You Barf, You Lose

Jim Reeves was spitting blood. It was summer 2009, and the high school math teacher and competitive eater had driven eight hours from upstate New York to test his mettle at the Harrod Pork Rind Heritage Festival, the Rose Bowl of northwestern Ohio pork rind eating contests. In less varnished terms, Reeves wanted to see how many pork rinds he could shove down his throat in eight minutes—in front of 1,000 onlookers. It turned out to be a worthwhile trip: During what the pros call gurgitating, Reeves consumed 11.32 ounces of crispy pig skin, won $750, and emerged as the Pork Rind Eating Champion of the World. He also tore up the roof of his mouth. Pork rinds have sharp edges.

The competition, sponsored by Rudolph Foods Pork Rinds, was packaged by the unlikely duo of George and Richard Shea. Their 13-year-old brainchild, Major League Eating, is proof that competitive eating is both a freakish spectacle during which mostly male competitors gorge themselves on grotesquely large amounts of food (without vomiting) and a big business. In addition to planning 90 eating events a year for corporate sponsors—from the Acme World Oyster Eating Championship in New Orleans to the World CheeseSteak Eating Championship at Dorney Park in Allentown, Pa.—the competitive eating moguls guide the careers of the world’s best gurgitators, and, in return, require them to compete exclusively in MLE-sanctioned events. Their roster includes, among others, A-listers such as Joey “Jaws” Chestnut and Sonya “the Black Widow” Thomas. The Sheas’ power is such that when former hot dog eating champion Takeru Kobayashi declined to sign an MLE contract in 2010, it nearly scuttled his once-glorious career. ESPN pays the MLE an undisclosed amount for the exclusive rights to broadcast the Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest live. Last year the event drew 1.7 million viewers, with advertising equivalency estimated by the MLE at $300 million.