Takeru Kobayashi To Joey Chestnut: “I’m Back”
Wearing a Krystal Square Off V “staff” shirt and a Gringo Bandito Hot Sauce trucker cap given to him by The Offspring’s Dexter Holland, a relaxed and confident Takeru Kobayashi stopped by the Krystal restaurant on Broad Street in Chattanooga yesterday to sign autographs and get a behind-the-scenes look at how Krystals are prepared.
The three-time hamburger world champ also sat down for an interview with local CBS affiliate, WDEF-TV, and had a terse message for last year’s champ Joey Chestnut.
Listen to what he said here.
Chestnut, who flew into Atlanta from San Jose, Calif. last night and drove the 115-plus miles to Chattanooga, was up and at ‘em this morning, doing two interviews with WDEF starting at 6:00 a.m. (that’s 3:00 a.m. for the west coast eater). The speed-eating sensation is now off to a lunchtime interview with Don Welch on WTVC, the local ABC affiliate, and then the two eaters will meet up for the first time in Chattanooga since 2006 at today’s press conference at 2:30 p.m.
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By the way, here’s a little known Krystal Square Off fact that we learned yesterday. One grill is capable of steaming a maximum of 24 Krystal hamburgers (aka a “Steamer Pack), and it takes a total of eight minutes to fully prepare and cook all 24 Krystals. So, when you do the math, Chestnut and Kobayashi can consume more than four times as many Krystal hamburgers as Krystal can cook in the same amount of time. They could also devour one Steamer Pack in about 1/8th the time it would take to prepare them.
Want a shot at Chestnut and Kobayashi? Sign-up to be The 12th Eater at Sunday’s Krystal Square Off V and win at least $500.
UPDATE: WDEF-TV has posted a video of today’s news story on the match-up between Chestnut and Kobayashi at Krystal Square Off V. Noon anchor Joe Legge, who won this year’s kick-off media contest, presents the piece which includes interviews with both eaters, footage of Kobayashi at a local Krystal and footage from Krystal Square Off III and IV. Watch it here.
