Competitive eater Humble Bob Shoudt finds time to give a quick interview while waiting for his shuttle to the Krystal Square Off.
The lobby of the Sheraton Read House hotel in Chattanooga, TN, is a hive of activity at the moment as competitive eaters start working their way down to catch a shuttle to Ross’s Landing for the Krystal Square Off V. While hanging around, the eaters have found some time to get in some last minute preparations and media opportunities.
We spotted Humble Bob Shoudt out in the lobby giving a quick interview. Juris Shibayama was mingling with friends and family, and Pat Bertoletti was seen in Starbucks filling up his cooler with boiling water, which he hopes will be the perfect dipping temperature by the time he gets up on stage in about three hours.
All the eaters had to have their stage needs in their bins by 11:45, so what is done is done at this moment. The shuttle leaves at 12:15 to ferry the eaters down to the where they will meet up with the grand entrance cavalcade, the details of which still remain secret.
The competitive eater's bins are packed and ready for the trip down to the Riverfront, awaiting their opening on stage.
The KSO blog crew will be on hand to reveal the secret of the eater’s grand entrance and to provide posts and instant Twitter updates throughout this afternoon as we get closer to the big event. So, stay tuned and make sure to bookmark us and come back often.
“The Black Widow” is one of the sport’s all-time greats, and on paper, she has the edge over Hoover in both experience and numbers. She’s one of a few eaters who has competed all four years of the Krystal Square Off and she has never lost a qualifier. Her personal best at Krystals is 62, which she did back in 2006. Her lowest tallies were 42 and 46, which she did at the 2004 Chattanooga Qualifier and 2004 finals, respectively. Since then she’s been over the 50 mark at every contest, averaging just above 53 Krystals lifetime. Most recently, she qualified for last year’s World Championship by downing 51 Krystals and went on to eat 58 at the finals.
As for Hall, he missed the first year of the Krystal Square Off, but he more than made up for that absence by competing in three qualifiers in 2005 alone, each time improving upon his performance, going from 24 to 26 to 30. Looking at the EatFeats database, Hall has competed in a total of six Krystal Square Off qualifiers in addition to his three final appearances over the past three years, so he actually has an edge over Thomas on the number of times he’s handled Krystals. That experience has helped him make considerable strides over the years. Last year he took down the Jacksonville Qualifier by wolfing down 49 Krystals and he went on to gobble up 51 at the finals to finish in 7th place.
In addition to steadily improving at every contest, another plus for Hall this Labor Day will be crowd support. He’s a Jacksonville local and the steady roar of “Hoover…Hoover…Hoover” from the audience may give him the extra edge needed to propel him to victory.
Finally, Hall lives in Krystal country with Jacksonville one of the fast food icon’s biggest markets, so he has plenty of opportunities to train. Thomas, on the other hand, is a few hundred miles away from the nearest Krystal, and as stated the other day, she hasn’t been practicing. So the first Krystal to her mouth since last year’s final will likely be the one she eats when the 8-minute clock starts on Monday.
So who do you think has the edge? And what numbers do you think these two eaters will put up?
Want to know what’s happening along the tour as it happens? Sign up to get messages from this year’s tour via Twitter here.
Humble Bob Shoudt meditates backstage prior to the start of today's Krystal Square Off V Qualifier in Chattanooga, where temperatures soared to over 90 degrees.
Humble Bob Shoudt said yesterday that it will take more than 120 Krystals in eight minutes to win this year’s Krystal Square Off World Hamburger Eating Championship.
Today, in front of a large crowd on the Riverfront in Chattanooga, it only took 58 Krystals–less than half that amount–for the 40-year-old competitive eating pro to earn his seat at the final table this Sept. 28, where he’ll compete for the $50,000 total cash purse and attempt to dethrone Joey Chestnut as the King of the Krystal.
Despite earning him the win and berth in the final, Shoudt’s mark of 58 Krystals at the Chattanooga Qualifier today was no doubt disappointing. Shoudt, the number five ranked eater in the world, ate 95 Krystals at last year’s championship, and he wanted to set a big number early this year to give other eaters something to chew on over the next five weeks. And at the very least, he wanted to break Sonya Thomas‘ Chattanooga Qualifier record of 62 Krystals, which she set back at the 2006 event.
We spoke with Shoudt moments after finishing, and he didn’t hide his disappointment. “I feel like I am about to pass out, not from the food, just so lightheaded today,” said Shoudt, who confided that he hadn’t eaten anything over the past three days. “I’m so disappointed today. It’s the first time I didn’t improve my numbers with Krystal. I’m looking forward to coming back to finals.”
While Shoudt wasn’t pleased with his number today, the rest of the field seemed content finishing in the big man’s shadow, even if they did eat less than half his amount. Finishing in second was Larry “The Legend” McNeil, with 28 Krystals, and in third was young gun Rick Petralia, of New York, who ate 20 Krystals. Super Paul Barlow, dressed in Army camouflage as a tribute to a friend who has served three times in Iraq, finished in 5th place with 18 Krystals.
Here are the full results from today:
1. “Humble” Bob Shoudt - 58
2. Larry McNeil - 28
3. Rick Petralia - 20
4. Steve Spinosa - 19
5. Super Paul Barlow - 18
5. Brian Smith - 18
7. Michael Weber - 15
8. Rick Schumacher - 14
8. Mike Nafziger - 14
10. Ryan Gayden - 13
11. Larry Patterson - 10
11. Craig Cheatham - 10
The next qualifier for Krystal Square Off V takes place Labor Day, Sept. 1, in Jacksonville, Fla. on the Landing. Among the eaters already confirmed for the contest include Hall “Hoover” Hunt and The Hangman, and it looks like The Black Widow is in fact going to show up in J-ville to challenge the boys for a seat at the finals.
Stay tuned for more coverage from today’s event, including videos and photos, and for info on the remaining qualifiers, go here.
The "humble" one was on hand to light the ceremonial Krystal Square Off Grill to kick off competitive eating's biggest event of the year.
Photos from the Opening Ceremony for the Krystal Square Off V World Hamburger Eating Championship are now posted on this site and our Flickr page. You can view them here (or slideshow here), or you can always click on the Flickr logo located in the far right column of this page.
The Opening Ceremony got underway yesterday on the footsteps of the Krystal Building in downtown Chattanooga, with Krystal’s Brad Wahl and George Shea of Major League Eating making introductory marks to kick things off. Shea then introduced competitive eating pro “Humble” Bob Shoudt, who tried on the World Championship belt for the audience (a jinx?) and then lit the ceremonial Krystal Square Off Grill.
With media outlets from across the Chattanooga area on hand to capture the Olympic-like spectacle, the Grill was paraded down Chestnut Street to the Riverfront, site of the World Championship on Sept. 28. The ceremony finally drew to a close with the Celebrity/Media Square Off, which was won by WDEF’s noon anchor Joe Legge. Read about that contest here.
Today’s action gets underway at 3:00 pm EST. Anyone interested in being one of the 5 random contestants selected right before the contest begins should register on site by 2:00 pm. Stay tuned to our Twitter feed and to this blog for all the latest from the Chattanooga Qualifier today.
WDEF anchor Joe Legge showing his champion form during today's celebrity Krystal eating contest held as part of the Opening Ceremong for Krystal Square Off V.
If you followed along on Twitter then you know that Joe Legge, the noon anchor on Chattanooga’s WDEF-TV, won the local celebrity Krystal eating contest today held along the banks of the Tennessee River in the Scenic City. The contest wrapped up a day of festivities as Krystal employees and Chattanoogans gathered for the Opening Ceremony of Krystal Square Off V, which included “Humble” Bob Shoudt lighting the Krystal Square Off Grill before it was escorted by a parade of people down Chestnut Street.
Legge, the only one of the bunch who came to the table with serious eating credentials, if competing in last year’s Sackful Challenge counts as serious, and it probably doesn’t, jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as he gobbled up eight Krystals in two-minutes, an impressive number for an amateur. Okay, it’s not that impressive considering it’s 31 shy of the two-minute world record held by “Humble” Bob but nevertheless it was enough to earn Legge some major bragging rights among his peers.
Finishing just behind Legge was Jason Law who downed 7 Krystals, and tying for third place were Don Welch from WTVC and Mark Bruce from WRCB, who both ate 6.
In last was Webb Wright from WDEF who more or less showed up to enjoy a light lunch of Krystals.
The real deal takes place tomorrow at 3:00 pm with the first qualifier of the season. For the first time five amateur eaters will be selected on the spot to compete in the 8-minute contest. The winner of the Chattanooga Qualifier will go on to compete at the world hamburger eating championship on Sept. 28.
Check out WDEF’s blog post about Joe Legge’s win today here and watch Joe’s excellent interview with Humble Bob after the contest below.
Humble Bob Shoudt is gunning to be number 1 at this year's Krystal Square Off World Championship.
To say competitive eating pro “Humble” Bob Shoudt wants to win the Krystal Square Off World Hamburger Eating Championship this year would be an understatement.
He wants it badly.
Shoudt, who already owns the two-minute Krystal eating world record of 39 Krystals, told the Chattanooga Times Free Press in an article published today: “I want the eight-minute record. It’s a big deal for me.”
Humble Bob Shoudt made a similar statement during our audio podcast interview with him, saying that he circled his calendar immediately after last year’s final, when he finished second to Joey Chestnut.
Shoudt will take the first step toward his goal of Krystal domination tomorrow when he competes in the first qualifier of the year along the banks of the Tennessee River in downtown Chattanooga at 3:00 pm EST. Stay tuned here for coverage from the event and sign up for our Twitter feed to get the results first.
WDEF noon anchor Joe Legge, seen above at last year's Krystal Square Off, may be messy but he won't be messing around at the Media Square Off this Friday.
Like the Opening Ceremony at the Olympics in Beijing, but without the fake fireworks, Birds Nest-looking stadium and thousands of green-glowing acrobats wearing adult diapers, Krystal will host the Opening Ceremony for the Krystal Square Off V World Hamburger Eating Championship this Friday in downtown Chattanooga.
The festivities will begin at 1:00 pm EST in spectacular style with the official lighting of the Krystal Square Off Grill on the steps of The Krystal Company headquarters, located directly across from the Sheraton Reed House Hotel. This will signify the beginning of this year’s Krystal Square Off Qualifying Tour and will be followed by the first ever “Running of the Grill” down Chestnut Street, complete with a police escort, parade of vehicles with local dignitaries, the Krystal cycling team on bikes and a host of Krystal employees.
The event is open to the public and all Chattanoogans are encouraged to come down and join the parade.
The procession will then end down at the Chattanooga Riverfront, site of the Chattanooga Qualifier and the World Hamburger Eating Championship. At 2:00 pm, Krystal’s VP of Marketing Brad Wahl and George Shea from Major League Eating will host a press conference to set the stage for this year’s contest, and immediately afterwards, Chattanooga’s most popular news personalities will square off for major bragging rights in a 2-minute Krystal burger bout.
Among those competing Friday will be Don Welch from WTVC, Mark Bruce from WRCB, Joe Legge from WDEF (check out his blog here), Jason Law from WDEF and Webb Wright from WDEF.
Of course, we’ll be covering the entire event here at KrystalSquareOff.com–snapping photos, shooting video, and Twittering away–so be sure to check back here for a recap and sign up for our Twitter feed so you can follow the action as it happens.
Follow the Krystal Square Off V every step of the way on Twitter.
Want to be the absolute first to find out what’s happening along the Krystal Square Off V tour this year — from who’s there and who’s missing, to what’s going on backstage before a contest, to results immediately afterwards?
Well, sign up today to follow the official Krystal Square Off V Twitter feed at twitter.com/ksquareoff.
If you’re not familiar with Twitter, it’s an instant, micro-blog that allows us to send messages, known as “tweets,” directly to everyone following our feed. Our updates will give you rare and raw access to what’s happening behind-the-scenes and on the stage along competitive eating’s most exciting tour. It also allows you to chime in on the action as it happens, and you’ll be the first to get the latest info and receive regular updates when a new story is posted at krystalsquareoff.com. These updates will be displayed at twitter.com/ksquareoff and delivered to your Twitter page plus you can sign-up to get tweets via IM, SMS on your phone, RSS, email or through an application such as Twitterrific or Facebook.
So get signed up for Twitter today and follow our feed. We’ll be twittering live from the Opening Ceremony this Friday, which will include the official Lighting and Running of the Grill through downtown Chattanooga at 1:00pm.
P.S. Some of your favorite competitive eaters are on Twitter too, including Hall “Hoover” Hunt and The Hangman. Check out Hall’s feed here and The Hangman’s here.
Details of the deal include the sports network broadcasting live from the final championship event in Chattanooga on September 28. The special, one-hour broadcast will air beginning at 2:00 p.m.
In addition to the live event broadcast, FSN South will also air weekly updates covering the seven-city qualifying tour beginning Aug. 23.
For more information about the partnership, check out the press release here.
Competitive eater Humble Bob Shoudt is looking to cruise to victory this Saturday in Chattanooga.
When it comes to the Krystal Square Off V World Hamburger Eating Championship, talk is cheap. The only thing that matters is who puts away the most Krystals by the time the clock strikes 8 minutes.
With that said, what competitive eaters have to say along the tour is often priceless, and for this reason alone, krystalsquareoff.com is introducing a regular series of audio podcasts featuring your favorite eaters talking trash, squashing (or starting) rumors and sharing their perspectives on anything and everything in the world of competitive eating.
Today, we’re getting things started with “Humble” Bob Shoudt, who will seek to earn a birth to this year’s final at the kick off qualifier this Saturday. During our interview, Shoudt proves less-than-humble about his chances to win it all this year and shares why he considers the Krystal Square Off “better than the Olympics.” He also let’s us know what we can expect from him Saturday (may not be the century mark, as we mentioned), whether he’s in it for the money and who he thinks will be joining him in the top three at this year’s championship.
Click below to listen to the audio interview.
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