QVC Nathan's

Unofficial Results:
Pat Philbin - 22.5
Wing Kong - 22
Gordon - 21
Steakbellie - 17

Nathan's qualifier winners from last weekend

Congrats Allen, Pete, and Nate. I knew you would make it Allen. This is what, your third time? Maybe even more than that. I know you have been around a while. I am glad to see Jamie go out and give Nathan's a shot in SC. Hopefully Allen got to talk to her some and give her some pointers.

What else? I hear GA was a tight race. Bubba in second place for the second year in a row in the ATL. Sooner or later Bubba. Keep at it. I am happy for you Pete to go to GA, do so well and now get your chance to compete in a MLE finals. I know Bubba got to be on the big stage for Krystals a few years back and I know he is happy for you too. Maybe not at the table, but once the meal was over he told me he was happy for you. See you the 4th Pete. Oh yeah, I must say that Super Paul did a great job too hitting his personal best! Keep on chipping away Paul.

Apparently Dallas was another very close contest. This one went to an eat-off I hear. Two rookies going at it toe-to-toe. I heard Nasty Nate had a big mouth, but I didn't know they meant that in the eating sense of the word. 5 dogs and buns in the OT? Very nice. I love to see people that can still eat a lot after the contest is over. Looking forward to seeing you too Nate. I remember you from my fantasy eating team Axis of Eaters (My team won!!Of course ;o) ) (by the way, where is the trophy for that Liz?) Kevin you did superb getting past the 20 mark. I knew you could do it. I say you take home a first place though on the west coast. You can do it. Just beware of Ron. I haven't heard from him in awhile and I know he is lurking around somewhere on your side of the country.

Nathan's qualifier in Charlotte, NC

Here is a link to a written article by Fox News and a video report too!

Here is a link to a video from The Charlotte Observer.

Chad Everett also has a blog with an article and photos.

I had a great time in Charlotte. I got to see familiar faces from last year, meet some new CE enthusiasts, talk to some family living nearby, and of course eat some serious Nathan's Hot Dogs! Todd and Chris came in 2nd and 3rd with 18 and 11 hdbs respectively. Not too shabby for a 10 minute contest. Of course I got to hang out with a bunch of others too and talk about speed eating technique, diet, exercise, religion and everything else.

The dogs were boiled and very tasty. The buns were a little more crumbly than I am use to. I had to pick up a few pieces of bun once or twice that fell back on the plate and then eat it. After this I figured out the technique to jam the whole bun in without breaking it, so from then on it was smooth sailing. I started off very slow as I usually do out in the heat and only did 4 or 5 dogs in my first minute. This was a so-so start, but I was hoping to get out of the blocks a little faster. Praise the Lord I managed to keep up a pretty steady pace otherwise I would not have managed to do quite as many as I did.

I felt great after the competition and had a great time talking to the band that was playing at the event too. They seemed like great guys. I also want to thank Eva Pilgrim and Brittany Troutman for great interviews and articles.

I was also glad to see Trey and Sadie (You may know them from the HungrySisters Blog) make it out to the qualifier. So, last but not least a big thank you for Sadie being the best bunnette ever!

Nathan's Hot Dog Qualifiers: Norfolk, VA & New Orleans, LA

OK. My quick picks for who is going to eat this weekend and how many are:

Norfolk, VA:
Sonya Thomas - 38

New Orleans, LA:
Juris Shibayama - 26

UPDATE w/ real official results:

VA:
Sonya - 38.5
Black Hole - 20.75
William Schierer - 19.75

LA:
Juris - 28
Peter Parker - 17
Damon Serignet - 16

***Congrats to both Sonya and Juris. I am very glad that Sonya did so well. I always love to see her succeed. She is such a sweet person who has competed for so long I have to cheer for her. I sincerely hope she can do the "double duece" at the finals. I know this has been one of her goals for a few years now. Despite the 2 minutes less competition time for hot dogs than it use to be I know she has the potential to do it!
Juris! What can I say? Nice job big man. You told me you wanted to make the big table this year and would work your butt off to do it. And now you have! Well done. Great improvement over last year too. I think you defintely shocked a few people with your large hot dog gains. The sky is the limit.
To the other competitiors I say well done as well. The high teens and low 20s are super numbers to reach. My first ever contest I could only get 14 down before the final second expired. It definitely takes a certain nack to eat a lot and to eat it fast. Some have one or the other. Once you figure out both. WATCH OUT!

MLE Eater's Poll (June)

Top 25 MLE Competitive Eaters

Rank. Eater's Name (First-place votes) (Points) [Previous Rank]

1. Joey "Jaws" Chestnut (7) (193) [1]

2. Patrick "Deep Dish" Bertoletti (1) (188) [2]

3. "Humble" Bob Shoudt (167) [4]

4. Takeru Kobayashi (162) [3]

5. Tim "Eater-X" Janus (148) [5]

6. Hall "Hoover" Hunt (147) [7]

7. Sonya "The Blackwidow" Thomas (146) [6]

8. Rich "The Locust" LeFevre (138) [7]

9. Juliet Lee (130) [11]

10. Erik "The Red" Denmark (126) [9]

11. Crazy Legs Conti (102) [12]

12. Arturo Rios "Grande" (85) [13]

13. Juris "Dr. Bigtime" Shibayama (77) [14]

14. Tim "Gravy" Brown (71) [15]

15. Chip "The Phenom" Simpson (67) [10]

16. Allem "Shredder" Goldstein (66) [17]

17. Patrick Vandam (63) [NR]

18. Pat "Baby Bird" Philbin (55) [16]

19. Eric "Badlands" Booker (53) [22]

20. Micah "Wing Kong" Collins (54) [19]

21. Eric "Steakbellie" Livingston (42) [20]

22. Chris "The Mad Greek" Abatsas (32) [23]

23. Russ "The Blackhole" Keeler (30) [18]

24. "Buffalo" Jim Reeves (28) [NR]

25. "Nasty" Nate Biller (27) [NR]

Also receiving votes: Petter "Pretty Boy" Davekos, Kevin "The Carburetor" Carr, Pat Bruss, Jim "Hammer" Hamrick, David "Brickhouse" Braunstein, William "Wild Bill" Myers, "Big" Brian Subich, Mongo Marquez, Pete "Philly Guy" Miernicki, Don "Moses" Lerman, Jason "The Erbivore" Erb, Kevin Ross, Dave "U.S. Male" Goldstein, "The Hangman" Bruce Pobanz, Larry "The Legend" McNeil, Justin Mih, Ryan Honigman, Tom Sorenson, Skinny Boy, "Super" Paul Barlow, El Toro, and Nic "The Incredible Bulk" Fry.

The Eater's Poll Board of Voters is made up of competitive eaters and media that cover the sport. All are involved in participating or following IFOCE/MLE contests. The board for this month's edition of the Eater's Poll: Hall "Hoover" Hunt, "Humble" Bob Shoudt, Eric "Steakbellie" Livingston, Dave "U.S. Male" Goldstein, "Sweet" Jill Stoler, Erik "The Red" Denmark, Don "Moses" Lerman and Bruce "The Hangman" Pobanz.

***This article and the final totals of the votes do not solely reflect the thoughts or opinions of either Hall "Hoover" Hunt, or anyone else operating this website. All of the rankings and points are a compilation of all the votes from all the previously listed voters above and do not represent any single individuals thoughts or opinions. If you would like to participate in the next month's poll, please feel free to email me at HallHunt@comcast.net and I will add you to the reminder email list or just send in your votes to the same address at least a week before the end of each month with the subject line specifying what poll you are emailing in reference to.***