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Kobayashi reclaims world hamburger-eating title

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Japanese speed-eating legend Takeru Kobayashi defeated his arch-rival and reigning champ Joey Chestnut to reclaim the world hamburger eating title Sunday at the Krystal Square Off World Hamburger Eating Championship in Chattanooga, Tenn. The 31-year-old from Japan earned a score of 93 Krystal hamburgers in eight minutes, setting a world record under a new no-dunking rule established by The Krystal Company. Chestnut, of San Jose, Calif, finished second with 81.

Kobayashi’s victory over Chestnut before a live televised audience and a crowd of more than 10,000 puts him back on top of the sport he brought into the American mainstream more than eight years ago, only to see his star fall the past three years following several high-profile losses, including a loss to Chestnut at last year’s championship in Chattanooga.

“We knew today’s Krystal Square Off championship was going to be a battle for the ages with Kobayashi hoping to reclaim his glory and Chestnut defending his two-year reign as champ, and both eaters did not disappoint,” said Brad Wahl, vice president of marketing, The Krystal Company. “Kobayashi’s commanding win over Chestnut proved once again why he is the sport’s biggest star.”

“Kobayashi came into Chattanooga needing a win. He got it and then some,” said Richard Shea, president of Major League Eating, the governing body of all stomach-centric sports. “The 12 Krystal margin revives his rivalry with Joey Chestnut and caps what was a great Krystal Square Off season. At the end, Kobayashi seemed to hit his head on the ceiling of his own self worth; lucky for him the faux hawk provided cushion.”

Presented by The Krystal Company, the Krystal Square Off is the only world hamburger eating championship sanctioned by Major League Eating.

Kobayashi has now won the Krystal Square Off four of its six years. He pockets $20,000 for the victory, along with the coveted Krystal Square Off Champion’s Belt and Trophy made out of crystal. Chestnut earns $10,000 for his second place finish. Patrick Bertoletti, who finished third with 76, takes away $5,000. The remaining finalists receive payouts ranging from $3,000 to $500. The $50,000 total cash purse is the largest in competitive eating.

The Krystal Square Off introduced new rules this year that forced competitors to change their strategies. First, eaters were no longer allowed to dunk their hamburgers in liquid in an effort to eliminate “detritus” during the competition. Also new this year, every eater was given five Big Angus Burgers at the start of the competition in addition to their tray of Krystal hamburgers. Each Big Angus Burger consumed added five hamburgers to an eater’s total count.

© Japan Today

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27 Comments
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Competitive eaters can't throw up for a certain period after the contest, so Kobayashi works out to get rid of the excess food. That's why he's that fit.

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the URL got mashed up when i pasted it, the correct one should be http://www.theonion.com/content/news/kobayashi retires from_ eating (remove the spaces)

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/once great competitive_eater

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i wonder how "Gyarusone" would do in these competitions..

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This is just wrong in so many ways. Wasted food. Physical danger. Gluttony. Revulsion.

I could think of so many better uses for these humans, their time, their food, their oxygen, etc.

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Don't be fooled by the muscles, underneath the hard exterior he's nothing but a fat, flabby junk-food junkie. Any one of his clogged arteries could be his downfall. I'll be he has piles too - stay upwind.

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I wonder if he eats hamburgers/hotdogs outside of these contests.

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Don't be fooled by the muscles -this was a mental battle and about getting the belt back. Anyone of those Angus Burgers could his downfall.

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Nice biceps for a speed eating champ. I remember a similar show I happened to see over the weekend (with an Angela Aki look-alike competing). They're all slim for speed eaters. Makes you think if they eat at all outside the competition...

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a battle for the ages

hahaha

the coveted Krystal Square Off Champion’s Belt

wuahahaha

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Kobayashi has won many hamburger and hotdog eating contests. I wonder how he would do in a chanko nabe eating contest...

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Kobayashi got pumped! A few years back he did a regular article on Maxim and he looked like the typical scrawny Japanese guy, huge difference. And he beat Chestnut after the strategy which he pioneered was disallowed too, even better!

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There is something bizarrely alluring about these eating competitions. It's like watching some hard-core porno or a gory horror movie. You may not really want to watch but find that you can't look away. Something about it hits our very basic annimalistic drives. I wouldn't call it a sport. It's more like food-porno.

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Well good for him! Though I could never watch one of these contests. It would make me really hungry for maybe the first minute and then violently ill after that, haha.

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timorborder

Wonderful! Now I hope Mr. Kobayashi goes down to the nearest hospital and donates the contents of his stomach to those children (yes, even in America) who don't have the opportunity to receive three square meals a day.

As if the food Kobayashi or any other eating contest participant would have otherwise reached these poor hungry children. You seem to think that canceling eating competitions like this one somehow means that people without food automatically full stomachs because of all the food that wasn't consumed in the competitions. Same goes for drinking water, clean air, etc. It's called reality...

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What a disgrace, such acts of mindless consumerism should not be lauded, they should be condemned.

Allow me to disagree. Eating competitions are not mindless consumerism. Hate it when people use those terms. Sure these eating contests are silly, but they're fun as well. And apart from that, does it really matter all that much? How is this worthy of the disrespect you're saying. Is this any different from any other type of sports contest? If people watch it, and are entertained by it, and no one is really harmed, how is it bad? Might as well say baseball is nothing but mindless consumerism as well.

Whilst I do not enjoy competitive eating, I agree with Molenir. All competitions could be classed as mindless consumerism. Take any type of motor sport and think about the resources they are using to run these events. F1 for instance uses uncountable quantities of fuel and tires for just one match. Same with Nascar or think about the 24 hour Le Mans race! Other team sports like Baseball, Football, Soccer? My goodness, look at the land those stadiums are taking up. You could build enough housing for 30,000 homeless people per stadium! So yeah, in the name of entertainment resources are used. Plain and simple.

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Fascinating. Well worth a headline for the legion of hamburger-eating fans.

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Chestnut earns $10,00 for

10 bucks for his time? I think a zero is missing :)

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What a disgrace, such acts of mindless consumerism should not be lauded, they should be condemned.

Allow me to disagree. Eating competitions are not mindless consumerism. Hate it when people use those terms. Sure these eating contests are silly, but they're fun as well. And apart from that, does it really matter all that much? How is this worthy of the disrespect you're saying. Is this any different from any other type of sports contest? If people watch it, and are entertained by it, and no one is really harmed, how is it bad? Might as well say baseball is nothing but mindless consumerism as well.

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Finally the Japanese win something!!

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This is really getting tiring.......just lets stick to the Nathans contest and keep it at that...

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Is this really a sport?

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Wow, he is so fit and muscular. I like him! Kobayashi - the true champion.

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famous for being a pig....wow!!

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Wonderful! Now I hope Mr. Kobayashi goes down to the nearest hospital and donates the contents of his stomach to those children (yes, even in America) who don't have the opportunity to receive three square meals a day.

What a disgrace, such acts of mindless consumerism should not be lauded, they should be condemned.

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look at those guns! proves you don't have to be overweight to be an eating champ although i still think these eating contests are a waste of resources.

Although Kobayashi is obviously gifted with a super fast metabolism what you say is totally true. No slob eats as much as I do after a heavy lifting session at the gym.

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look at those guns! proves you don't have to be overweight to be an eating champ although i still think these eating contests are a waste of resources.

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93 to 81? Not even close!

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