating? Okay, there's a new place that does blah, blah, blah. And then every time I go back to Australia, he's got some fast food that's just opened up that i have to try i told you burger king has the coke spiders now they do not forest yeah this no no no no no no no no i went to i went forest told me one of my favorite things is a coke spider from mcdonald's it's right next to

my house your one might but i went to the one that was on Hollywood. Yeah. Right? That was liberals. Yeah. I went to the drive-thru and I went, I'll have a frozen Coke spider, please. You can't say spider. And then they went, what? I said, like a float. And I was like, can I have soft serve in the top of the thing? And they said, that's not on our menu.

And in the end, I was so set on having it. I was like, can I buy soft serve in a cup and a frozen Coke? And I had to mix it in myself like a fucking animal. It's tragic. Like an animal. Go to the one. It's on Van Nuys and in between the 101 and Magnolia. Right there.

It's not far for you. I'll do it. But what I'm saying is. 100% it's there. What I'm saying is. It's not site wide. I don't know why. They haven't done it in all the restaurants. I'm going is... 100% it's there. What I'm saying is... Fight, fight, fight. It's not site-wide. I don't know why. They haven't done it in all the restaurants.

I'm going to bring you one. In what year did the first World Eating Championship take place? What year? What year? I said the year, didn't I? No. 1947. Okay.

Which fast food chain started the phenomenon of competitive eating challenges in the 1980s? What fast food chain? I'll say Nathan's. in the 1980s? Fast food. I'll say Nathan's. In 2005, Kobayashi and Sonia Thomas faced off in a legendary showdown in a hamburger-eating contest hosted by which Major League Baseball team? The Mets.

Mets. Okay. Nick, how did... I don't know anything about American teams, but it would be from the one state that I would imagine it would have been from i'll do some i'll do some south african questions for our friend here so so how much biltong has been eaten in the smallest amount of time what's biltong or you can answer the question oh first

of all what's biltong let's i'm gonna do a very small version of i don't know about that with you our subject today is bill tong forest first of all what is bill tong bill tong um is uh it's like tongue from a certain animal i'm gonna say from buffalo b-i-l-t-o-n-g yeah yeah yeah yeah but it's south africa so they build tong yeah that's good uh and how much has been eaten in an hour? By who? By anybody. Lots. It's all they eat.

Okay. Biltong is like the national dish of South Africa. I don't know if you say the national dish, but it's very popular in South Africa. And it's basically jerky, but it's not like just like how we got here. We've got this jerky. It's slightly softer than normal jerky over here.

But it's not just like uh we'll have i'll have some you'll have springbok jerky image ostrich jerk like like there's fucking animals you haven't even fucking heard of and they have it at the movie cinemas that i went to you know how you go pick your candy and you put it into a fucking like a little bit of that and then you put it on the scale and i'll have a little bit of that they had a built-on wall at this fucking cinema just for all the south africans to come up and go i'll get my bag of dried out meat for the movies smells good in there huh going to the movie theater just smells are you are you mad for built on i don't even know why you need me on the show man you seem to know more about this person i do i love built on yeah he loves built on loves that shit man is there tongue in it? Did I get a point?

You could probably get Biltong tongue. No, dude. It's just like meat. I make it at home. I make it myself. It's good. I like Biltong tongue. You knew what Biltong was?

It's super easy to make. It's like you just get like a big thing of beef, and then you just put some spice on it and let it dry. Put it in the sun. Pretty great. All right. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Big fan of therapy.

I use therapy. I don't know where I'd be without therapy. And I'm at the moment right now, I am in Australia. I am not in America. I'm filming TV in Australia. And guess what? I can't get to my therapist here in America. So I'm doing therapy online myself.

With the help of BetterHelp. It does help. Think of all the times in your life when you've talked to someone and your shoulders have felt lighter. How many times you've said something out loud and then the truth has set you free or you feel better. Sometimes we're faced with crossroads in life, and when we don't know which path to take,

maybe you're thinking about career change or feeling like your relationship needs some TLC. Whatever it is, therapy can help you map out your future and trust yourself to find the way forward. Kelly, you're a therapy folk. Tell us all about it. Yeah, I think as somebody who was really resistant to therapy initially, you're right when you talk out loud about something, sometimes it even becomes more clear to you. So therapy has been so huge for me. And I don't like leaving the house if I don't have to.

So online therapy is awesome. I quit one therapist maybe 10 years ago because I was just so depressed. I couldn't get there. I just couldn't get there and park the car and sit in the office and stuff. I only had to do things if they were necessary to my career or something like that. That's the only way I could get things done. And I deem this not to be necessary and I plunge further down. All right, if you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try.

It's entirely online, designed to be convenient, flexible, and suitable to to your schedule just fill in a brief questionnaire and get matched up with a licensed therapist and switch therapists at any time at no additional charge let therapy be your map with better help visit betterhelp.com slash idk today to get 10 off your first month that's better help help.com slash idk um all. Getting back to competitive eating, Nick, how did Jim do on his knowledge of it? Zero through 10. 10 is the best. Oh, geez.

I mean, you know, if we're going for like pure accuracy, it would be low. But I feel like he came so close on a lot of them. So I'm going to give him a solid six. Yeah. All right. Your category was accuracy. But okay.

We'll let six. We'll accept six. All right. I'm just such a nice guy a lot of spirited answers yeah uh confidence kelly how do you do um the confidence that he could be a professional competitive eater was a 10 so that's what i'm going with yeah i'll give you 100 i know you want to do this jim i could i could do it i think you could i believe in you um who was widely regarded as the modern day first modern day competitive eater? Is it Joey Chestnut?

It was Kobayashi. Kobayashi. Okay. That's who I remember it as. Is he still around? Yeah, he should be. Yeah, he's still around. If anyone deserves to be dead,

if I go to a doctor one more time, you've got to change your diet. If Kobayashi's still rocking around, get the fuck out of here. In what country did the practice of competitive eating originate? Jim says Coney Island with the hot dogs. Honorable mention to Japan. It is the United States. Of course it is.

Where else is it going to be? It seems like we're so gluttonous. Yeah. It wouldn't be in a country that, well, I guess there are people. The only time i ever saw it was on tv from america i never i've never seen in australia i i and i look i haven't lived in australia for 20 years but i never remember going into australia and there being something on the menu if you finish it you get a t-shirt or something like that that's that's an american

thing yeah and i remember like pie eating contests when I was younger like that was it wasn't I remember on TV but I remember it'd be like at a fair or some shit every fair had a pie eating contest I do remember one contest

there was a prawn festival in near Newcastle Australia and I went there because I love prawns and my parents we had family friends there we go

we go to the prawn festival I just remember this like it's gonna just be handing us prawns in the street it's gonna be like prawn heaven us prawns in the street. It's going to be like prawn heaven. And there was like a whole lot of people sitting on a bench,

peeling and eating the prawns. But one of my earlier memories of food eating competitions is watching it on Malcolm in the Middle when they do a kielbasa sausage eating competition. And the mum fucking canes it down and she eats a whole lot of sausage really quickly at a fair. And I remember them sitting on the bench, and I'm like, Americans are fucked, man. Shrimp eating or prawn eating sounds horrible.

Like fast, like that would be. You know what's good? No, no, because you have to peel. Oh, yeah. Your peeling skills come into play. Yep. Hand-eye coordination comes into play with the prawn eating. It's athletic at this point.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. What is the name of the first major eating? Prawns are – sorry, just to go back on that. Do you know – a friend of mine is Australian and has a great story about the nickname prawn for a woman. It's pretty rude, but I don't know if you know it. I said it on one of my specials. Yeah, yeah. That was the beginning of it. I did it on one of my specials. Yeah, yeah. That was the beginning of a special.

I did. It's a joke that all Australians have. I go, what was the thing I go? I started off by going, you know who's going to miss the mask? Women with good bodies and shit faces. In Australia, we call them prawns because you keep the body and you throw the head away. Yeah.

You did say it. I do say it. You go, it's not the special, you go, it's not my joke. I go, that's not my joke. That's not my joke. That's a national joke. That's a national joke that we all do. Our gift, my gift from you, me to you. Yeah, yeah.

The name of the first major eating contest held in the United States, is it Nathan's Hot Dogs in 1947? It's Nathan's famous hot dog eating contest in 1916. Whoa. 1916. After the First World War. Well, during the middle of the First World War. During the First World War.

For support for the troops. The nation's spirits need to be picked up. Yeah. And also, how do they telecast that? That just would have been on tape in every city there'd be one there'd be one bloke with a bit of tape like this he's eating four more hot dogs seven more hot dogs hot dogs hot dogs hot dogs one contestant is falling out it wouldn't be as good well you'd have to be a go to it live otherwise you just read about it

they might film and put in like news would you actually want to know how that one started? Sure, yeah, of course. That was actually between three Italian men who did it to try to prove which of them was the most American. Really? Was there a crowd? I think they drew a crowd, but it was originally just this wager between the three of them

who were having an argument about which of them as immigrants was now the most american i have i haven't mentioned this before but when i went to italy i got an americano pizza and it had sliced hot dogs and french fries on it and i was like wow this is insulting no i mean it was the pizza was good i didn't want to get it it was awesome it was awesome. I want it. I used to, yeah, man, yeah, I'd eat that. Yeah, in that movie, The Green Book, they do that at the beginning there, too. Remember, that's like one of the first things. The Viggo Mortensen character is in a diner,

and he has like an eating contest or something. It must be an Italian-American thing. You got to eat this stuff. Thank you, Italian-Americans. What was the record on that day? 10? I don't know. Dude, I don't have that offhand, but it wasn't much.

I guarantee it's not as much as the current record. It's probably about 10 or 15. Yeah. I think it's funny they drew a crowd. People are like, look at these guys. What are these guys doing? These guys are crazy. I remember me and my friend, we were drunk one time at a Denny's.

This just occurred to me. And we the the nachos at denny's and we both decided to see how fast we could eat and we're just right by the front door just shoving our mouth we didn't win anything so i get this i get these italian guys that's what i'm saying um who holds the record for consuming the most hot dogs at nathan's famous hot dog eating contest how many hot dogs is it joey chestnut and is it 77 oof it's joey chestnut and it's 76 oh jack you suck bro 70 and how long do you remember is there a time limit on that one yeah there is can you guess what the time was that he did it in yeah i don't remember the time oh um it was the best of times it was the worst that's right that's right five minutes ten minutes ten minutes ten minutes

so that's 7.7 hot dogs a minute get the fuck but doesn't isn't that is terribly bad like i i they have to vomit afterwards how long do they have to keep them in their body for until the time limit they can do whatever they want afterwards but there's a cutoff point and do they vomit or do they just go i'm gonna have a big shit tomorrow i don't think these guys vomit no they keep it down i think if you're if you're not like one of the uh like food athletes i think you probably do chunder and do you reckon that like okay so so what's your big competitive eating sport what are you good at what's your food of choice uh dude i for a guy i'm not so my my thing is that i'm not a competitive eater i just enjoy food history but for me i am six foot

seven so i can pack it away but surprisingly uh i don't i can't eat a lot in one sitting but i can eat a lot of sittings if that makes sense yes yes yes yes, yes. Yes, yes, yes. What would be your favorite? Well, my theory is, does Joey Chestnut on a day off ever have a hot dog? I doubt it. No, he probably can't look at it. You reckon? He's a Fourth of July party. He's not just like, ah, get that.

Because if he did that, people would be like, look, he's eating one. He eats sensibly. He never gets them with toppings or even condiments. Yeah. I like them naked, Jim. Yeah, no one likes them naked. I hear that was. Yeah. I like them naked, Jim. Yeah, no one likes them naked. That was bread bread. I like them plain, Jim.

I like them plain. What would be your food that you could do then, Jim, that you would enter a contest? I would excel at hamburgers. I would excel. I reckon pizza I could go pretty hard. But I, you know. Well, let's see.

What is the world record for most hamburgers eaten in three minutes? Jim says eight. It's 12. How big are these? Are they double patties? Have they got condiments on them? Do you have salads? Are there onions? These are regular ones, but this was Kobayashi as well.

And it's 12 in three minutes. yeah it's not as many because i could do 12 white castles yeah those are i don't think i i'm imagining in three minutes i'm imagining it's closer to just like a single i don't know if it has cheese this is hamburger and i think it's just a single with the buns probably no toppings because on the hot dogs they don't have toppings they just got to get get them down but is it it's that much harder to eat a hamburger huh well i guess it's three minutes so if it was 10 times 3 20 it still would be like they said they were like um i'm trying to remember what the size was like 14 ounces i don't work in ounces is that big i could lobster yeah that is big that's like that's huge actually a pound 14 ounces is a huge bird even if it's cooked down

It would be like the size that'd be like a big fat burger That would be a pounder right? Yeah, no for Someone's a pound 16 ounces is a pound so for you. That's a fucking massive book. Yeah Yeah, so now that makes eight that makes it more impressive day. It's very impressive two would be impressive And they get there don't quote me on that, guys. Was that it? What is the term used to describe a competitive eater who trains their stomach to expand?

Jim said, what do you call Forrest? Hurtful. What do you call yourself? Just Fofo. Fofo. Fofo. There's a few terms. I think the more report a trencher man trencher trencher trencher man is that because he has to shit over a big trench because he fills up the other one that's exactly it i once ate so much lobster this is a real rich

person problem i once ate so many lobster rolls that my shit came out pink whoa like lobster color that's cool i was like that's fucking that's a lot of protein coming out of me there you go i'm doing well yeah that's uh like yeah you could cook that shit again it would still be tasty so much lobster was in it um so trencher is the name? Yeah, like a Trencherman. Trencherman. It's a person who eats in a specified manner, typically heartily. By the way, I looked up this burger thing to see how big they were. Now, they also said Kobayashi holds it for the Crystal Burgers.

Yeah, Crystal. Which is a very tiny burger. Very tiny. But he did 97 of those in eight minutes. Well, the Crystal Burgers. 97? Yeah, they're really tiny burgers. But they're also, they're almost like when you hold them in your hand, they feel like they're very close to being blended.

Like the buns wet and everything like that. Like it doesn't bite, it just falls apart. Remember for your birthday show in Vegas, I got you the Crave? Yeah, he brought the White Castle Crave. Is it the Crave Crate? It's the 100 one? Yeah, yeah. And we maybe made it through 20.

That guy ate basically an entire box. I'll tell you a story. So this is way back. This is before Hank was born. Me and Forrest were on the road, and there was a girl that I'd met, and I'd flirted with the whole time. And it was like, hey, what's up, guy? Like, I always thought, oh, I'm in here. And then it just didn't play out, right? And then I was like, all right thought, oh, I'm in here

and then it just didn't play out, right? And then I was like, all right, good night, nice meeting you and then we were parked in White Castle getting... I think it was Crystal. Well, it doesn't matter.

The little burgers, yeah. Whatever. Let's say it was Crystal. It doesn't matter but White Castle or Crystal ordering a box of 100 burgers. It was only four of us in the car and then the girl who was gonna have the one night stand with 100 burgers yeah text me back and said i'm in the lobby of

your hotel room and i'm like oh no we're waiting for these burgers right so there was like like like the promise of sex versus the promise of 100 burgers in a box. And it was like one of the biggest lemmas I've had in my life. But we did. We came back. Which box did you go with? We went. No, we got the 100 burgers. We came back.

And then I'd already eaten like six in the car. And I was like, hey, ready to go. How are you going? Yeah. And then most of them came back to my room. Yeah. I was just there with all these fucking burgers. And I was like, I must have eaten like 30 over the course of four hours i was like why get these out of here

why did i send you there uh yeah i don't like i yeah i because i think we i told that girl all right we're going anyway here we're going to another bar so it's nice meeting you yeah we're party yeah yeah we're the party and i was acting I was cool. I had some other big plans to do. We're going to White Castle. And I was in White Castle ordering a hundred burgers at Fox. Remember that White Castle in the French Quarter too?

There's one like right in the end of it. There was one time in New Orleans. That's one of the most dangerous places on earth. That White Castle thing. That White Castle. We should have a reality show there. In the French Castle. That one, you've got to keep your wits about you.

There's fucking drunks and junkies walking in there and everyone's partying. Well, yeah, we were there like probably one in the morning and nobody, it was a scene in there. When I record, I've told this story before, but it's always fun. When I recorded my HBO special, afterwards I was like,

I went out and partied with a few of the production people and stuff like that, and I got too drunk. And so I went out to McDonald's and I asked for, I wanted a nine box of nuggets because they come in sixes, six, nine, and 20. No, I wanted a 20 box. I wanted 20 nuggets in a box, a whole lot of sauces, right? But they don't have 20 boxes in America.

But you say 20 boxes. They have 20 now. But back then, the 20 box wasn't in America, right? Ultimately, you say it is not 20 boxes. And so I have a 20 box nuggets like this, right? And I was so drunk that they gave me 26 boxes of nuggets. And I just had these two bags. And I didn't even question.

I just picked them up. It's like I was carrying groceries that a baguette should be sticking out the top of. And I was running down the street with my 26 boxes. 26 boxes. 20 boxes of six nuggets. 120 nuggets. Yeah, 120 nuggets. They said, what sauce?

I said, give me a bit of everything. So there was another like bag full of sauce like just a little McDonald's bag full of sauces and I carried them back and I got back to my room

it was before I had it wasn't until I got back to my room that I was like this is a lot of and also also I was so drunk

that it was like and that's $98 please and I was like what the fuck? American McDonald's is expensive. And then I was in this big penthouse suite in New York that HBO gave me, and I woke up just fucking surrounded by nuggets just all over the bed. It's like hero to zero.

Party. Which city hosts the world hamburger eating con eating championship is it Hamburg Germany should be it is Las Vegas Nevada oh is it the heart attack cafe I wonder if that's the place it's I don't know where it is but I mean

I know that place and I don't think I don't think it is there but I wouldn't be surprised if they did their own one at some point that place I don't know is that still open yeah it is They're losing customers daily. Some people have had heart attacks there. No doubt. Yeah, okay. I want to go next time.

That's the place where you weigh yourself. I've had people have heart attacks at shows and stuff like that. It's always interesting. But I had one the other day. We were doing the 1% Club, so we have 100 contestants. And there was this bloke. And whenever they stop, if someone puts their hand up and goes, can we go to the bathroom? I so we have 100 contestants and there was this bloke and everyone whenever they stop

if someone puts their hand up and goes can we go to the bathroom I'm always like oh no because that takes up our day right and we're trying to film the whole thing and we have scheduled piss breaks I'm like please try to hold it

you know what I mean and people I'm bursting I'm sorry and we had a piss break and then we came back and this old bloke put up his hand and I was very close to going are you fucking kidding me we just had a piss break and then we came back and this old bloke put up his hand and I was very close to going,

are you fucking kidding me? We just had a piss break, right? We've got to keep rolling. But he put up his hand and I'm like, yes. And he's like, I think I'm having a heart attack. And I'm like, all right, all right. This is medic. You know what I mean?

This is past my pay grade. What am I meant to do? Talk you fucking through it? Like, yeah, I think he was okay. I think he actually just had a bit of an ingestion. Or a panic attack. It's not at the Heart Attack Grill, but they do have a food challenge that includes the quadruple bypass burger challenge loaded

with four half-pound beef burgers. So check it out. I think we could do that. There's a guy on YouTube called Beard Meets Food who's just done that. He's like a competitive eater he just did a stop doing that quadruple bypass challenge at at the heart attack cafe does it look hard it's it's he's like he struggled i mean this is his job and if you don't get it they like spank you it's pretty weird yeah there should always be a punishment if you don't if you You got to pay for it.

Yeah. No, it's got to hurt more than that. It's good to sweat it out. You're getting spanked. The International Federation of Competitive Eating, IFOCE, changes name to what? Is it the Fatty Boomba Association? Surprisingly close, but no.

It took a very American twist on anything to do with official sports and became Major League Eating. So the MLE. The MLE. Yeah, that's better than the IFS. How do we join? MLE sports. Yeah, they should have a video game, esports.

You should have a fantasy league. Or a video game. You just keep pressing the buttons and you've got to do them in a certain way. Who's considered the greatest competitor to eat in real time? Is it Jim's mom? No, it's Joey Chestnut yeah yeah yeah it's Joey Chestnut I mean it really could be I think this one's a bit open to interpretation but the internet seems to agree it's Joey Chestnut plus it's got a good name for it and there's isn't there isn't there okay we'll get to the woman once again um what is the technique called when a competitive eater soaked bread or buns and water to make them easier to consume?

Soak and drop? Is that the term? It's close. It's just dunking. I mean, it's not that fancy. I think soak and drop is a good name. Yeah, you've come up with another name. And the soak and drops continue.

It's gross. That should be cheating, by the way. You shouldn't be able to soak it. Well, the main reason that I wouldn't enter an American hot dog competition is the bread's no good so that's the only reason yeah if you find me nice buns i'm there you would do the you should do it anyways do you have to qualify to get into that okay there's only there are only two ways okay first i'll tell you how i like me hot dog i like to have those deep fried French's onions

just put on top of it. A bit of cheese as well. Those crunchy onions. They're fantastic. Yeah. I do... I sometimes just do that with mayonnaise and the hot dog. Or I just do...

Look, if I'm in like Vienna, just mustard and that really nice sausage. But if I'm at home, those hot dog toasters that you sell, those bullshit things, they're a fucking one. Oh, the ones that were in like the Sky Mall and stuff?

They're wonderful. You put a dog down like that, a dog down like that, the bun on either side, fucking hell, they're fantastic. Or the other way to do it, I don't like them barbecued,

just in the microwave. Just fucking throw a bun in a microwave. 40 seconds in the microwave. And they're fucking belter. Yeah. They come out great. They're a great microwave food.

The bun's all soggy. That's when the bread's at its best, microwaved. Here's one in Vegas you could do. It's the Monster Burrito Challenge. It's 2.78 kilograms. Yeah, I could do that. Stuffed with steak, pico de gallo, onions, green chilies, cheddar cheese, and you have to eat it in 20 minutes.

Read the fat sows, because the fat sows is ridiculous. I'll pull it up. Yeah, you can pull it up. The fat sows is like, well, no one can do it. No, I don't think anyone's done it. You can do it.

You get a sandwich named after you. Yeah, you had to because there's a couple of sandwiches named after people. I think they did it as teams. The Bon Me one,

I think, was a woman. Do you think her name was Bon Me? No, no. That Bon Me one was a woman that, not her name. I know what a Bon Me is.

Yeah, but what's it called? I don't know. Fat Jerry. The fat sows. I think it's called the Fat Bon Me. Yeah, yeah. Her name I know what a banh mi is. Yeah, but what's it called? I don't know. Fat Jerry. The fat salad. I think it's called the fat banh mi. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, so her name wasn't banh mi. So this one.

Oh no, she got to design it or something, I think, yeah. It's nine pounds. Yeah, nine pounds, first of all. Nine pound sub. They pull it up on the website. Okay, and you have to do it in a certain amount of time, right, you have to pay for it. Yep.

Current menu. Of course, because then just people will be doing it. All right, while we're doing that, what food establishment is known for hosting the World Rib Eating Championship? Is it Chili's? It's a place I've never heard of actually, but it's called Sparks Steakhouse in New York City.

I've never heard of that either. Never heard of it, don't know it. They're just trying to get on that hot dog ship. And the first woman to win Nathan's Fam hot dog eating contest is Jessica Chestnut in 87. Jessica Jessie Check? I really wish it was.

It's a woman called Sonia Thomas, and she did it in 2011. She's tiny, right? That's the woman I'm remembering that was tiny. Yeah. She has a stomach expansion thing. She's too thick. Yeah. I don't know how she, like, how are they so tiny?

Are you allowed to take performance enhancing drugs in the competition weed yeah weed would be oh yeah like that would

that could change that changes the game yeah yeah that is this is the only sport where weed where weed is a performance enhancing drug

yeah alright I got I got the challenge alright here we go it's 10 pounds 10 pounds 40 minutes. It's one giant sandwich with all this on it.

Cheesesteak, cheeseburgers, pastrami, chicken fingers, bacon, mozzarella stick, fried eggs, jalapeno poppers, fries, onion rings, chili, marinara, fat sauce, 27-inch garlic gyro. That sounds horrible. Give us a look. If you've got a picture of it. And how much does it weigh? 10 pounds. 10 pounds.

And what's the weigh? 10 pounds. And what's the prize? 10 pounds. It's a winner. It's a whole arm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not just up to your elbow, it's up to your shoulder. It's the length of your arm and it looks good.

Well, what do you win? What's the prize? The respect of others. It says it right up there. What do you mean, what do you win? Free meal, picture on Wall of Fame. What do you mean, free meal? You get to create a fat sandwich. What do you mean? The feeling that you've made a difference. And you have to give them a 24-hour notice.

Okay. It feels like whatever that is is just going to come out the same, looking exactly the same. 27 inches. What is the nickname of the competitive eater Kobayashi? We got all the way from Pat Raft, tsunami. His name's Tsunami? It is the Tsunami.

The Tsunami. The Tsunami. That doesn't seem like the right name for a competitive eater because you should be bringing stuff in. Yeah, it'd be like the sinkhole or something. Like the whale. Yeah, the whale is good.

The sinkhole's good. Sinkhole wouldn't be Japanese enough. Bottomless pit. Yeah, what's the mountain there? The Temple of Doom. Mount Fuji. Fuji, yeah. I don't know if that works. No. be japanese bottomless pit yeah the what's the mountain there the temple of doom fuji fuji yeah i don't know if that works no food g oh surely mount fuji food ninja yeah let's write them good that's a blender i feel like as nice as this is five white people are all trying to nickname a

japanese fella maybe we just let him have tsunami iami? I feel like it's probably not our place to say. All I know is my dad's loving it right now. Your dad would have an opinion. What do you reckon he would call him? I don't know. Probably something worse than us. Phone him. I'm South African. I don't really think I should be speaking.

Have you ever met Barbara on Lottie? Barbara Lottie? You don't know Barbara? I don't know who that is, but I imagine you'll tell me. I know Barbara. Barbara is a very nice woman from South Africa. She's a lovely lady, and she always says the word shame all the time. That's his character that Jim and his brother.

That's a very South Africanism. I'm also very intrigued to know what accent are you trying to do? We thought this was genuine. This is a character Jim does in his brother. A South African being rude. I am shocked. Oh, no. Oh, no.

I'm from South Africa. I'm doing New Zealand. Score me a loose group. No, that's New Zealand. Oh, no. Oh, no. The South African person is getting angry at me, bro. I don't like that.

Oh, no. Oh, this person's getting angry at me, bro. Oh, bro. I don't like that. Oh, man, yeah, Taika. Taika is a good one for that. Oh, this is what's going to happen. Bloody South African. I'm joking. I like South African. Leonardo DiCaprio in Blood Diamond, it was hard for us to sit through. I'll tell you that much.

Really? Well, apartheid was hard for me to sit through. So let's call it even. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. There's a couple of countries on earth That and Germany where you go well What about this Nothing to say

Guinness world record for eating the most of this vegetable With what utensil in one minute Is it baked beans with a toothpick It's peas with a toothpick? It's peas with a toothpick, but it's so close. Did you know that, Jim? Isn't it peas with chopsticks? No, check baked beans with a toothpick because there's definitely a record.

Because you just said what food with a record and a thing. I just said vegetable with a utensil, so there could be. Yeah, maybe there's multiple. Most baked beans eaten in three minutes with a cocktail stick is 178 which is a tooth by David Rush in Boise Idaho you can only do one at a time

I've seen it and how many was it 178 yeah he fucking he pierced his lip about 14 times covered in blood what was the other one you mentioned, Nick? Was peas? Peas.

Peas. No, but baked beans. I mean, there must be loads. Well, I think that a baked bean is easier to pick up with a cocktail stick than a pea. It is. Yeah. But that's when it gets silly when you're like, it could be. Because technically, there's probably not a world record for eating some sort of like like sriracha or something you know and i could sriracha you can't

buy sriracha anymore yeah it's off the shelves well i have the the trade there's a huge he was getting sued by his farmers and there's a lawsuit and all that type of stuff because the chilies weren't coming through because there was so he started to outsource he used to have chili farmers here in california then he outsourced to Mexico. And then the people in California, there's a whole court case going on and Sriracha stopped production. There's no Sriracha on the shelves right now.

How are we living? I don't know. They have a Trader Joe's knockoff, it's not a good. What is a term used to describe a competition which participants eat as much as they can within a specified time limit? Do you have any, no, I don't even know. I don't know.

I mean, there's nothing that I could find in my research that had like a defined meaning for this. Oh, okay. I think we should come up with one. I don't know about that. That's what you always say. What did I call it? Time sensitive.

Time sensitive competition. Yeah. I think we can come up with something better than that. Yeah. A timey. Huh? Crunch down. Crunch down.

Crunch down. Crunch time. Did you just come up with that, Aaron? Yeah. Oh, good. I thought you A crunch down. Crunch down. Crunch down. Crunch down. Crunch time. Did you just come up with that, Aaron? Yeah. Oh, good. I thought you looked it up. Crunch down. Going to crunch down on crunch down on crunch down.

What is a prize traditionally awarded to the winner of Nathan's famous hot dog eating contest? Is it a defibrillator? The golden defibrillator. Oh, it's the mustard yellow belt. Oh, there's a belt. let's let's let's do the debate now do you believe that ketchup should be allowed in a hot dog this upsets people i mean not man's just regular regular eating yeah yeah i'm all about yeah dude we don't call it ketchup here though it's just tomato sauce man tomato sauce and mustard that's it yeah okay because no the americans don't believe

that a lot of americans don't believe including obama who's very passionate about that he said he shouldn't have uh chicago well yeah it's a chicago i think it's a chicago thing because i like i'm from chicago and i like ketchup i like ketchup and mustard but i'm happy just i'm fine just with mustard as well me too but this big debate opens up and then you go to vienna which is the home of sausages long before america ever fucking best sausages and they give you the ketchup option yeah they don't and not because you're american they're not all that's true they did yeah it's not american it's just chicago has their specific chicago dog and so it's considered blasphemy to have

ketchup on it when i just went to chicago i I tried the Chicago dog because he said it was terrible. There's too much shit on it. And you're right. It just all fell off. I hate Chicago dogs. It's horrible. And my dad also agrees. He goes, it doesn't make any fucking sense.

There's like chunks of pickles and then tomato slices on there. It's not even a chunk. It's a slice of a pickle. It's stupid. It's a slice of a thing. Like, it doesn't... The dog should be the thing you bite into, and the other thing should be loose objects

that will just fall into your mouth. Yeah. Like sliced up onions and grated cheese and all that kind of stuff. A giant slice of tomato and like a pepper. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's fucking dumb. The proportions are all off. It's dumb.

Chicago dogs are dumb. Chili cheese dogs are a difficult eat as well. Anything with chili on it. Chili burgers? Stupid. Yeah. What are you doing? I like the idea.

It never turns out well. The cinema that me and my son go to, every time I line up, we always get popcorn and a drink, you know? Yeah. And they go, chili cheese dog. And they're like, the chili's inside. I'd be interested to know if you,

we didn't really eat... What? He's frozen. Sorry, mate, to interrupt you. That's okay. I was just saying, we didn't really eat hot dogs here, but I'm interested to know,

if you know so much about biltong, what is the big sausage we eat here in South Africa? Do you know? The big sausage that you eat. Oh, the big sausage that you eat. Well, I know in crickets it's Australian cock. If I watched a lot of cricket, I would probably take that as a burn i don't know uh i don't know no tell me so it's a berovoise if you know that i'm trying to say it not in the big africans accent like

but uh essentially that just translates straight to farm sausage but it's that thick chunky chunky sausage we eat that more than we eat hot dogs with ketchup so tomato sauce yeah always okay tomato sauce mustard fried onions it's all good in australia we call it tomato sauce as well but i've lived here long enough that i'm a ketchup guy now yeah i know you're saying kevin used to when you when i first met you'd say tomato sauce well i have to say ketchup because if i'm in a shop and go can you put some tomato sauce in there they'll pull like marinara or something like that can i if you got any tomato sauce they look at me weird so you have to say the word ketchup to to function in this society and vice versa in austria when i first went there and you were like you got to put a little tomato sauce i was like the fuck

are you talking about why it was like a meat pie or something yeah a bit of tomato sauce tomato sauce i was like and then i had to say that when i wanted it i got these epinadas i'm into now called world epinadas which is up the road from here the epinadas are excellent but they try to sell it with chimichurri and they give like these different sauces where uh mate they're missing a beat tomato sauce on those babies do we know what is the record for the longest continuously running eating contest in the united states? Is it Nathan's? I would just say... Yeah, it's Nathan's. It's Nathan's since 1916.

I would just say the longest eating, continuous eating competition in America is just... would be the South. Okay. And they're winning. If you look at the size of them, it feels like they haven't stopped doing the competition. It's just a perpetual competition that they keep doing over and over again.

It's because of the warm weather. You can eat year round. In what year did the first World Eating Championship take place? The first World Eating Championship took place in 2004. I don't know what Tim said there. Oh, he didn't say anything. He said something, but he never gave us an answer. I would have mentioned the wall.

Yeah. And in 2004, where was it at? I don't know. I didn't have that on my notes. You just had a year. So you knew the year, but you didn't think, I'll dig a little deeper. Which fast food chain started the phenomenon

of competitive eating challenges in 1980s is it nathan's again no yeah okay no it's not nathan's uh that one actually um jim mentioned the jim mentioned it earlier not not crystals what do you remember what you mentioned white castle that's it really white castle I mean, I guess that makes sense that people would use those for. White Castle invented the hamburger. So you can say what you want about White Hanger, but they invented hamburgers. And then the last question here we have is, in 2005, Kobayashi and Sonia Thomas faced off in a legendary showdown

in a hamburger eating contest hosted by which Major League Baseball team? Was it the Mets? Mets. The Texas Rangers. Texas Rangers. Texas Rangers. Texas Rangers. Texas Rangers. Texas Rangers. Incidentally,

incidentally, I'll give you a fun fact about, well, maybe not fun. Just a fact. Just a fact. The Texas Rangers are the only Major League Baseball team

to not have a pride game at their stadium where the players do pride. I don't know if that's fun. No, but it's it's a thing it's a fact well it's a sad fact yeah it's a you know like people go oh we shouldn't have well then you shouldn't have the breast cancer day you shouldn't have this day you know that day so we can debate this all the time but they're the only team um this part of our show called dinner party facts we ask our guests to give us some fact obscure interesting about the subject that our audience can use to impress people what do you got for us well let me tell you about uh the guy that was probably considered the

first uh competitive eater and that was a guy called nicholas wood who lived in the 1600s and the reason he was a competitive eater wasn't necessarily because he would eat against other people but people would put wages on him and they would kind of bet on him to see like could he eat this amount of food or could he became a bit of a freak show as they like to do back in the day and uh we think now that he he wasn't so much an athlete as he was just he had like a mental deficiency which they call polyphagia which means that he doesn't actually feel he never has the sensation of feeling full and uh just to give you some some stats on this guy uh he was discovered once by like who the guy

who had become his manager when he was sitting in a restaurant well i say a restaurant like a tavern probably at that time in england and this guy watched him eat 60 eggs half a lamb and about five pies and then was still complaining afterwards that he was still hungry and then after that they kind of sent him on the road to kind of do to do his wages and this is of him eating 84 rabbits in one sitting. He once ate an entire wheelbarrow full of tripe which is essentially like a cow's stomach lining. It was pretty disgusting.

He wasn't very discerning either. He also at one point, hey, have you eaten tripe? I have eaten tripe, yes, of course. Sorry, what else? He also did a challenge once where they laid out puddings side by side across the London Bridge and he kind of just ate them in order right across the bridge. Poor guy.

That's incredible. He didn't know he wasn't hungry. He just kept eating. Yeah, but he was probably a bit mentally ill as well. People used to mock him. All right. Are you guys going to have an eating contest right now? Yeah.

What, with that? With a portion size of taco bell three that's just to see how fast he can eat it that's just bad food that's not a eating competition wait wait no no but i think it's three tacos and how fast you can do it fucking fucking taco bell got rid of the quesarito and we're having problems me and Taco Bell right now they have brought this new grilled cheese burrito that's quite good where the cheese is grilled on the outside which is not without it's charms but the quesarito was their finest product

what are you doing? so what are we doing here? are you going to eat these? is this really what we're doing? we're having a competition? I don't know about the food who's doing it? Jack and I alright. Who's doing it? Here you go, Jack. Jack and I. Let's do it.

I'm fasting today, but what's your eating competition you have to do? Just to see who finishes faster and how fast Jack can do it because I'm not going to win. No, there should be a time limit. It's three tacos. Oh, I'm not eating all three. Okay, so Jack is doing this. Give me one taco. I'll show you how we eat fast. You can eat things.

Oh, yeah, then. Perfect. Okay, if Jim does one. Just one. Forrest, you want to have one? We can see who eats one taco the fastest. Okay. Okay.

Yeah, we can do that. You can't beat me in this. Is there sauce? Mine's pouring at the end. Cool, thanks, guys. I'll just... You want one, Judy? You want one?

Okay. You don't have... Do you want a taco we'll get you one is that guys listen I got a little chucky bar here bar I think Nick has it Nick has not gonna put me face down the table no no like you have to like pick it up as part of it oh yeah, yeah, okay. I'm just going to eat one leisurely. I'll do the stopwatch. I'm going to sip mine. Instruct it nice.

Hit your hand on the table when you're done. All right, ready? Hands off. Hands off. Who's touching it? No one. Three, two, one, go. I can't do it that fast

8.5 seconds oh my god I was like I'm eating I knew if we brought food Jim would come I knew I just knew that this I was like I know I'm gonna be eating faster I look at him and Jim was done you should definitely do this I just knew that this was going to happen. I was like, I know I'm going to be eating faster than I look. I mean, Jim was done. I was like, it is real.

You should definitely do this, Jim. Yeah, you should really do it. How do you feel? Fine. I loved it. I like eating fast. It tastes better. All right.

Nick, thanks for being here. Check out Nick's podcast, The Fantastic History of Food. Everybody listen to the podcast. Follow him on Instagram at foodhistorypod. Thank you, Nick, Charlie Key, for being here. Thanks, mate. You there? Thank you guys for having me.

What a pleasure. Thanks, Jim. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it. Thanks for being a good sport. Thanks for being on the podcast. Ladies and gentlemen, if you're ever at an eating competition, they say that you can't eat a taco in under eight seconds, in under nine seconds, say, I don't know about that.