Pepper spraying isn't just for nonchalant cops and Wal-Mart shoppers, it's fun for ALL ages! A 15-year-old girl allegedly pepper sprayed over a dozen people in the cafeteria of a Bronx high school today, shortly before 1 p.m. The NYPD press office didn't have any information for us about the incident, but a source tells NBC New York that 15 students were treated at the scene and about four to five were taken to the hospital. Now we just have to wait for a photo of the teen to be released so we can get cracking on the next fun Photoshop meme. more ›

Sonya Thomas, the 100-lb champion competitive eater who won last year's women's Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest , is back for a little pre-Thanksgiving turkey action. The petite eating machine was in town yesterday for a Wild Turkey (yes, the whiskey)-sponsored turkey eating contest in Times Square, which she dominated despite facing some significantly larger competition. more ›

The controversial 11-day San Gennaro festival kicked off yesterday with a new world record. And while some NoLIta neighbors still seem miffed that the Feast is hurting their business, people at the festival certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves. As one manager was moaning to the Post that “There was nothing but hammering and sawing since they set up,” Chicago's Patrick Bertoletti was off breaking the world cannoli-eating record by chowing down on 32 of the desserts in six minutes! more ›

When Tareku Kobayashi took to the rooftop of 230 Fifth this weekend to compete live via satellite with the Major League Eating-sanctioned hot dog inhalers at Coney Island, an ecstatic crowd cheered him on to a world-record breaking victory of 69 dogs in 10 minutes. But it seemed just a little too convenient that the previous record, held by Kobayashi's arch-nemesis Joey Chestnut, was 68, and now, some are calling into question the validity of Kobayashi's feat. more ›

Joey Chestnut won the official Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island yesterday with a whopping 62 dogs in ten minutes—no doubt an impressive feat, but not enough to beat his own 2009 world record of 68 dogs. No, that distinction goes instead to blacklisted Japanese competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi, who ate 69 dogs from the rooftop lounge of 230 Fifth. But what does it all mean?! more ›

Blacklisted competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi spoke today, shedding some light on his ongoing battle with Major League Eating and describing his night in jail after bumrushing the stage at last year's Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest. more ›

In the interest of research in the days leading up to the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, we've been reading up on competitive eating events across the city. That's how we came across an interesting little piece about high-stakes eating contests amongst type-A finance guys. It's hard to say how much of this "trend" is real and how much is media-manufactured, but the nauseating competitions these twisted minds come up with are worth a read, imaginary or not: more ›

What is it about warm temperatures that gets people in the mood to physically force pound upon pound of one kind of food down their throat in a limited amount of time? We don't know either, but hot off the heels of all the press surrounding the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest and its bid for gender equality comes word of another annual competitive eating event, this one for Japanese curry rice at Midtown's Go! Go! Curry. Get psyched! In the restaurant's own words, "One of the most common food in Japan, 'CURRY RICE' has become an exciting sport!" more ›

Now that the case against the competitive eating star Takeru Kobayashi has been settled, he wants to get something straight: it was all just a big misunderstanding! In a post on his website, Kobayashi claims his 4th of July arrest for jumping on stage after the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest was a crime of passion. more ›

Competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi is fresh out of jail after being charged with obstruction of governmental administration, resisting arrest, trespassing and disorderly conduct at this year's Nathan's Famous July 4th Hot Dog Eating Contest. While he usually finds himself behind a stack of hot dogs at the annual event, this year he refused to bend to Major League Eating's contract and wasn't allowed to compete. Instead, the "Tsunami" showed up and stormed the stage. more ›

While this year's Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest threatened to be overshadowed by Takeru Kobayashi's arrest after the event, two people who enjoyed the display for its pure, human endurance-testing, Coney Island-exciting, 100% beef self were Michael Bisberg and Laura Silver. The pair won VIP passes to the contest from us and shared their photographs and observations from the heart of the action. more ›

Today, the contestants for Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest weighed in at City Hall. While Joey "Jaws" Chestnut, the reigning champ for three straight years, showed off his Mustard Belt, it wasn't the same without his archrival, Takeru "The Tsunami" Kobayashi, the Japanese phenom who has won the contest six times. Kobayashi claimed that a contract dispute with contest organizers was keeping him out of the July 4th event, Mayor Bloomberg stepped into the fray, saying, "Well, you know what they say: If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen." more ›

Professional competitive eaters are having a hard time stomaching a Bay Ridge baker's decision to restrict her cupcake eating contest to amateurs only. "Sadly, we will not learn anything about humanity's ability to consume cupcakes, because it's not a sanctioned event," griped Major League Eating chairman George Shea to the Daily News. "This is like watching your Uncle Stan play football: It's amusing, but it has no bearing on the world of sports." Our Uncle Stan? Sports? Amusing? So many questions. more ›

Joey Chestnut is now well on his way to a Kobayashi-like dynasty after winning his third consecutive Nathan's Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest. Chestnut jumped out to an early lead on his archrival Takeru Kobayashi and never looked back on his way to a new record of 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes. Kobayashi did everything he could to hold pace with Joey Jaws, setting his own personal record with 64 1/2 dogs—both men eclipsing the mark of 59 they both hit to send them into overtime a year ago. Chestnut even broke the 2007 record of 66 dogs that he set back when the old rules gave competitors an extra two minutes in regulation. more ›

Yesterday the top dogs of competitive eating faced off at the scales. Reigning champ Joey Chestnut and six-time winner Takeru Kobayashi were weighed in prior to their annual July 4th Nathan't Hot Dog showdown tomorrow. Chestnut, 25, came in at 218 lbs, to his 31-year-old competitor's 132 lbs. The two have faced off four times, with each taking home the belt twice, so this year will be a tie-breaker. Chestnut currently holds the world record, with his 2007 performance of eating 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes more ›

Competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi will do what no one wants to do: eat all the leftover holiday fruitcake! This is all part of the Major League Eating’s Holiday Food Bank Giving Initiative; the MLE tells us that "Kobayashi will attempt to break the fruitcake-eating world record, seeking to consume all fruitcake leftover from the holidays. The event is designed to benefit the Food Bank For New York City and to raise awareness of the crisis faced by food banks across the nation in the current economic environment." more ›

Tomorrow's big showdown is set, with reigning Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Champions Joey Chestnut facing off against six-time champ Takeru Kobayashi in the battle of who can devour-and keep down-more hot dogs in 10 minutes. The two, along with other contestants, were weighed in today. Kobayashi is 165 pounds while Chestnut is 230 pounds. Last year, Chestnut set the new world record by eating 66 hot dogs--66 hot dogs equal to about about 14.5 pounds (Kobayashi ate 63 hot dogs, a new personal best for him, equal to 13.8 pounds). more ›

Therefore all qualifying rounds will last just 10 minutes this year, and the ultimate July 4th battle will likely be shortened to that time as well. The change has outraged reigning champ Joey Chestnut, who didn't edge out six-time champ Takeru Kobayashi until the last few minutes of last year’s contest. Chesnut calls the change “ridiculous.” more ›

We hope the following doesn't put anyone off their appetite before they've even had a chance to tuck into their Thanksgiving feast, but we have to describe what champion eater Tim Janus managed to consume in a publicity feast for charity. In the course of 15 minutes, Janus gobbled down the following:A 10-pound turkey Four pounds of mashed potatoes Three pounds of cranberry sauce Two and a half pounds of green beans This was accomplished... more ›

While the residual mustard stains have barely dried from last week’s extremely popular Hot Dog Eating Contest at Nathan’s Famous, it seems like the realm of competitive eating in NY has reached an overdue “I’m full” saturation point. So it’s only in the interest of each borough having its own event that we bring you this next story- the 4th Annual Dumpling Eating Contest, taking place on Sunday August 5th as part of the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in Flushing. For all of those who watched Joey Chestnut eat 66 weenies last week and exclaimed, “Hell, I can do that,” here’s your chance: the Dumpling Eating Contest is accepting registrants until the end of the month. Dumplings used in the competition are of the chicken and vegetable variety; according to the contest’s poster, current records are “Man- 49 pcs., Woman- 33 pcs.” at the two minute mark. So, um, let’s go ladies! Sponsors for the contest include Chef One Dumplings and the Tai Pan Bakery in Flushing, whose Village Voice listing says features “innovations like “Special Taste Mixed Hot Dog.” more ›

It's our favorite July 4th tradition, this side of smiley-face fireworks: The Annual Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, held at Nathan's in Coney Island. And this year's competition is particularly tantalizing: Current champion Takeru Kobayashi has been having jaw pains, while Joey Chestnut broke the hot dog eating record, by scarfing down 59.5 at a June event. So we shall begin our liveblogging, and Jen Chung and Tien Mao will be providing other commentary during the competition from time to time. more ›

Oh no! Could it be? Is the rematch between Takeru 'Tsunami' Kobayashi and Joey Chestnut in doubt? Last year at the Nathan's annual 4th of July Hot Eating Contest, Kobayashi narrowly defeated Chestnut to win the Mustard Belt for the sixth year in a row. Defending his title next week may not be possible for Kobayashi. First, his mother passed away in March, causing the Tsunami to take a sabbatical from training. Now, news comes from Kobayashi's blog (bad translation) that he's got a bout of jaw arthritis! Apparently Kobayashi can only open his mouth big enough to fit a finger and the injury happened just a week into training. more ›

DISCUSSION: The one and only, legendary Kirk Douglas will be talking with Columbia undergraduate film studies director Annette Insdorf tonight. The 90 year old has a thing or two to say about life, and some stories about his own (the man survived a helicopter crash, for goodness sake), so listen up youngins. more ›

Some high school reunions spurs thoughts of regret and schadenfreude. The 10 year high school reunion for some Regis High School alums prompted a group of classmates to attempt to ride break the record for fastest ride through the NYC subway system. Stefan Karpinski, Andrew Weir, Bill Amaosa, Jason Laska, Michael Boyle and Brian Brockmeyer teamed up to ride the subways starting yesterday afternoon at Rockaway Park station, and should be ending around 3PM or 4PM at the 241st Street stop in the Bronx, if they're on track (hee!). In order to break the record, they must stop at all 468 stations in under 26 hours, 21 minutes and 8 seconds. more ›

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Gothamist likes its pickles, but we're not quite sure if we like them quite as much as Arnie "ChowHound" Chapman, who won Carnegie Deli's annual pickle eating competition. There's no information out there just yet about how many pickles he ate and exactly what kind. Because everyone knows that half-sour are easier to eat than those extra-sour pickles. ChowHound, who hails from Amarillo, Texas, supposedly trains by eating a head of cabbage and speed drinking a gallon of water every day. That's some serious training. Currently ranked at 24 by Speedeat (who knew), ChowHound is not affiliated with the IFOCE, but the AICE (Association of Independent Competitive Eaters). The fact that their are two rival competitive eating organizations makes Gothamist think of endless possible competitions. They can have all types of wrestling competitions - sumo, Greco-Roman, "professional", and jello (the loser would be forced to eat all the jello at the end). amNewYork has an excellent gallery of all the pickle gluttony. Note the florescent color of those shirts. Were they supposed to look like the pickles the contestants were eating or radioactive material? more ›