Stupid "competitive eating" question...

[Valerie226]

Ok, we've all heard about these competitive eating contests. the story today was some guy who ate 103 hamburgers or hot dogs in a couple minutes. My stupid question is, do they keep the food down? do they actually eat all that and retain it, or do they go backstage and upchuck the whole business 15 minutes later... Do they need to keep it down for a certain amount of time to win?? :eek: :eek:

The only thing more ridiculous than my question is the contests themselves....

[tamawrite]

I think they only have to keep it down until the contest is over. Not sure, though...

[Clover]

I used to live in a town that had an oyster shucking-and-eating contest (one person shucked while the other ate) as part of a festival, and the eater had to keep it down for a certain length of time. I don't remember how long. One minute? Three minutes? Probably one, because it would slow things down if the spectators had to stand around for three minutes to find out who won. I also don't remember seeing anybody upchuck afterwards either, but it was allowed once the minute or whatever had passed. Maybe I've repressed the memory. Winning was more dependent on the speed and skill of the shucker than on the eater.

[Valerie226]

Ok, I googled for competitive eating, and apparently whatever the contestants want to do afterward is up to them. and some do have what they refer to as a "roman incident" but it didn't sound like that was common. they do need to contain what they've eaten until the contest is over. Amazing what people will do for a buck. guess that's more than enough information.