READY... STEADY... ELLE MICH ELL” OARD SH JULIET “CARDB ELy” LESCO “ThE LOV ■ Has demolished LEE 152 chicken wings ■ Former chemistry 7TH in 10 minutes. professor turned IN THE ■ Uses her eating hair salon owner. WORLD career winnings to ■ Has taken home build drinking-water $36,115 in cash prizes. 14 TH wells in Africa. ■ Competitively ate 9TH IN THE ■ Her cupcake- six kilos of jellied IN THE munching record is cranberry sauce in WORLD WORLD 48 in six minutes. eight minutes. MC12_FEAT_EATING_COMP4.indd 82 18/10/13 4:16 PM us report ... T n downtown LA, hundreds of AT!A spectators are filing into a con- E crete plaza that is shimmering In a country considered in the intense afternoon heat. the epicentre of the obesity On the recently constructed stage, shaded by a white mar- epidemic – but where one quee, sit half a dozen trestle in six people also go hungry tables, each one festooned with each day – there’s a sport Ihuge takeaway cups filled with that sums up America’s soft drinks, iced tea and water. Backstage, a group of women are conficted food culture: getting ready. At one end of the roped- competitive eating. off competitors’ area, an athletic Asian And who are the rising girl with a peroxide ponytail and tiny shorts is chugging on a sports drink, stars? Women, as Naomi as she listens to hip-hop through her Chrisoulakis discovers ... headphones. At the other, a 40-some- thing, encased in pink velour, is chatting to an excited friend, while a fifth woman, in vertiginous black heels and a dress decorated with plastic mod- els of sushi, is texting on her phone. The MC is whipping the crowd into a frenzy, bellowing into his microphone, “Are you ready to meet those who eat?” Nearby, a team of men and women are racing to fill dozens and dozens of plas- tic plates with gyoza. As the opening bars to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” pump through the sound system, the competitors stride onto the stage. The audience scream the names of their favourites. And as they take their places, side by side, each woman turns to face their Everest: piled-high plates of pan-fried Japanese dumplings. Today’s event – the Day-Lee Foods 43RD World Gyoza Eating Championship – is IN THE just one of the hundred or so eating WORLD competitions that take place in the US each year. At each belly-busting bout, competitors go head-to-head to vie for MIKI SUDO fame (at least within the competitive eating world) and fortune (the prize ■ MARY Has eaten 3.8 kilos pool for some events can top $60,000). of kimchi (fermented “i loVE A bit gross? Maybe. But it’s the world’s cabbage) in six minutes. fastest-growing sport, according to ■ Can eat 50 Cadbury ’EM HOT” organiser Major League Eating (MLE). Creme Eggs in six What was once considered a fair- minutes 15 seconds. BOWERS ■ ground spectacle now comes with Did nine practice all the trappings of a legitimate ■ Creates food-themed sessions to prepare for athletic endeavour. There are huge, costumes for each event. this year’s Fourth of live audiences, sponsorship deals and ■ Has competitively July hot dog contest, national TV coverage. More people eaten, among other downing almost 45 hot tuned in to watch the sport’s flagship things, brain tacos and dogs during her last event – a hot dog-eating contest on 10-minute attempt. wild boar sausages. ¼ EVAN HURD EVAN the Fourth of July – than watched the Download the free app and scan this page to watch WATCH Miki Sudo and Michelle Lesco train for hot dog-eating glory! www.marieclaire.com.au 83 MC12_FEAT_EATING_COMP4.indd 83 18/10/13 4:17 PM us report 3RD High-ranking competitive eaters (from far IN THE left) Matt “Megatoad” Stonie, Sonya “The WORLD Black Widow” Thomas, Patrick “Deep Dish” Bertoletti and Bob “Notorious B.O.B.” Shoudt do battle with fried BLACK dumplings. Far left: Nathan’s famous YA “THE Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest. SON OMAS major league baseball game WIDOw” TH “Miki is a surprisingly powerful eater broadcast that day. Add to that ■ Has pocketed more than whose greatest asset is that she wants the burgeoning pay packets $206,000 in winnings. to win beyond anything else, and it (the sport’s superstars can earn ■ Has eaten 564 oysters drives a lot of the men crazy,” says six-figure salaries and command in eight minutes – which MLE co-founder George Shea. “When appearance fees of $10,000 per is a world record. a tiny woman beats a big huge guy, event) and the overall picture is ■ In 2003, she ate 65 it makes a bit of a mockery of them. less small-town entertainment hard-boiled eggs in six They don’t want to be the one who than booming sporting enterprise. minutes 40 seconds (then lost to a tiny woman.” But there is one key difference organisers ran out of eggs). Sudo admits she trains hard to between competitive eating and ■ To stay fit, she walks remain on form. She spends her most major athletic pursuits (and on a treadmill for two evenings improving her technique it’s not just the fact that few other hours, five days a week. (yes, there is technique involved), and sportspeople usually don Hooters submits to a preparation regimen that T-shirts and elasticised pants to involves a stopwatch and terrifying compete). Here, men and women com- a rib-eating contest earlier this year. amounts of food. When she’s not pete side by side – and, increasingly, it’s Sudo, who lives in Las Vegas, burst eating, she’s working out. “I like to go the female eaters who are dominating. onto the pro scene in April and, just in fit, to feel lean and at my healthiest,” This hasn’t always been the case. last August, broke the world kimchi reveals Sudo. “And I switch over to a Until a decade or so ago, women chal- record – eating an incredible 3.8kg liquid diet the day before – you want lengers were rare, and men reigned of the Korean fermented cabbage your digestive tract to be clear.” supreme. Then, in 2003, Sonya “The delicacy in six minutes. It’s a routine that the 163cm-tall, Black Widow” Thomas came on to the Tiny and blonde with long false eye- 52kg Michelle Lesco knows only too scene; weighing in at 48kg, she became lashes, Sudo is an events coordinator well. The 27-year-old youth worker a sensation when she not only took who was first introduced to the sport a from Arizona devotes her evenings to home the following year’s Wing Bowl year ago through one of her local res- practice sessions that involve dozens (her record: 167 chicken wings in 32 taurants. “I heard about a challenge: of frankfurters, dumplings, ribs – or minutes), but beat a 185kg man in the eat 12 pounds [5.4kg] of Vietnamese whatever particular category Lesco process. From then on, the diminutive noodle soup, and win a $1500 jackpot,” has set her sights on conquering. brunette has been an inspiration to she recalls. “I did it ... Then I thought “[The training sessions] really other female competitive eaters. to myself, “Wait, I can eat while suck,” she admits, laughing. “Being Female competitive eaters like the having fun and make some money alone in a house and eating hot dogs five standing onstage in LA – alongside out of this? Let’s do more of these!’” for 10 minutes? You get into the first minute and you’re like, ‘This is the worst idea I’ve ever had.’” “i likE TO GO IN FIT. I SWITCH TO Currently ranked 14th in the world, A LIQUID DIET THE DAY bEforE – YOU WANT YOUR DIGESTIVE and having won nearly $12,000 in prize money, Lesco started out in the sport TRACT To bE clEAr” COMPETITIVE EATER MIKI SUDO after a friend watched her devour a 1.5kg burger and dared her to test a clutch of men – who are all currently Since then, Sudo has climbed the her skills against the pros. Today, she eyeing the mountains of gyoza in ranks of professional eaters and is now is determined to dominate the field. front of them and waiting for the start- number seven in the world, having won “When I started three years ago, I said ing bell. Today, the prizes on offer more than $20,000 in prize money I’d never practice. That’s just a weird include $6000 and return flights to along the way. She is now recognised in threshold that I didn’t think I would Japan – and the women stand a good the street by fans who snap photos on ever cross. Now here I am, practicing chance of winning them. At the Fourth their phones and ask for autographs. for every competition.” of July competition, two of the top six “The other day I was grocery shopping, Lesco also runs up to eight kilome- contestants were women. and a woman just screamed from across tres, five days a week, but maintains Today, 27-year-old Miki Sudo is the fruit aisle: ‘Stop! Are you the girl she’s not really conscious of her diet looking forward to once again facing who ate the wings?!’” laughs Sudo. between competitions. off against world number one Joey Others in the industry have strug- “Post-contest, I tend to carry a “Jaws” Chestnut – having beaten him at gled to come to terms with her success.