The hook-filled, ready-for-radio song has the acclaimed recording artist and competitive eating legend laying down rhymes about “the burgers that come in the red box, burgers that you can only get in the Deep South.”
Badlands is one of the giants in the sport of eating and is coming off a two year retirement in which he dropped 90 pounds. A finalist at both Krystal Square Off I and II, Badlands will make his first attempt to qualify for this year’s Krystal Square Off World Hamburger Eating Championship this Saturday at the Nashville qualifier.
Since we started our Krystal Square Off Twitter feed we’ve noticed many of the biggest names in the sport of eating signing up for the free “micro-blog” service that allows you to send brief messages called “tweets” via the Internet or your cell phone to people, aka “followers,” in your network. Eric “Badlands” Booker, “Humble” Bob Shoudt, Hall “Hoover” Hunt, Micah “Wing Kong” Collins and Bruce “The Hangman” Pobanz are just some of the eaters who are on Twitter.
And while some of them still need a “nudge” to start “tweeting” away, guys like Badlands, Hoover and The Hangman have started to send updates to give fans insight into what they’re doing and what’s on their minds.
For example, in his latest tweet, Badlands Booker shares, “Preparing myself to make history at the Krystal Square Off in Nashville on Sep. 13th.”
Hall Hunt, on the other hand, let his followers know just before the Jacksonville Qualifier that he was either “Eating, running, praying or sleeping.” Meanwhile after the contest, The Hangman summed up his performance, saying, “Overall the event was good. I did not deuce like I hoped. The weather was not favorable to most of us leaving all but two with low numbers.”
We’re hoping more eaters will get on Twitter soon, and for those who are signed up already we encourage you to give us, and all of your followers, regular missives about what you’re doing. Want to wax poetic about your upcoming contest? Tweet away. In the midst of a training session? Well, let us in on it. Have some news to share? Give us the scoop. We want to hear.
If you’re still wondering what Twitter is all about, check out our original post about Twitter here, and the below video sums it up rather well in simple terms.
Sonya Thomas, doing her best Dale Boone impression above, will seek to earn her fifth consecutive berth in the Krystal Square Off finals today in Jacksonville.
The Jacksonville Krystal Square Off V Qualifier is less than 30 minutes from starting, and the word on the scene is that the heat, humidity and occasional downpour hasn’t stopped hundreds of competitive eating fans from coming down to the Jacksonville Landing to cheer on their favorite eaters as they battle it out for a seat at the live, televised World Championship on Sept. 28.
While Hall Hunt is hands down the hometown favorite today, we hear there are some big time Sonya Thomas supporters among the crowd with a few people donning “I Love Sonya Thomas” shirts and one sign that says “Marry Me Sonya.” The Black Widow surely doesn’t like to disappoint, and we expect today to be a bite-for-bite battle until the very end between the two competitive eating pros.
For those not following along on the Krystal Square Off Twitter feed, you’re missing out on the action as it happens. As mentioned via Twitter earlier today, the below is the official list of eaters confirmed for today’s event:
Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas–Alexandria, VA
Hall “Hoover” Hunt–Jacksonville, FL
Bruce “The Hangman” Pobanz–Jacksonville, FL
Glen Owens–Hilliard, FL
Michael Parish–Tamarac, FL
Jeremy Kirch–Jacksonville, FL
Mark Barnes–Orlando, FL
Mike Greenspan–North Hollywood, CA
More than 50 “average Joes” have also signed up today for the chance to be one of the five amateur hopefuls picked on the spot to compete.
Don’t miss out on the action as it happens. Sign up to follow the Krystal Square Off V Qualifiers via Twitter. To read what you’ve missed so far, click on the “up” and “down” arrows on the Twitter box located on the right of this page.
To steal a line from Badlands Booker, Hall "Hoover" Hunt is hungry and focused for this Monday's Krystal Square Off qualifier in Jacksonville.
With the Jacksonville Krystal Square Off Qualifier just three days away, the local media is putting the spotlight on its hometown boy Hall Hunt, who is looking to repeat as the local champ and earn a seat at the finals on September 28. The 8th-ranked competitive eater in the world was just featured in Folio Weekly, the city’s alternative weekly, and he appeared on WJXT Channel 4 this morning where he put on a Krystal eating demonstration.
Hall also sat down with Jacksonville.com’s Amanda Warford at a local Krystal restaurant where the two chatted about his competitive eating career, and then he gave her a tutorial on the fine art of speed eating Krystals. Check out Amanda’s great interview with the always-a-class-act Hall below.
Competitive eating fans are sending us their predictions for this weekend via Twitter. Get in on the action here.
Sonya Thomas, seen above facing off with Takeru Kobayashi in 2006, is ready to take on the boys this year at Krystal Square Off V.
Every week during this year’s Krystal Square Off V tour, we’re interviewing the biggest names in competitive eating, and this week the spotlight is on Sonya Thomas and Hall Hunt as they prepare for the Jacksonville Qualifier this Labor Day. As we stated yesterday, the contest down in J-Ville looks to be a good one, with Hall competing on his home turf and constantly improving his numbers and Sonya looking to hush her critics who say she’s no longer a threat when it comes to Krystals.
We talked with Sonya via phone yesterday and asked her how she felt about this Monday’s event and whether she thinks Hall “Hoover” Hunt will challenge her. The Black Widow also shared with us who she’s picking to win it all at the Krystal Square Off V World Hamburger Eating Championship (it isn’t Joey Chestnut), what she thinks the top number will be (it isn’t as high as Humble Bob’s prediction), what she predicts for herself and what kind of pressure she’s putting on herself this year.
Finally, we asked Sonya some of the great questions our readers submitted via the Krystal Square Off Twitter feed and on this site.
Hear all Sonya Thomas had to say by listening to the audio podcast below, and stay tuned for our podcast with Hall Hunt later today.
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Pro eater Humble Bob Shoudt was disappointed but not defeated after winning the Chattanooga Krystal Square Off V Qualifier.
As we mentioned yesterday, competitive eating pro “Humble” Bob Shoudt wasn’t exactly pleased with his 58-Krystals performance in Chattanooga yesterday at the first Qualifier for this year’s Krystal Square Off World Hamburger Eating Championship. The mark was far off his best of 95 Krystals in eight minutes and was only seven Krystals better than the amount he gobbled when he set the two-minute world record last September.
So was it the buns sticking to the boxes? The Beijing-like, humidity and 90-plus degree heat? Or is this all part of Humble Bob’s master plan — to dog the qualifier, safely win it without threat of a reversal and come back on Sept. 28 to take down competitive eating’s biggest cash prize?
We caught up with Shoudt immediately afterwards to see what he had to say. Hear his thoughts in the video blog below:
For more coverage from yesterday’s Qualifier in Chattanooga, check out the below links:
- Eatfeats.com coverage and comments from Chattanooga Qualifier - EatFeats.com
Thanks to all of those who have already signed up to follow the Krystal Square Off via our Twitter feed. We’ll continue to provide as-it-happens coverage from each event, and sorry for the occasional typos as we are texting messages via our phones. Remember if you want to reply to any “tweet”, simply type “@ksquareoff” and then your message. For more on Twitter, go here.
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.
