Krystal Square Off

The Krystal Square Off is the official World Hamburger Eating Championship, taking place in Chattanooga, Tennessee and is sanctioned by the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE). In this event, contestants eat as many Krystal hamburgers as possible in eight minutes. Many tour professionals state that this is the premier eating event on the tour.Fact|date=November 2007

The Krystal Square Off consists of a qualifying tour and a world championship. In the qualifying tour, amateur eaters compete with professional eaters for a spot at the world championship. In 2004, the first year of the event, local amateurs Sam Vise and Jeff Hicks defeated professionals to earn a position at the world championship.

The two-minute qualifier record stands at 39 Krystals eaten by "Humble" Bob Shoudt in Nashville, 2007.

List of winners

History

*2004: Kobayashi consumed 69 Krystals in the 8-minute contest, pocketing $10,000 in prize money. Second place went to "The Black Widow" Sonya Thomas who ate 46, pocketing $5,000.
*2005: Kobayashi consumed 67 Krystal hamburgers in the 8-minute contest. Second Place went to Joey Chestnut (62) of San Jose, California. Sonya Thomas (56) took third. "Humble" Bob Shoudt (51) of Royersford, Pennsylvania took fourth place. Prize money was $10,000, $5,000, $2,500, $1,500 respectively, for the top four positions.
*2006: The event, taking place at the First Tennessee Pavilion, was televised live on ESPN 2 for the first time. Kobayashi and Chestnut both topped the event's world record near the midpoint of the contest, with Kobayashi (97 Krystals) taking the victory. Patrick "Deep Dish" Bertoletti, of Chicago also broke the previous world record, finishing third with 76. The winners split a $30,000 purse. An amateur event, dubbed the Krystal Sackful Challenge, was held prior to the main event. It featured two-person teams chosen from the audience, eating as many Krystals as possible in two minutes. The winners of the inaugural challenge were Matt Alling, 24, of Birmingham and Bruce Clements, 23, of Chattanooga. [ [http://www.tfponline.com/absolutenm/templates/breaking.aspx?articleid=6573&zoneid=41 Breaking News: Kobayashi remains Krystal king] , "Chattanooga Times Free Press", October 28, 2006. Retrieved 2006-10-31.]
*2007: Joey Chestnut devoured 103 Krystal hamburgers in eight minutes to win the Krystal Square Off IV World Hamburger Eating Championship. The battle for second between 22-year-old Patrick "Deep Dish" Bertoletti and "Humble" Bob Shoudt, 41, ended in an upset. Shoudt, ranked seventh in the world, consumed 95 Krystals to edge out Bertoletti, the number two ranked eater in the world. Chestnut won $10,000 and a Krystal Square Off champion's belt and trophy made out of crystal. Shoudt's runner-up finish earned $7,500, while Bertoletti third-place finish earned $3,500.

A list of contestants

100 burgers or more

* Joey "Jaws" Chestnut (San Jose, CA) - 103 (#1 2007)

90 burgers or more ("The Triple Tre")

* Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi (Nagano, Japan) - 97 (#1 2006)
* "Humble" Bob Shoudt ( [http://www.humblebob.com/ home page] ) (Royersford, PA) - 95 (#2 2007)
* Patrick "Deep Dish" Bertoletti (Chicago, IL) - 94 (#3 2007)

80 burgers or more ("The Double Tre and a Deuce")

70 burgers or more ("The Double Tre and a Half Deuce")

* Tim Janus (New York, NY) - 74 (#4 2007)

60 burgers or more ("The Double Tre")

* Hall Hunt (Jacksonville Beach, FL ) - 63 (#6 2008)
* Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas (Alexandria, VA) - 62 (#1 Chattanooga, TN qualifier 2006)

50 burgers or more ("The Deuce Tre")

* Juliet Lee (Germantown, MD) - 55 (#7 2008)
* Chip Simpson (USA) - 55 (#5 (tie) 2006)
* Rich "The Locust" LeFevre (Henderson, NV) - 53 (#6 2007)
* Eric "Badlands" Booker (Copiague, NY) - 51 (#2 Nashville, TN qualifier 2008)
* Juris Shibayama (Murfreesboro, TN) - 51 (#2 Nashville, TN qualifier 2008)
* Crazy Legs Conti (New York NY,) - 50 (#2 Knoxville, TN qualifier 2008)
* Erik "The Red" Denmark (Seattle, WA ) - 50 (#3 Memphis, TN qualifier 2008)

40 burgers or more ("The Double Deuce")

* Tim "Gravy" Brown (Chicago, IL) - 45 (#2 Atlanta, GA qualifier 2008)
* Jim "Buffalo" Reeves (Buffalo, NY) - 44 (#3 Atlanta, GA qualifier 2008)
* Arturo "The Natural" Rios (NJ) - 44 (#9 2006)
* Allen "The Shredder" Goldstein - 42 (#2 Atlanta, GA qualifier 2007)
* Seaver "The Achiever" Miller (Ashburn, VA) - 41 (#3 Memphis, TN qualifier 2006)

30 burgers or more ("The Tre")

* Dale Boone (Atlanta, GA) - 38 (#12 2006)
* Elizabeth Canady (USA) - 38 (2nd Jacksonville, FL 2007)
* Ron Koch (Las Vegas, NV,) - 37 (#8 2005 finals)
* Justin Mih (Boston, MA,) - 36 (#13 2006)
* Eric "Steakbellie" Livingston (Drexel Hill, PA) - 35 (#4 Atlanta, GA qualifier 2008)
* Sam Vise (Union City, TN) - 35 (#10 2005)
* Micah "Wing Kong" Collins (Drexel Hill, PA) - 33 (#5 Atlanta, GA qualifier 2008)
* Lynn Curley (Nashville, TN ) - 33 (#2 Nashville, TN qualifier 2004)
* Charles "The Godfather" Hardy (Brooklyn, NY) - 33 (#6 2004)
* Ed "Cookie" Jarvis (Nesconsett, NY) - 33 (#6 2004)
* Chris Abatsas (TN) - 32 (#2 Chattanooga, TN qualifier 2006)
* Nathan Biller (Briarwood, NY) - 32 (#5 Nashville, TN qualifier 2008)
* Pete "Pretty Boy" Davekos (Boston, MA) - 32 (#3 Knoxville, TN qualifier 2008)
* Russ Keeler (PA, USA) - 31 (2nd Perry GA qualifier 2007)
* Dave "U.S. Male" Goldstein (Voorhees, NJ) - 30 (#5 Knoxville, TN qualifier 2008)
* Cade Hardin (Huntsville, AL) - 30 (#3 Nashville, TN qualifier 2004)
* Carlene LeFevre (Henderson, NV) - 30 (#2 Perry, GA qualifier 2004)
* Kevin Ross (Temecula, CA) - 30 (#3 Nashville, TN qualifier 2007)
* Loren "Bubba" Yarbrough (Newnan, GA) - 30 (#13 2005)

ee also

*Competitive eating
*Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest
*Wing Bowl

References

External links

* [http://www.krystalsquareoff.com/ Krystal Square Off Site]
* [http://www.krystal.com/ Krystal's homepage]
* [http://www.ifoce.com/ International Federation of Competitive Eating]