Pizza-eating champ downs 19 pizzas in 10 minutes
How many pizzas could you eat in 10 minutes?
Hint: probably not enough.
Competitive eaters went stomach-to-stomach at the World Pizza-Eating Championship in Vaughan on Sunday.
The eaters had 10 minutes to eat as many 20-cm pizzas as possible (crusts included).
Eleven competitors were hungry for victory — and this was no place for table manners.
The eaters furiously crammed pizza into their mouths, chasing with liquids.
When the plates were counted, American eater Geoffrey Esper emerged victorious after eating 19 and a quarter pizzas.
Eating legend Joey 'Jaws' Chestnut came in second, eating 17 pizzas. The third-place eater ate 11 pies.
Chestnut is fresh off his win at the Nathan's Fourth of July hot dog eating contest, where he broke his own world record to eat 74 hot dogs in 10 minutes. He celebrated quite a bit after the hot dog victory, he said, and should have better prepared his body.
"I just ran out of steam," said Chestnut, after eating 17 pizzas.
"Toward the middle of the contest I was sweating really bad, and I had to breathe through my mouth. I was slow."
'It's not going anywhere'
So how did the winner feel afterwards?
"Full," said Esper, who plans to keep all that pizza down.
"It's not going anywhere. Pizza's too good."
Strategy: Go in hungry, fold your pie
So what's a competitive eater's strategy?
Chestnut went in hungry, eating only a little fruit and a "taste" of pizza the day before. The morning of, he just had coffee.
During the competition, he folds his pizza so the cheese is on the outside - it helps it slide down easier.
He'll also squeeze or "pre-chew" the pizza with his hand, so his jaw doesn't get as tired.
You push your body hard with competitive eating, said Chestnut, and have to treat your body right. He plans to come back hungrier next year.
Eight kilograms of cheese
A local pizzeria made 150 pies for the occasion, which required 8 kg of cheese, 8.5 kg of tomato sauce, and 25.5 kg of pizza dough.
This order was "next level," said, Robert Wiseman, assistant manager at Pie Wood Fired Pizza Joint in Woodbridge.
The event was organized by Major League Eating, the world body that oversees professional eating competitions.
The winner went home with $2,000. The second place prize was $1,000.
