Location: Owensboro, KY
CHESTNUT SETS NEW WORLD RECORD IN DOMINANT DISPLAY!
If this were a simple one-paragraph write up about a recently completed sporting event, the first sentence would go like this: Joey Chestnut, the #1-ranked eater in the world, ate 81 quarter-pound chopped mutton sliders to win the 2018 Owensboro International Bar-B-Q Festival World Mutton Sandwich-Eating Championship, held in Owensboro, KY, on Saturday, May 12, 2018. The second sentence would acknowledge that this total marked a new world record in the discipline, possibly casting the feat of 81 sandwiches in 10 minutes against the previous mark, also posted by Chestnut, of 55. If column space remained, the writer would note that Geoffrey Esper ate 53 sandwiches for second and that Gideon Oji ate 52.5 for third. And that’d be that. All good. Nothing more to see here. Journalism 101.
But that is not the world we wish to inhabit and so we don’t. Competitive eating stirs something in all of us that demands a more robust and passionate declaration. Why trade in minutiae—the dull drip of numbers and times—when the skies are broad and the world’s greatest symphony is ringing on your ears and you can feel the very blood in your heart? It was one of those days, people.
Joey Chestnut simply proved himself once more to be the greatest eater known unto God himself. No one since the dawn of time has done—and continues to do—what he does at the table. It is brutal. It is savage. It is mastery. It is control. It is violent. It is precise. It is unrelenting. It knows your name and it knows where you live. If you step to it, it will have its vengeance and that vengeance will be swift and that vengeance will be final. You will know your place, be told your place, or be taught your place. Your call. Pick a box.
So, yeah. That’s what happened.
FULL RESULTS! 1. Joey Chestnut 81, new WR 2. Geoff Esper 53 3. Gideon Oji 52.5 4. Derek Jacobs 31 5. Matt Hazzard 27 6. Matthew Raible 18.5 7. Steve Martin 13 8. Dylan Carpenter 9.5 9. Dee Martin 9 10. John Wells 9 11. Adam Coleman and Garrett Ingleheart 8
This contest took place at 4pm local time on Saturday, May 12th, 2018 at the Owensboro International Bar-B-Q Festival, on the Kentucky Legend Stage in McConnell Plaza along the riverfront next to the Owensboro Convention Center, in downtown Owensboro, KY!
CLICK HERE for more information on the Owensboro International Bar-B-Q Festival!
Become a fan of The Owensboro International Bar-B-Q Festival! Facebook Page
Become a fan of the MLE Facebook Page
For results for all Major League Eating Contests, follow @eatingcontest.
**All applicants must be 18 years of age or older and fully acknowledge and understand the inherent dangers and risks associated with participating in an eating contest. The applicant further acknowledges and understands that the MLE/IFOCE coordinates with event sponsor(s) to select and approve eligible participants, and that the MLE/IFOCE shall decide, at its sole discretion, whether an applicant is eligible to participate in any eating event, and/or related activities. The MLE/IFOCE may revoke an applicant's eligibility to participate in the eating contest, or related activities, at any time, for any reason, at its sole discretion. The MLE/IFOCE and the event sponsors reserve the right, at any time, to change any and all details concerning the event, including, e.g., time, duration, location and prize structure.