MLE - Niko Niko’s World Gyro Eating Championship

This past Saturday, The Blot headed to a local Greek festival to watch my very first Major League Eating “sporting” event. The MLE is “the world governing body of all stomach-centric sports,” which sprung out of the popularity of Nathan’s Famous 4th of July Hot Dog Eating Contest that has occurred yearly at Coney Island, NY since 1916. (link) This past weekend was the Niko Niko’s World Gyro Eating Championship, hosted by local Greek restaurant Niko Niko's and run in conjunction with the MLE and the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE).

If you’ve never seen a competitive eating event then you’re really missing out on a very unique experience. I’ve watched the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest for the past few years on ESPN, and when I heard there was going to be an MLE event in Houston I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see some of the biggest names in competitive eating do what they do best, eat. Along with a slew of local amateur hopeful world record setters, the MLE brought in three of the league’s top rated athletes, including the number 1 ranked competitive eater in the world and reigning Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest champion, Joey “Jaws” Chestnut.

Chestnut set a Nathan’s Famous Record and a World Record last July by eating 66 Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs and Buns in 12 minutes, narrowly edging out the living legend and champion hot dog eater 6 years straight Takeru Kobayashi. Also competing in the Niko Niko’s World Gyro Eating Championship was the number 2 ranked competitive eater Patrick “Deep Dish” Bertoletti, a chef from Chicago who holds multiple records in competitive eating, and fifth ranked “Humble” Bob Shoudt, who despite being a vegetarian was ready to devour the many meaty gyros put before him.

The timed event gave competitors 10 minutes to consume as many 12 ounce gyro sandwiches (pitas stuffed with rotisserie meat, tomatoes, onions and tzatziki sauce) as they could, without regurgitation, and awarded $4,000 in prize money to the top 4 finishers. To say the event wasn’t for the squeamish is putting it lightly. With tzatziki sauce flying and gyro meat being devoured at a record pace, the Gyro Eating World Record set that day was sure to be a statistic that would stand for a very long time. After time expired and the dust had settled, the unbelievable occurred in Houston, TX, the great Joey Chestnut had fallen.

After the official results were tallied, it was determined that Pat Bertoletti had consumed 12 Gyros (9 lbs. of food) and was awarded the Niko Niko’s World Gyro Eating Championship Belt, $2,000 in prize money, and the official World Record of Gyro Eating. (link) Chestnut came in second place with 11 gyros (8.25 lbs. of food) and earned $1,000. Humble Bob ate 9.5 gyros for third place and won $700, while Nasty Nate the Newcomer ate 6 gyros for fourth place and earned $300.

All in all, the event seemed a huge success and was quite an experience. I had definitely never seen such amazing feats of gastric supremacy and am looking forward to my next MLE event. Hopefully I won’t have to wait until next year’s Niko Niko’s World Gyro Eating Championship to see such hardcore competition. If you’d like to see more of the Gyro Eating Championship, check out my pics from the event below.

The 3 Bears 8 Inch Dunny Series

This Thursday Kidrobot is releasing their first ever multi-artist 8-inch Dunny series. Kidrobot turned to three artists from the UK to design this exciting 8” 3 Bears Dunny series, which consists of ilovedust’s Zulu Mong Bear, TADO’s Uncle Bucky and Jon Burgerman’s Tea Bear. Each one of these limited edition bears “comes in a bold black and blue color and includes accessories like Zulu Mong’s Dunny-headed mallet, Tea Bear’s bone-dry teacup, and Uncle Bucky’s wooden fishing rod. (link)


The 3 Bears all have their own unique back stories and are sold separately in a collaboratively designed box by the three UK artists for $50.00 each. Like with all Kidrobot 8” Dunnys, these will sell out quickly! If you want one or all three make sure you hit up your local designer toy store or the Kidrobot.com store early in the morning on Thursday, May 22nd.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army Final Theatrical One-Sheet Movie Poster

Here it is, the final theatrical one-sheet movie poster for this summer’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army by director Guillermo del Toro and starring Ron Perlman as the red, horned superhero Hellboy. I think this is my favorite Hellboy II movie poster of them all. It’s a simple poster with a funny tag line, and yet it still gets the message across that Hellboy II is an action movie due to Hellboy’s look and pose. Hellboy II’s final one-sheet movie poster really does a great job of conveying the film’s “signature blend of action, humor and character-based spectacle.” (link) “The saga of the world’s toughest, kitten-loving hero continues to unfold in Hellboy II: The Golden Army,” look for it in theaters on July 11, 2008. (link)