Andy: Hello everyone, I'm Andy and this is Strange Stuff Podcast. Welcome back.

Mark: I'm Mark, again. Yeah, welcome back exactly. I tell you, hope it's not as irritating for other people to listen to my voice, but to listen to an echo of my voice is extremely irritating.

Andy: Yeah, I don't know. It started when I bought the new mixing desk. I don't know why. It's just the difference between the new one and the old one.

Mark: Did you read the instruction manual?

Andy: Don't be stupid, I'm not a bird. don't read instruction manuals, that goes straight in the bin with all the spare bits.

Mark: They don't read instruction manuals. Yes, exactly, all those loose screws. You never understand why they give you so many spare screws.

Andy: Yeah, those cables that no one knows where they plug into.

Mark: Ha ha ha. No, so before we were interrupted I was saying I almost feel angry. Last time we spoke, I told you that the price of diesel, because I've got a diesel car, had gone up from 16 to 19. Last time I filled up, 21 and a half.

Andy: Yeah. What'd you expect? And it's going to get worse because once Trump said, don't you dare start blocking the straight of humus, of course, the first thing they did was go and blow up all the oil tankers trying to get through, which is bound to piss off Grumpy in the first place. But what does he expect? This is, he's not in charge of this. He thinks, he thinks it's like.

Mark: HMOZ

Andy: People just do what he says. He's learning a lesson, the hard way that this is not. I mean, a week ago he said, it's complete. The war is over. We've won. The end. And now he's saying, it's complete. The war is won. It's over, but we've still got to finish it. It's like, fuck off. Just put your hands up. You are not going to win this. You thought Afghanistan was bad. Iran will keep you going for 50 years, mate.

Mark: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's, It's just an unbelievable situation. ⁓

Andy: And what makes it even funnier, not funnier, but worse, is now you've got Israel saying, why isn't anybody helping us? Why isn't anybody helping us? I'll give you a clue, mate. If you've been shooting missiles at your neighbors for 50 fucking years and one them decides to shoot back, live with it, you fucking terrorist.

Mark: I know. I know. What you touched on the point just now that Trump seems absolutely shocked that Iran would retaliate.

Andy: I know, the entitlement of that prick is just unknown.

Mark: You know, what the hell does... He's complaining about them blowing up ships. They've bombed him. They've attacked their country.

Andy: Yeah, and they've also blown up Venezuelan ships and anybody else's ships that might be carrying his oil.

Mark: That fellow Hegthzeth, you know, the Christian nationalist fellow.

Andy: The midget.

Mark: Is he a midget? I don't think he's a midget. Is he normal size?

Andy: Yeah, apparently he looks up to Tom Cruise.

Mark: ⁓ You know, where do they find them? And why does the military listen to them? Other than the fact, of course, the military, for them, a conflict is manna from heaven. It's what they've been living for, looking forward to for years. ⁓ yeah, we can shoot some people.

Andy: Peace. A lot of them praise, a lot of them praising God that God has given them a war.

Mark: Well that was even more incredible. We had spoke about it last week. Hesketh talking about this is the end game. Jesus is coming back to the earth.

Andy: Fuck it.

Mark: And then they talk about religious fundamentalists coming out of the Middle East.

Andy: Yeah, and they are the biggest religious fundamentalists of the lot.

Mark: So anyway, so that Kristi Noem woman, she's now ancient history. The next target is Bondi. I think she is called upon under subpoena to testify under oath. And the reason why they hate testifying under oath is because they know there's always the risk they're going to end up in prison.

Andy: Well, also they've been recorded anyway, spouting the shite that they're going to try and deny.

Mark: Yeah, exactly. So when she's asked the question, under oath, what happened to the evidence of the 13 year old girl who testified that Trump had raped her? Where is that evidence? She can't lie. Well, she can obviously she'll plead the fifth. She'll say, I'm sorry, I declined to answer that question.

Andy: Yeah, that shouldn't even be a thing when you're... I mean, it's okay when you're being questioned by the police, but not when you're up in court. That is not a defense.

Mark: Well, I can imagine there's going to be lots of that going on but

Andy: Well, it should be just okay if you're not going to stick up for yourself, it's automatically guilty.

Mark: Yeah, exactly. Into the clink for you. No, but it is. It's amazing how it's it sort of started off. The whole Trump thing started off as a bit of a conversation point for us. You know, just a bit of a laugh. I mean,

Andy: No stop wasting money on food just shoot them It was comedy. It was comedy gold. But now it's comedy, but it's dark comedy.

Mark: Yes, it's tragic comedy, but I have a feeling, I think, I don't know, it's difficult to say, I get the feeling that the Republican Party, which is obviously the important one, is actually turning, you know, the tide is turning, that more and more Republicans are seeing the insanity of having Trump as their leader.

Andy: Well, I mean, the worst of it is the American people, of course, who are wondering what's happened to their cheaper gas and more money in their pockets and their cheaper shopping and no more wars. And they're getting basically the polar opposite of everything that was promised. I think some of them are actually hopefully beginning to realize that this is not short term. Trump keeps saying, ⁓ yeah. small price to pay, the price of oil going up for a couple of weeks to get rid of this country that was three days away from a nuclear weapon now, by the way. It's gone down from two weeks to a week and now it's three days. They were three days away from having a nuclear weapon. It's just, stop it. No one believes anything that comes out of your mouth.

Mark: Mm. Well, you know, there are plenty. I wonder, I know his polls are crashing and burning, but you know, there's still, even if 30 % of Republicans still support him, you know, that's 25 million people still actively support him. It is probably more than that actually, in spite of everything that's gone on.

Andy: You can't fix stupid. There is always going to be a call. Even since the Second World War, there is still a hardcore Nazi regime operating somewhere in the world.

Mark: Yeah, but I have a feeling that that that really is a hard core. think the vast majority, it's as a result of probably apathy. It's just easier to believe what people like Trump and the Republican Party say because it's takes effort to challenge what they're actually saying. ⁓ yeah, price is going to come down. I vote for him.

Andy: Well, he's promising manna from heaven, isn't he? He's promising everyone a Trump credit card with government money on it. He's promising them refunds from the tariffs. He's promising them this. He's promising them that. He's even promised them a gold Trump phone. It's like, yeah, of course. I mean, the thing is it doesn't exist and it won't exist. It's just...

Mark: Yeah, yeah, yeah. and nothing ever gets paid. Made in China.

Andy: It's just one lie after another, but it's appeasing the fucking morons.

Mark: What makes me lean towards more than irritation but anger is that all of these people are going to walk away with millions and millions and millions of dollars in their pocket without some of them billions, without any accountability to what they've left behind.

Andy: some of them billions. Yeah. And it's like the same thing will happen with them as is happening with Mandelson. Like it's already been said that his investigation may take until after the 29 election. He's 72. The chances are that he's going to be dead long before then.

Mark: So.

Andy: And that's what they're waiting for. They say, ⁓ look, we know you did it. You know you did it, but we're going to let you die of natural causes before anyone has to admit it.

Mark: So here's a fellow who, Mandelson, who has been caught several times previously being sacked from jobs in disgrace or whatever.

Andy: and then demanded half a million quid after being sacked this time.

Mark: and then demanded half a million pounds because he'd been caught. Half a million, I mean they didn't pay him, apparently they did pay him 70,000.

Andy: Yeah. And, and, no, they then paid him 75 grand. Last time I was sacked, I didn't get 75 grand. Why not?

Mark: I know. Yeah, so, you know, people like that are literally going to walk off into the distance onto their yachts in the south of France. It's like that woman Moon. 149 million fraud with PPE during the pandemic. She, I think she's declared that company bankrupt. There's no money left. It's all gone. She walks off into the distance with her little husband.

Andy: Trying to think if I was ever stuck.

Mark: no accountability, no repercussions, no punishment. All the money has just disappeared into a bank account in Monaco. ⁓

Andy: Oh, but isn't she a lady now?

Mark: No, she was before, but they're trying to strip her of her title, but it's...

Andy: Well, apparently Charles has stripped nine people of their OBEs and MBEs in the last month.

Mark: Has he really? I don't know. But, you know, the mildly amusing thing, though of course it's my home country, not home, but mother country, this fellow Farage, who went off for an audience with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, Mar-a-Lago, and literally, I think it's ghosted, isn't it? Isn't that the modern term? And got completely ghosted and had to come back. ⁓ dear. ⁓

Andy: Apparently. and got blanked. Yeah. Yeah. he didn't get to suck on the presidential teat.

Mark: No, exactly. I mean that guy for a bit.

Andy: And funny enough, since he came back, he's changed his stance on the war. I don't know why we call it a war, because Trump says it's not a war. And then he says the war is over. And then he says it's not even a war, but the war is over. Nobody knows what it is.

Mark: Yes, he has. You're right. Well, it's a good, it's a, actually it's a, another sad example of Farage is still popular. You know, this reform party.

Andy: No, you know what? Farage before Christmas was guaranteed the next premiership. Not now. There's not a chance in hell that reform can win a general election now. He's managed to destroy the party in a couple of months.

Mark: The last The last, yesterday, having not got the audience to avoid that, he started talking about taxes and he had repeatedly said, if reform win these local councils, there will be no increase in taxes. And he said it repeatedly, I mean, 20, 100 times. Yesterday, he says, no, no, no, no, no, no, I never said we wouldn't increase tax.

Andy: Yeah, council texts. I said we wouldn't do it to the maximum.

Mark: is just, you know, these people are absolute charlatans. And yet, because all he says is, ⁓ immigrants, boats, people still are willing to vote for him in spite of everything else.

Andy: Well, Restore UK is the party that is the hard right of the right wing parties.

Mark: What do mean? It's worse, it's, why say worse, it's further right than reform. What?

Andy: ⁓ yeah, well, absolutely. mean, they basically want to deport any Muslim, legal or not.

Mark: What's this? There's actually a political party called Restore.

Andy: I've told you about this for weeks. I'm surprised. You know, have Rupert Lowe. Remember that name?

Mark: Now you have them. ⁓ yeah, so I remember you mentioning his name. I don't remember him being called a Restore Party.

Andy: No, because I could never remember what the reform then you got re-done, re-fucking-jibbed.

Mark: reverb all right so it's restore is it yeah yeah

Andy: I think it's restored. But I mean, the thing is they're getting a lot of defectors from reform. So all they've done so far is split the vote, which means that the next election will prove to be a hung parliament and you'll end up with a coalition between two useless motherfuckers.

Mark: I don't think so. think Stama is going to probably miss two and a half years away I think Stama is going to win the next election because people are seeing through the nonsense of the other parties. Kemi Badenoch, she did a complete U-turn.

Andy: Well... Well, of course she did. She's clueless. I mean, she actually said, and I quote, that we should escalate the war in Iraq. Yes.

Mark: in Iraq. That was, what's his name? He got so confused too. Was it Ronnie Reagan? We've got to attack Iran. We've got to attack Iran. We've got to attack Iran. Oops, we attacked Iraq. Don't you remember? He got a bit confused as to who he was attacking. Was it Ronnie Reagan?

Andy: Yeah. I mean, they're all clueless. It was Reagan at that time. Yeah.

Mark: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So anyway, so there's all that going on. I sort of, as I say, tending more than irritation, actually anger. mean, these, these people are costing me money for absolutely no reason other than covering up child molestation, sucking up to the Israelis. It's just, and you know, you mentioned earlier that the Israelis looking for sympathy. What the fuck? What? We've seen what they were doing in Gaza. It's been on... We can actually see it with our own eyes. ⁓ we're the victims. We're the victims.

Andy: Alright, near least. To be honest, if you want to look at it objectively, they've outstripped what Hitler did to them during the war. They've spent 50 years doing it. 50 fucking years.

Mark: Well, I wouldn't go as far as to say that but Well, in fact, I didn't actually do it. But during the week when I heard this Israeli asking for sympathy, I was wondering, did Israel, Israel was 1948? Was it 1948? I wonder how many Palestinians have died at the hands of Israeli forces over those 70 years.

Andy: Yeah, 49. Quite a number.

Mark: And I wonder how many Israelis have died at the hands of the lunatic Hamas type people.

Andy: Nearly as many.

Mark: But I don't think it's not nearly as many. I think it's magnitudes of less. One to a hundred. would picture, I would hazard a guess, possibly even one to a thousand. For every thousand Palestinians that have died, one Israeli has died.

Andy: Yes. Yes, but don't forget they're the chosen people. So their death is more important.

Mark: I mean, you it's a dangerous conversation to have because people start throwing the anti-Semitic name around, which is patently absurd. am absolutely nothing. I'm an atheist. Why would I have anything against any religion? I'm totally against regimes like Netanyahu.

Andy: Well, when you're being led... when you leave.

Mark: It's absolutely beautiful sky here. We've got a perfect day. It's beautiful, clear blue skies. The snow is disappearing quite rapidly.

Andy: ⁓ I've been using my scooter now for a week, almost.

Mark: ⁓ I forgot to ask. I don't know if we mentioned your cats were poorly last time. How are they?

Andy: well, I've got them sort of almost eating. I bought some soup type foods so they can lick up the fluids at least. But I'm starting to wonder if maybe they ate some of the foam from my chair.

Mark: Norman. Okay. Absolutely. Because that's something, both or are you coming up for a joke? I assume not because you're talking about your cats. No, exactly. I mean, that's the sort of thing that can really upset their tummies, isn't it, cat?

Andy: image. No, I'm stupid, no. I'm on the other side. Yeah, least they're eating something now. So I'm going to tough it out and see if things improve. They don't seem to be distressed or particularly lethargic or anything.

Mark: But of course you know I know nothing about animals but I don't think cats eat dogs eat anything but I didn't think cats would eat something like foam.

Andy: The thing is, it's just an idea that crossed my mind. So I've moved that chair out onto the balcony so that no more, if any, has been consumed.

Mark: That must really please your neighbours.

Andy: No one can see on my balcony.

Mark: You're one of these people on a perfectly presentable block of flats. You're the one with all the shit on its end leaning against the wall.

Andy: Yeah, on a with a sofa outside. ⁓ No, with some fat bloke with a vest drinking beer on it in the afternoon.

Mark: well that's where you're heading that's where you're going to be oh dear

Andy: except not fat, no beer.

Mark: No, you're right. You don't drink anymore. So come on, come up with a good fun story. What else has been happening? I don't think too much. Iran's not playing in the World Cup. If you can bring a light hearted view and they have not surprising. And what's going on with this Swedish singer? What?

Andy: ⁓ have they pulled out of that? Well, to be honest, the US should be ones pulling out. The US should be the ones pulling out. ⁓ And the UK should already have said, we're not playing. I'm disgusted that actually not more nations have said, no, we're not going to support your fucking fascist rating.

Mark: Yeah, they're the aggressors. Yes, but hang on a second. I mean, you know why, I assume. It is my contention that the reason why these countries aren't automatically pulling out is because the voter base, a high proportion of them are football supporters, and football supporters may not be interested in geopolitics. And so consequently, they will just see it as what? No World Cup? First time we qualified in 20 years? Or whatever.

Andy: I don't know. Well, let's face it, England are going to get knocked out pretty damn early as usual. What's the point of going? What do mean no? Stop pretending that England are any good at football. They're shy and you know they are.

Mark: No. We don't get knocked out early. What do you mean? No they're not. I thought they always got into the sort of final eight or even the semi-finals.

Andy: Usually by dint of an accident. Certainly not by skill. Do you remember that fucking awful night we spent at Varsastugan watching the worst penalties ever taken by any team ever?

Mark: No, that's a bit unfair No We weren't at Varsastugan, we were at Jonathan's.

Andy: No, thought this, I think this was the Euro European cup final. where England went up.

Mark: I don't think I was there but I do remember the match because there were about four guys who missed penalties.

Andy: ⁓ not just miss them, but miss them in such a way that my dead grandmother could not have missed them so hard.

Mark: and they were all young as I recall. were all, they had been brought off the bench, something peculiar, they'd been brought off the bench, they were all young players and the weight of the, their misses weighed very heavily on them.

Andy: ⁓ bless, they still got paid though. But all the people who wasted their money travelling to see that game, who got ripped off just to give the boys a chance. Fuck ⁓

Mark: Did you support, who would you have supported living where you did in East London? Is that Tottenham?

Andy: Tottenham, that's North London.

Mark: So who did you support? West Ham? ⁓ you did support Tottenham?

Andy: Tottenham? Tottenham! Yes, because I am North London.

Mark: because I used to support Watford. The Rookery.

Andy: Elton John's team, ⁓ Come on girls, play harder! Ask the ball! I'm talking about Elton John now.

Mark: No, that's David Beckham's team. That's David Beckham's team. Yeah, but Elton John doesn't sound like that, but David Beckham does.

Andy: No Dave sounds like this. Wait, is the ball dropped?

Mark: He doesn't anymore. No, but I think he had, I think he had elocution lessons or whatever you call it, not elocution, but to sound more manly. I don't think Victoria is probably too bothered about his voice, bearing in mind the millions and he's probably a billionaire now, David Beckham.

Andy: ⁓ No, not a billionaire, unfortunately.

Mark: I think he must be quite close to it, they're two a penny billionaires these days.

Andy: Yeah, but they actually put their money to work, don't they?

Mark: What feeding Victoria's fashion business.

Andy: No, mean, billionaires put their money to work. I'm not, I'm not a hundred percent sure what Beckham invests in apart from throwing good money after bad in Victoria's fashion line.

Mark: Well... I think you'd be surprised how much billionaire money just ends up in hedge funds, which does society absolutely no good whatsoever.

Andy: Yeah, but that's what I mean. Yeah, but it makes more money for them.

Mark: Hmm. I'm going to ask.

Andy: ⁓ long good bit of news actually, Warwick Davis.

Mark: whom I do not know.

Andy: All you do is the little fella who played R2-D2 in Star Wars amongst other things.

Mark: Well, I'm hardly like to remember the actor's name.

Andy: He was in... He was in a TV show with Ricky Gervais. He's a midget. Warwick Davis. Come on.

Mark: ⁓ Yes, in fact, I think I do know exactly who you're talking about. 500 million sterling.

Andy: Also Harry Potter. He was in Harry Potter. He was a professor in Harry Potter. Well, he got an OBE.

Mark: Yes. This is a joke, there's something that's going to happen with the sword.

Andy: No, no, it's not a joke. was, he got an OBE from William at Windsor Castle.

Mark: ⁓ that was nice.

Andy: Yeah, I don't know if it's for.

Mark: He's a... I mean he's a... very... he's been, as you say, he's been in lots of high-profile...

Andy: Well, it's not, it's not just that he's also been the head of an agency for many years that finds work for little people like him. Yeah. So probably small services.

Mark: ⁓ really? Alright, good. You were just about to say something you were going to regret.

Andy: Anyway, good luck to our Warwick. He's a good lad.

Mark: Yep, exactly. Isn't it Oscar season? When are the Oscars, or have they already happened?

Andy: Oh, it is Oscar season and I only know that because I was flicking through Netflix and I came upon a row called Oscar season. And they had all these crappy old films that had won Oscars in the past that you could choose from.

Mark: ⁓ really? Here's a film to avoid. Who's the fellow who played Jack Reacher, the big one, the proper... No, he's not the big one, he's the little one. The fellow who played Jack Reacher's in some sort of army ranger movie.

Andy: I'm bruised. That was the first. the last, the first season of that was actually quite good. And the second one wasn't terrible, but the third one. ⁓ my God, it's just the A-Team now. It's ridiculous.

Mark: Jack, yeah, was. this... Yes. Yes, you're right, the A-Team, of course, that's what it reminds me of. The first episode was quite good and the rest of it was rubbish. Anyway, that Jack Reacher, he's in some sort of army thing. And it sort of started off as a normal army thing, and then it turned into an alien invasion. It was just... What the hell?

Andy: ⁓ hang on, hang on, hang on. Was he playing the psychologically disturbed loner who carried his brother for 10 miles, but his brother died in the last 10 meters or something? Yeah, I had to watch that. It was fucking awful.

Mark: Yes. Yes, you've seen it. That's right, yeah, you've seen it. I mean, ⁓ you know Hollywood, seriously, with all of that money.

Andy: Luckily, luckily, he realized that these advanced aliens had a radiator grill on their head so we could... ⁓

Mark: Radiators, they always get holes in them. Let's try that. Pouring gravel into the top of the radiator.

Andy: Yeah, I have to say that I've watched some really low budget shit on Amazon and Netflix lately, but they just seem to pour it out. It's just crap. ⁓ no, some of it is really low budget. Some of it is basically a whole film set in a room with three actors reacting.

Mark: And no, but it's not low budget. I mean they've obviously just Yeah, but sometimes that can be very effective. 12 angry men. There you go. Classic.

Andy: No one enjoyed that film. No one.

Mark: 12 angry men? What do mean I did?

Andy: I rest my case.

Mark: The thing is that the problem is with those sort of movies, when you watch them 30 or 40 years ago, they were really quite gripping. But we've become so accustomed to movies that move at a really high pace and there's so much going on, that in fact when you watch them these days, they are a bit tame, they are a bit, you know, a bit boring.

Andy: Yeah, we need to, we need, we have to have a gory scene as an opener. Otherwise we lose interest immediately.

Mark: It's like that absolute classic to kill a mockingbird. You know, to see that in modern day, it's a little bit slow.

Andy: Yeah, but you were saying about a joker, joker, joke. And once again, I haven't prepared, but I mean, it's hard to beat Trump at the moment. Some of the stuff that he comes out with is just too funny. Like about how the Iranian Navy is now floating at the bottom of the ocean and about how people in Tehran, because of explosions, are now walking around with no arms and no legs.

Mark: walking around with no, I heard that. Yeah.

Andy: Yeah, which we all know is a physical impossibility. But on the other hand, we have proof of a man in Washington walking around with no brain.

Mark: Clearly, you're right. Now I was listening to more reports. I don't really want to talk about it because it's just so absolutely atrocious that the American military can do such things. But that school thing, when Trump was talking about it, it was probably an Iranian. Iranians had stolen a Tomahawk missile and then turned it on their own people and happened to hit a school.

Andy: That's the best joke I've ever heard. and

Mark: the absurdity of it, but the cruelty of the Americans just making up just any old bollocks to cover up some absolute tragedy. mean, they killed 175 people in that school, most of them children.

Andy: And then, and then they had some fucker coming out saying, we did them a favor. It's better than growing up to live their lives in a burka. They don't even wear burkas in Iran. Fucking ignorant motherf-

Mark: It's just... I don't know. Anyway, we've had enough of that. We need to cheer us up. So you have got an excellent subject today. I can just feel it.

Andy: Right. I've got a very light hearted subject today.

Mark: ⁓ good, not a bloody stone in the sword sword in the stone story that it takes me two minutes to Google and realize that the crux of the story was just completely fabricated.

Andy: Well. If there's any stones involved, they're going to be gallstones.

Mark: ⁓ Dad had gallstones. Have you ever had a gallstone?

Andy: No.

Mark: Nor have I, but because Dad had them, I might get them.

Andy: Is that right?

Mark: Wasn't it a bit hereditary?

Andy: ⁓ I don't know.

Mark: I've got to keep drinking water.

Andy: Well, today we're going to talk, and this is one of Luke's ideas. He suggested the name of a guy to me to investigate. And I investigated him and he's ⁓ a world hot dog eating champion amongst other things.

Mark: Good old Luke. ⁓ this sounds a bit... He didn't die in a competition, he?

Andy: And when I, when I say the world champion, you know, I'm referring to America. And the way all this came about actually is a bit of a myth or a legend by itself. Cause the legend behind the first Nathan's hot dog eating contest is a bit of a story book story. The tale goes that four immigrants.

Mark: to America.

Andy: mostly unspecified countries just happened to be sitting down to enjoy a quintessential American meal, which happened to be Nathan's famous hot dogs, in an iconic Le Carle, Coney Island, on the most patriotic day of the year, July the 4th. And in order to see who could show their lovely US the most, they decided to have a hot dog eating competition, as you do.

Mark: July the 4th.

Andy: And the story goes that an Irish immigrant, James Mullan, won by eating 13 of them. Now, if that sounds a little bit too pat, it's because it is. The idea to have a hot dog eating contest was actually cooked up in the early 1970s by press agents Max Rosie and Mortimer Matz as a publicity stunt for Nathan's Famous. In order to give the event more credibility, Rosie and Matt spread the word to news outlets that the competition was actually an old school tradition that had originated back in 19... 18? 1916? The year that the hot dog stand was first founded. And this was pure fabrication just meant to get attention, although the legend is still widely touted. It's Coney Island Stand. ⁓ or Inconi Island pitchman style, we made it up, Matz told the New York Times, matter of factly, in 2010. The extra flair of the unnamed for immigrants competing to demonstrate their patriotism came even later when George and Richard Shea, who were mentored by Rosie and Matz, took over Nathan's famous publicity in the early 1990s. Nathan's famous founder, Nathan Handwerker, knew from the start that public perception would be crucial for the success of his business. And he was early to adopt some tactics to increase attention. He was very good at it. First, Handwerker changed the name of his stand from simply Nathan's to Nathan's Famous. Although in 1918, after just two years of being in business at the time, the store was certainly not famous, but the branding would pay off in the long run. Handwerker also apparently hired university students to pretend to be doctors enjoying some Nathan's Famous on their lunch break from nearby Coney Island Hospital in an effort to show that the product was healthy and high quality. And clearly that works as well because they were doing it with cigarettes in the 70s.

Mark: This is in the 1920s. 18, 1918, whatever, yeah. Oh, we're in the 70s.

Andy: This is in the 70s now, Oh no, this is in the early 20th century. This is 1918.

Mark: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So call it the 1920s. So he had a bit of a marketing nous, this fellow. He was a Deutschlander, I assume, with the name Virtus Nitzl.

Andy: Yes, yes. Handwerker. Handwerker. He's definitely from that area.

Mark: Doesn't Hanberger, are you sure you're not on a joke website?

Andy: I am not on a joke website.

Mark: But what does hand-worker mean in English?

Andy: Hand worker, someone who works by their hands. ⁓ no, that's just you, isn't it? That's just your mind. Immediately to the gutter.

Mark: handjob. Nathan handjob. No, it's not. You idiot! That's what it means!

Andy: What even like? Is that what you used to call it in the dorms at the boarding school? Is anyone up for a hand work?

Mark: Hand worker? I'm going to translate Hanfork.

Andy: Publicists Rosie and Matz were behind another significant move that kept Nathan's famous in conversation. Career politician Nelson Rockefeller was once quoted as saying, no candidate for any office could hope to get elected in this country without being photographed eating a hot dog.

Mark: ⁓ that's boring. I think my translation was better.

Andy: No, is. I can't see it.

Mark: crafts.

Andy: Yeah, handcraft. so did you miss that whole sentence?

Mark: I did actually, I'm sorry, I can't type and listen at the same time. Sorry listeners, can we hear it again?

Andy: No candidate for any office, and this is from Rockefeller, can hope to get elected in this country without being photographed eating a hot dog. And if you think about it, every president since 1970 has been photographed eating a hot dog, unusually really badly. Somehow.

Mark: Didn't someone try to do that in England? Wasn't it one of the brothers eat a bacon sandwich or something? Rishi Sunak, David Osborne.

Andy: That was, eating a hamburger. ⁓ yeah. Bacon sandwich. Wasn't that, no, it was that fellow with the really bad haircut. Miliband. It was Ed Miliband.

Mark: not Ed Miliband, not David Miliband, yeah.

Andy: Anyway, somehow the industrious press agents, popularised, are now widely quoted a bridged version that reads, no one can be hoped to be elected in this state without being photographed eating a hot dog at Nathan's Famous. Now there are different accounts of who won the very first recorded Nathan's famous hot dog eating contest in 1972, but regardless, what was once a fun competition has grown into a legitimate sport. In addition to becoming

Mark: No, no, no, no, no, it's not a legitimate sport.

Andy: Listen on, dear listener, and you will have to reassess that judgement. In addition to becoming Nathan's publicists, George and Richard Shea founded the International Federation of Competitive Eating, IFOCE and Major League Eating, MLE, organizations, which led to the contest becoming a regulated event in 1997. And this competition is one of many strange American Fourth of July food traditions and it gets around 2 million viewers on ESPN and 40,000 in-person attendees at the original Coney Island stand. the year 2000.

Mark: So the original record was 13.

Andy: Can you not foreshadow my podcast, please?

Mark: My podcast? I think we're going to have a bit of a falling out soon.

Andy: ⁓ look, there's an incoming uranium missile on your video feed.

Mark: you

Andy: The year 2001 was a pivotal moment in the sport when Japanese contestant, Takeru Kayayashi, blew the previous record. I'm not going to tell you what these records are because we're going to do a bit about him a little bit later on. And the competition goes for 12 minutes. And he demolished the standing record in 2001. And coming from a culture that already viewed competitive eating as a legitimate sport, Kobayashi trained as such, and he created a new strategy to shovel down the hot dogs, which we'll also go into.

Mark: Hang on a second, what? I don't rate Japan as an established eating competition culture.

Andy: I think they're pretty competitive because they will eat anything that you can skin.

Mark: What are you talking about?

Andy: We don't eat whales and dogs and all sorts of other stuff. Yeah. Isn't it Japanese whalers?

Mark: Japan Actually funny enough, not now, up until recently they were. But Japanese eat mainly vegetables and fish and bit of tofu.

Andy: They're still punching. They're still poaching. But anyway, Kobayashi held the title for several years until the great Joey Chestnut, fake name, fake name, won his first match. No, he was a competitive eater.

Mark: Er, he wasn't a boxer, was he?

Andy: Anyway, let's talk about before Joey Chesna, there was Takeru Kobayashi. And when he debuted in the Nathan's famous hot dog eating contest in 2001, the event was more of a boardwalk gimmick than an intense competition. The young newcomer, just 23 years old, revolutionized the sport when he doubled the previous record of 25.5 dogs eating 50 of them in just 10 minutes.

Mark: nearly doubled.

Andy: There's no getting away from your pedantry, is there? Now this feat sounds like one of the myths swirling around the Nathan's famous contest, but it truly did happen. Spectators, announcers and contestants were all struck as the young man devoured dog after dog using a technique that became known as the Kobayashi Shake. What is the Cubby Asheshake? I hear you are.

Mark: I ask, I'm just calculating, that's 14 seconds to consume a hot dog.

Andy: Now this method begins with pulling two hot dogs out of each of their buns. And while Kobayashi starts eating both of the franks, which he can finish in about four or five big bites, he dunks the buns in the provided cup of water. Once he swallows the hot dogs, he squishes the soaked bread into his mouth. And that's where the shake comes in. He then jumps up and down a few times. and leans forward as he does a little shimmy. And the idea behind this is to help the food settle and create more space in his stomach. And it seemed to work. This innovation changed the perception of what was even possible in competitive eating. So others began pushing themselves to consume more food. And within five years, other contestants were coming close to Kobayashi's 50 dog record. On the Kabashi Shake, Takeru Kayabashi told the Daily Beast, I'm always fine tuning it, although sometimes it's just completely new things that I'm doing. You don't, you just don't see it. I've never done it the same in two years running. In addition to constantly adjusting his strategy, Kobayashi also trains to increase the capacity of his stomach before a contest. And it takes him about two months to get him competition ready. Kobayashi's preparation involves eating progressively larger portions of food to stretch his stomach, as well as intense exercise to make sure that he loses all of the weight he gains over time. He explains that any extraneous body fat can constrict the space in his stomach, which he obviously needs during a contest. He knows that he's ready when he can down three gallons of water in a minute and a half.

Mark: That... I'm surprised that doesn't kill you.

Andy: I was going to say that's pretty close to fatal dosage.

Mark: 3 gallons, sorry, US gallon I think is 4.5 litres isn't it?

Andy: It's basically eight pints to a gallon, isn't it? you're looking at 24 pints of water.

Mark: In what? Whoop time?

Andy: in one and a half minutes. He, well, you could argue with him.

Mark: My good friend Ian.

Andy: You haven't got any friends.

Mark: He's gone unfortunately, but he used to be able to down a pint in about four or five seconds. That was fizzy. That's lager or beer. But he couldn't do it more than he used to be able to do a yard. What's a yard? That's three pints, is it? Or whatever it is. He used to be able to do that in about 10 or 12 seconds. But this fellow, what?

Andy: Nice two and a half, I think.

Mark: That's unnatural, isn't it?

Andy: Well, that's what it says here in my research. Now he's applied this training to help him scoff down, not just hot dogs, but also wings, lobster rolls, cow brains, tacos, burgers, pizza, meatballs, breakfast and grilled cheese sandwiches. So while Kobayashi is undoubtedly a legend in the sport of competitive eating, his skills haven't always been enough to keep his place in contests. It turns out that the politics of eating competition can be more temperamental than a human stomach stuffed with 50 hot dogs.

Mark: Who is the most famous eating competition winner?

Andy: That would be Joey.

Mark: Joey who?

Andy: Joey Chestnut.

Mark: No, there's someone far more famous. Who is one of the most famous people in America ever? Yeah, I mean you will agree that he is one of the most famous American people ever. Correct. He was a... he used to... he won burger eating competitions.

Andy: Elvis Presley. Yeah, but he might be famous, but Yes, not on this level, mate. Not on this level. Now, according to, oh, sorry, Takiru Kobayashi held the Nathan's famous championship from 2001 to 2006. And in 2007, that's when Joey Chestnut edged him out of his record 63 dogs by eating 66. And the former champ came in second place behind Chestnut in 2008. and 2009. In 2010, Chestnut won again, but Kobayashi didn't even compete. According to

Mark: I'm going to I'm going to I want to look at this fellow Joey chestnut. I want to see what he looks like. He's tiny, is he?

Andy: You'll be amazed. You'll be amazed at the size of him. He's not massive. According to Buzzfeed, Major League Eating, the organisation behind the famed contest, offered Kobayashi $40,000 to appear at two Nathan's famous contests with the opportunity to be paid $100,000 if he won. But the MLE demanded exclusivity, meaning that Kobayashi and his earning potential was limited to events organised by the company. But Kobayashi wanted control over his own career and even offered to appear at one event with no pay in exchange for being a free agent. But the MLE declined. At the 2010 Nathan's Famous, Kobayashi was arrested when he jumped on stage wearing a shirt reading Free Kobayashi for protesting.

Mark: And what was he arrested for? Even in America, think Free Joey doesn't justify arrest. Free Kobe.

Andy: No free Kobe. Yeah, because he wasn't allowed to compete under his own terms.

Mark: It sounds like some sort of wrestling thing.

Andy: It's a bit like when Prince wrote Slave on the side of his face because his record company held him to ransom.

Mark: Alright, I don't remember that.

Andy: No, you wouldn't. Yeah, I'm surprised you haven't asked who the hell is Prince.

Mark: I know who Prince is. Prince formerly known as Andrew.

Andy: Exactly. So in 2024, rival Joey Chestnut was also banned from the Nathan's hot dog eating competition over similar exclusivity disputes. Kobayashi's subsequent career proved challenging given the MLE's power in competitive eating, but he still holds the records for contests featuring cow brains, 17.75 pounds. in 15 minutes. Rice balls 20 pounds in 30 minutes and lobster lobster rolls 41 rolls in 10 minutes. In May 2024, the 46 year old announced that he was retiring, citing health concerns and a desire to Yes, this is only two years ago.

Mark: Are these people still alive, do think?

Andy: He retired at 46, citing health concerns and a desire to shift his focus in life.

Mark: To what? Drinking.

Andy: Probably not eating. So, Joey Chesna. From apple pie to Frito pie, there are dozens of dishes that are all considered quintessential American cuisine. But there are some in particular that are summertime staples, like hot dogs. And for over a century, every 4th of July, the cylindrical meat stuffed in a simple bun has been a centrepiece of the hot dog eating competition at Nathan's Famous. Now in his first year of participation, Chestnut downed 32 hot dogs early in third place spot. But by 2007 Chestnut overtook long time winner, Takeru Kobayashi by scarfing down 66 of the meat filled buns in the contest. Since then he's won every year with the exception of 2015 when a chap called Matt Stoney bested him in the competition with 62 hot dogs to Chestnut's 60. However, it was in 2021 when Chestnut whulfed down the record-breaking total of 76. By 2023, the total number of hot dogs he'd devoured in the contest since 2005 totals 1,214.

Mark: Does anybody ever die in these competitions choking to death?

Andy: We're gonna get to that.

Mark: See ya.

Andy: You know, I'm not going to give you a light hearted one without some counterpoint.

Mark: Dark Corner.

Andy: A Joey Chestnut is far from a one trick pony when it comes to food competitions. In fact, the first contest he participated in also in 2005, involved eating asparagus. He took the top spot after chowing down well over six pounds of the deep fried veggie. Nine years later, He participated in another asparagus event in which he ate nearly nine pounds of the fibrous green.

Mark: I wonder if there's a food that you could eat so much of in one sitting that it actually becomes toxic.

Andy: ⁓ every food.

Mark: No, but you've got to be able to consume it. So in other words, you could say, yeah, half a ton of potatoes and you'll die. You can't eat half a ton of potatoes, but nine pounds of asparagus. mean, asparagus is something that maybe the fibers would do you in. Your body just can't cope. How do they digest? Do you, are you allowed not to throw up or does everybody eat this stuff and then just immediately go and throw up?

Andy: Well, they're not going to dive hold that particular aspect of this sport, are they? If there's a chuck-up room behind them, technically I would say that you're disqualified if you start chucking up.

Mark: during the competition, I can understand it, but what you get up to afterwards...

Andy: Yeah, I'm sure that there has been lots of up chucks going on.

Mark: Because the thing is that you can understand, even though that is difficult in itself, stuffing this food into your stomach, but actually processing it.

Andy: I mean 77 hot dogs.

Mark: in one sitting. It was at 12 minutes.

Andy: Yeah, 12 minutes. That's a lot of doggage. Chestnut holds records for other sandwiches. Bear in mind in the US the hot dog is recognised as a sandwich in some places. Like grilled cheese, corned beef, pastrami, mutton and pulled pork. His other records range from savoury bites like chicken wings and poutine to sweet treats like apple pie, Twinkies and ice cream sandwiches. Most recently in May of 2024, Chestnut became the Bologna, Bologna, Bologna, Bologna, Bologna eating champion after scarfing down 14 pounds of the smoked meat in a competition that even featured the mayor of Knox County, Tennessee.

Mark: Bologna sandwich. The thing is that here's a question for you. Where's the entertainment value?

Andy: It's a bit like watching Formula One and you're just waiting for the crash.

Mark: Well we're not and there's all sorts of aspects of Formula One that's entertaining but what is entertaining about seeing someone stuff hot dogs into their mouth?

Andy: You're literally waiting for someone to chuck up all over the table. That's got to be it. I would find it highly amusing, I have to say. Yep. Absolutely.

Mark: And why is that entertaining? Would you? You would seriously... Alright, let's say it's free, but if it was on TV you would tune into that.

Andy: I love, I wouldn't watch it on TV, but if I was out and about celebrating a holiday and there was an eating competition, damn right I'd be watching it.

Mark: not seriously Andy. What?

Andy: Yeah of course, beer in one hand, another beer in the other hand and just wait for the action.

Mark: It's just... It's just... distasteful, if you'll excuse the pun, from every angle.

Andy: Yes, it is distasteful, but it's one of those distasteful things that are quite entertaining because it's so ridiculous. The chestnut is also no stranger to adversity during the contests that he participated in.

Mark: ⁓ here we go. Heart attacks.

Andy: The 2023 Independence Day hot dog eating event Nathan's Famous threw contestants for a loop when it was delayed due to weather and a potential lightning strike on the nearby beach. That same year, he fought through the after effects of food poisoning to pull out a second place in a pistachio eating contest. And in 2022, Chestnut wrangled with a professor. in the midst of the Nathan's famous contest, all while still managing to secure a win. So he actually was fighting on stage while eating hot dogs. Joey Chestnut's champion career began when he was attending San Jose State University, focusing on engineering and construction management. And his brother decided to apply on his behalf for the asparagus eating contest. The fierce food competitor went on to finish his degree and would soon work for the construction industry for several years while still regularly competing. In 2010, he got an offer for promotional work with Pepto Bismol. A gig that garnered him 40 grand for just four events. Soon after, Chestnut left his construction management career to pursue food competition full time. So it paid more than 10 million. Up to and in excess of 10 grand.

Mark: What's the prize money? per competition. But the thing is how often can you do this before you literally just keel over and die? I mean you can't do a competition every week can you?

Andy: Yeah. ⁓ Well, he clearly made enough to let him quit being an engineer.

Mark: It's not very good transferable skills though, is it? Once you retire from food eating, what does that qualify you as?

Andy: Yeah, but could go back to engineering. Not much changes in that.

Mark: I wonder what the inside of his body looks like. His tummy and things like that. Pretty grim.

Andy: Well, since then, he's made his money from both food competitions for which he travels throughout the year, as well as endorsements. The companies he works with have ranged from ⁓ Pepsi and Wonderful Pistachios to Raising Canes, a brand that the Master Brothers has even given him the highest praise for as having the best chicken sandwich of any American chain. And more now, now chestnut is a multimillionaire per USA Today and has been known to make. Half a million a year in his competitive eating career.

Mark: It is, I'm sorry to say, and I know I always get a bit old and boring, you can make half a million dollars a year by eating.

Andy: eating free food.

Mark: It is a bit maddy, isn't it? Isn't that a bit crazy, really? Seriously, sort of? I know I'm a bit boring, but really?

Andy: This. Now we come to the tragic bit. The first pie eating contest took place in January of 1878 in Toronto, Canada.

Mark: Hmm. And that fellow, that poor fellow choked ⁓

Andy: I'm just giving you some background. Albert Piddington took home the prize, which culinary historian Sarah Loman identifies as a handsomely bound book.

Mark: There we go. What's wrong with that?

Andy: Initially, machismo was somehow supposedly demonstrated by the number of pies that a man could manage to down as a clock ticked away. Men's clubs and bars with exclusively male clientele were the contest's first venues. By the 1940s, though, such competitions served as community events involving boy scouts, rotary club members, college fraternities, and competitions between branches of the US military. Today, Lohmann says, competitive eating is big business, and both male and female competitive eaters are treated like professional athletes. Such competitions are open to amateurs too, untrained but enthusiastic and presumably hungry men and women in pursuit of either fame, money or both. And they've all competed before crowds to eat the most of various foods with more than a few fatal consequences. I'm going to talk about some of them.

Mark: more than a few fatal consequences. can't get you can't get more than fatal. Fatal is stop.

Andy: Yes. No, but you can get more than a few.

Mark: ⁓ I see. So more than one fatalities. More than a few fatalities. You're absolutely right, of course. ⁓ dear.

Andy: So the first person we're going to talk about is a young lady called Madeleine Madey, Lee Nickpon. Tufts University athlete, Madey lost consciousness after choking during a charity fundraising hot dog eating contest in Somerville, New York. According to the university, first responders performed life-saving procedures on site. prior to transporting her to Massachusetts General Hospital. However, Nick Ponn, aged 20, died the following afternoon. The young woman who was immensely popular had bright plans for the future. A junior biopsychology major, she intended to pursue a career in the medical field. Her teammates summed up both her character and their loss in a social media website post, writing that, Maydee will be remembered as a bright light, a social butterfly, an amazing teammate, and a kind and generous person, as well as a wonderful sister and daughter. we can all aspire to emulate. Then we had Dana Hutchins. She's 41. She died at local hospital after participating in a taco eating contest, a minor league baseball game featuring the Fresno Grizzlies that took place at the city's Chuck Chansey Park. An autopsy found that he died of choking. His family was stunned by the news with his sister, Mecca Hutchins, asking Who would think that something like this would happen? Yeah, most of us would.

Mark: I would. It's the first thing I would think of. How are you going to survive jamming 70 hot dogs into your mouth in 12 minutes?

Andy: According to an ABC news report, Hutchins choked and collapsed, falling face first into a table and tumbling to the ground. As the Associated Press reported on April the 5th, 2021, Hutchins' family filed a lawsuit against the events organizer, Fresno Sports and Events, which owns the Grizzlies, claiming that they were negligent in making him aware of the risks and dangers involved in an eating contest. in which contestants vied against one another to eat as many tacos as possible during a certain amount of time. As a result, the lawsuit contended, Hutchins, as an amateur eating contest competitor, may not have been aware of the need to train for the event by making himself physically ready to participate. ⁓ Sounds a little bit of a frivolous lawsuit to me. ⁓

Mark: I but the whole thing is a bit Darwinian, isn't it? I mean, really.

Andy: Well, this one really hits me hard. A chap called Freddy Jayardee. It was a Kentucky fried chicken wing, which dispatched Freddy Layardy 45 to the hereafter after he was unable to wash down the fried chicken with a glass of water. As a contestant in the 2016 eat or treat contest in West Lakata, Indonesia, he was attempting to eat his third wing when it stuck in his throat and he collapsed, later dying at a local hospital.

Mark: Third, even I could eat three wings.

Andy: Right. Yeah, but it got stuck in his throat. Due to the fatal incident, organizers of the event canceled the contest, releasing a statement that assured the public that they were fully supporting the Laiardi family and cooperating with authorities. For its part, KFC made it clear that the company had nothing more to do, nothing more to offer. Their stores at this venue. Oh, sorry. For its part, KFC made it clear that the company had done nothing more than to offer their stores as the venue for the competition and had no role in organising the event. As police investigated the incident, criminal unit police chief Taufik Iksan said that they determined that the organisers failed to provide medical personnel. Had he won the contest, Layardi would have taken home a purse worth £357,000. Yep.

Mark: What?

Andy: Yeah, 350K.

Mark: No. I mean you were just talking about the eating competition in the states where the we guesstimated it was sort of ten grand a pop. How can this fellow have been potentially winning 350,000?

Andy: I can only tell you what's in front of me, but you can imagine that because in the States there's eating competitions probably happening every day of the year. But in Indonesia, it may not be actually that often. And it could be like a yearly competition, which is the big one.

Mark: Yeah, exactly. I don't know why I got this horrible image in my head of how crazy situations can get. And I was wondering, they'll probably in a few years time, probably in America, have competitions to see who is willing to amputate the most amount of their body. So it might start off with fingers, and then someone will cut off their own hand to win the prize money and then their own arm. and then people will be soaring off their legs in the future to win the prize money.

Andy: Well, you know, we're not that far away from ⁓ the running man, are we? Where we have game shows where people are basically running for their lives and other people are out hunting them.

Mark: I haven't seen that. What's it called? The running man. I do remember talking about classic movies. I don't know why it's always stuck in my brain. It was such a horrible movie. I think it was called something like they shoot horses, don't they? Do you remember it was a dance competition and you had all these desperately poor people who were desperate to win this prize money and they were, you know, just standing. It was for

Andy: Yeah. ⁓ I remember that film. Yes.

Mark: two days or something this thing. I don't know why they made a film of it but I do remember it stuck in my mind.

Andy: People do strange things for prizes.

Mark: Well, not just strange, you know, tragic things, hoping to win the money.

Andy: Well, all Supash Laddov had to do to win his friend's 2000 rupees, which was about 28 bucks, was swallow 50 eggs.

Mark: what was that movie? Steve McQueen. Was it Papillon? It wasn't Papillon. But no, that's a... What was the one where he has an egg-eating competition?

Andy: Was it Steve McQueen? thought it was Paul Newman. No, Papillon. ⁓ He's in prison?

Mark: He's in prison, but it wasn't Papillon, that was... ⁓ Dustin Hoffman.

Andy: It doesn't matter.

Mark: It was somewhere down south, it wasn't it? And he runs up against the... No.

Andy: Was it escape from Alcatraz? Who knows?

Mark: I'll check it. Steve McQueen egg eating comp.

Andy: Well, as Kaye Thor Jensen points out in the Newsweek article, he was making good time up until his 41st egg. And then when he popped the 42nd into his mouth, he basically fell unconscious. He was taken to a local clinic before being transferred to the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences. And without regaining consciousness, he died a few hours after being admitted. As Lennison, as Jensen, sorry, observes, weighing in at approximately six pounds, 50 eggs is significantly more volume than the average human stomach can accommodate without discomfort. It's not known whether a similar but non-fatal incident in the 19, oh, here we go, was Cool Hand Luke.

Mark: And it wasn't Steve McQueen, it was Paul Newman.

Andy: I thought it was Paul Newman.

Mark: I mean this is the benefit of something like AI, just to read you what it says having done the Google search. The famous 50 hard-boiled egg eating scene is from the 1967 film Call Hand Luke starring Paul Newman, not Steve McQueen. That is what it actually says on my phone.

Andy: Yeah, because was listening to you.

Mark: ⁓ yeah, you're right, of course.

Andy: So even your computer is contradicting your facts.

Mark: Yes, you're right.

Andy: So yeah, the 1967 movie, Call Hand Luke starring Paul Newman inspired The Bet. In the film scene, Luke, a prisoner at a Florida chain gang, wins The Bet with another prisoner by swallowing 50 whole hard boiled eggs in an hour's time. Now, our friend Joey,

Mark: Yeah.

Andy: He actually ate 141 hard boiled eggs in an eating competition.

Mark: Not in an hour, please.

Andy: Now I've, I have eaten three, maybe even four hard boiled eggs in one sitting and that was kind of hard work.

Mark: What on earth drove you to eat four boiled eggs in a sitting?

Andy: ⁓ I love them. A hard-boiled egg with a little pot of salt. It's just like sweeties.

Mark: What do mean, so you do that regularly?

Andy: No, I've done it. I wouldn't say regularly, probably two or three times a year I'll do that. Boil up some eggs and then just peel them and eat them.

Mark: and then just eat them. I mean, I have bored eggs for breakfast, but only have two of them.

Andy: You know, but for me, that's a whole meal. It's like, that'll do. Now we've got Caitlin Nelson. the pancake eating contest was fun, Fairfield Police Lieutenant Bob Calamara said, until it became a tragic event. Fortunately,

Mark: until

Andy: When Sacred Heart University student, Caitlin Nelson 20 began choking, two nursing students, well as police officers and paramedics were on the scene to render life-saving measures. Nelson was then rushed to a Bridgeport, Connecticut hospital where she was listed as being critical, but stable. Police said before she was transferred to New York Presbyterian Columbia University Medical Center, where unfortunately she died. three days after the event. Sacred Heart University later settled a lawsuit by Nelson's mother, and the terms of the settlement were undisclosed.

Mark: a second, what... if you survive an initial choking episode, why do you subsequently die? Because you suffered such severe brain damage or something.

Andy: Possibly, yeah, possibly the oxygen supply was cut off to the brain for so long so that you suffer brain death. So it doesn't matter that you're breathing. There's nothing.

Mark: I mean, just just the obvious physics of an eating competition. your whole esophagus was probably jam full of food and things. So what what what possible what what can the paramedics do?

Andy: They can clear your airway.

Mark: By doing what?

Andy: fingers down the throat is usually enough.

Mark: Maybe. Terrible. And this, was another young one.

Andy: Yeah, 20. Travis Maloof's last meal consisted of donuts. As a participant in an eating contest at Voodoo Donuts, he was like the other competitors, required to eat a 1.1 pound glazed donut in 80 seconds, which would amount to half a dozen donuts in under two minutes. Paramedics responded to reports of a man choking, but Maloof 42 was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the medical examiner. As Keith Kaufman reports for Australian news site news.com.au, authorities would not confirm that Mr. Maloof died during an eating contest. However, the Denver television station, KUSA, quoted an unnamed eyewitness who said that the man was taking part in the chain's Tex Ass Donut Challenge.

Mark: ⁓ If you, which I don't, but if you actually count this as a sport, it's probably one of the most dangerous sports in the world in that case.

Andy: It's our part with shark wrestling.

Mark: I other than base jumping, mean, what could be more dangerous than eating competitions?

Andy: A drinking competition would be quite dangerous.

Mark: Yeah, but they don't have those, do they? Or do they?

Andy: Not on TV, but I would imagine there's more than one underground drinking competition.

Mark: I think even heavy drinkers are smart enough to understand there's a risk involved in drinking 16 pints of lager.

Andy: I've known people who would challenge accept all over the place on that. Now, a 50 year old unidentified woman died from choking and having a seizure during a Lamington eating contest in Queensland, Australia. Now you must know what a Lamington is because you've been to Australia.

Mark: You idiot, it's a lamb eating competition, not a lambington competition.

Andy: No, a lamington is like a chocolate sponge with maybe chocolate frosting on the top and sprinkled in coconut bits.

Mark: No.

Andy: It's called a Lamington. So yeah, it's a cube shaped sponge coated with chocolate and coconut flakes and they were served up at the Beach House Hotel in Harvey Bay during the 2020 holiday. According to local news outlets, the woman's death, which occurred at a local hospital, didn't appear to be suspicious, but police investigated the incident anyway. Both Beach House Hotel management and staff at the top of the bay bakery expressed their condolences to the woman's family.

Mark: It's it.

Andy: as they would, even though she was unknown. So I don't know how they found her family.

Mark: I mean it's just, ⁓ god, that's enough. We've had enough death and destruction.

Andy: No, no, we've got we've got a couple more. You're always hard work when we get to this bit of the podcast.

Mark: Well, I'm not surprised. It's supposed to be entertainment, not some poor chronology of death and destruction. Yeah, never enter an eating competition is the message from this thing.

Andy: It's information. It's information and it's relevant. Despite being a graphic design student by day and a nightclub employee by night, Adam Dealey found time on a night off in February 2008 to participate in an unofficial fairy cake eating contest following the actual event. At the spur of the moment, early morning competition, Dealey collapsed at the Monkey Cafe nightclub in Swansea. So what's happened? They've had an official fairy eating cake contest and after it's all done, they've then had a few people do an unofficial one. A responding crew took him to the Singleton Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 3.20am. His death, which the Guardian reports resulted from several fairy cakes becoming lodged in his throat, was regarded as accidental rather than suspicious. An inquest found that Deeley had been playing a prank by trying to fit as many into his mouth as possible while competing with his friends. One of them had shoved three cakes into his mouth, another one stuffed four into his mouth, and Deeley then topped both of them by managing to cram five of the cakes into his own mouth before choking and collapsing onto the floor, where he started convulsing. The cakes were among the leftovers from a buffet that the nightclub had served.

Mark: I mean... I mean is... that is truly Darwinian.

Andy: I mean, there's a lot. At 3.20 in the morning, there's alcohol involved in that.

Mark: I was gonna say... Alright, so finally, the last one.

Andy: No, we've got two more. I said, we've got a couple left. I said, we've got a couple left.

Mark: You said two more last time and then Deeley's stuff is faced full of fairy cakes. Exactly, that's two.

Andy: Couple of three. The croissants that formed Argentinian professional boxer Mario Oscamelo forced down his throat during an eating contest ended the 65 year old pugilist's life. As a People article points out, he was reportedly on his third croissant when he began choking in front of a bewildered crowd of people in Argentina. A number of men delivering tourists delivering thrusts to the victim's abdomen were unable to force Mello to disgorge the fatal pastry and he was pronounced dead at Pienemar Hospital. The champion fighter's sister thought that he was playing a prank, but he is believed to have died from choking. However, it's unclear whether his diabetes was partly responsible for his dilemma.

Mark: What, having a croissant? Diabetes imposes a degree of stupidity on people to stuff croissant down their throat.

Andy: Well, unfortunately, cross on mean, croissants, they do sort of flake, don't they? It's like swallowing builder's dust.

Mark: No, it depends. You can have buttery croissant or dry croissant.

Andy: I would imagine they were dry because

Mark: So this fellow's 65. Think of all the rounds he's survived in the boxing ring and he gets killed by Croissant.

Andy: Yeah, but think of all the rounds where he had his head bashed by boxing gloves, which probably...

Mark: ⁓ you're right, actually, maybe he did have a bit of intellectual incapacity as a result of successive concussions. Poor chap. Thank God. Some old boy.

Andy: our final one you'll be thankful. In 2012, NBC News reported that the cause of 32-year-old Edward Archbold's death was unclear. In competing...

Mark: unclear, unclear in his throat. In fact, it was blocked.

Andy: In competing for the prize of a python in a reptile shops eating contest, he experienced an allergic reaction to the 60 grams of mealworms, 35 three inch super worms, and part of a bucket full of discord roaches that he had eaten.

Mark: What?

Andy: that. 60 grams of mealworms, 35 three inch super worms, and part of a bucket full of discoid roaches that he'd eaten.

Mark: So he ate pet food. Reptile pet food.

Andy: Basically, yeah.

Mark: to win a Python.

Andy: Yeah. Now, certainly.

Mark: What's a python worth? He always in love with this python or something.

Andy: Maybe they're in a relationship.

Mark: How old was this fellow? 32?

Andy: Bye to you.

Mark: I'm sorry, but- You know, I don't like to speak ill of the dead, but I mean, seriously. I don't even know what that is of a cockroach. It's obviously a dead, sanitized cockroach or something.

Andy: It's just one of the cockroach. Family I guess. Discoid cockroach.

Mark: I but you are... mean, I'm just speechless. A pet shop held an eating competition to eat pet food to win a python.

Andy: Yes.

Mark: I mean, he deserved it, honestly.

Andy: ⁓ shame on you. Even one death is one too many. Now, certainly.

Mark: Where was this? This was in Australia, was it? Or America?

Andy: I'm not there yet. Certainly the bugs themselves hadn't killed the winner of the Midnight Madness bug eating competition. Cockroaches are not toxic by themselves. Bill Kahn, a professor of entomology, assured the public, so you can carry on eating cockroaches, they are not toxic. Although many may consider them undesirable food because cockroaches store large amounts of uric acid and nitrogenous waste and they consume unappetising materials themselves. Other experts agreed, right, roaches might not be all that appetising, but eating them wouldn't kill you.

Mark: There was something did, he choked on them the poor lad.

Andy: Well, a report the same month in the National Post also cast doubt on speculation that the cockroaches had killed him, pointing out that eating bugs is normal in many parts of the world. And that cockroaches have been devoured in plenty of other eating contests, amazingly, without mishap. In 2011, Madagascar cockroaches were eaten at a Six Flags theme park in Illinois.

Mark: Indonesia.

Andy: by people who are hoping to win passes to the park. Cockroach, yeah.

Mark: What? People would eat cockroaches just to get a pass to the park.

Andy: Not just any cockroaches, Madagascar cockroaches, which you can imagine are quite large. I would imagine so. mean, Madagascar is a place where you get the tropical type flora and fauna.

Mark: What they're big ones, are they?

Andy: Cockroaches were consumed at the Explorium Science Centre in Mobile, Alabama. Apparently just for fun. No prize required.

Mark: I mean I don't mind the concept of eating bugs. mean that is, you know, alright, it's challenging because it's a bit distasteful but there's nothing wrong with that. But actually competing to eat as many as possible to win a python is just... What? He must have really loved his snakes that chat.

Andy: I mean they're expensive. So he probably wanted one, couldn't afford one and saw a way to get one.

Mark: Thank God that was the end.

Andy: Well, he might have reached the end of his tolerance to the insects. Mike Tingo, the asthma and allergy foundation of America's vice president, proposed that he had gone into anaphylactic shock. Anaphylactic shock. What about the worms? Could they have caused his death? As it turned out, neither an allergic reaction, anaphylactic shock.

Mark: anaphylactic shock.

Andy: Nor, it seems, worms killed Archbold. According to the Broward County Medical Examiner, he died of asphyxia due to choking and aspiration of gastric contents after anthropod body parts blocked the upper passages of his respiratory system through which... Anthropod. An anthropod is an insect on multiple thorax

Mark: And through what? Body parts? That's a that's a yeah. Yeah.

Andy: more mmmm and the other bits.

Mark: I mean, you know, it's just, ⁓ God, thank God I'd eaten breakfast. I hope no one's listening to this while they're eating. I mean, it's distasteful enough eating competitions, but that's it. I've had enough. I don't want to listen to any more of this, honestly.

Andy: Luckily for you we haven't got any more. That brings us to the end.

Mark: Good. You said this was light-hearted. My stomach is literally turning listening to this.

Andy: Yeah. I don't know about you, but I've got a bit of an appetite on me now.

Mark: God.

Andy: Yeah, so that brings us to the end of this wonderful episode of Strange Stuff Podcast.

Mark: Wow. Luckily, on the basis that we're not allowed in America anymore, we're never going to have a Nathan's Famous.

Andy: yeah, I mean I don't eat hot dogs anyway because they're an oxymoron. They're never hot and there's no dog in them. And there's actually no meat in them.

Mark: No, there is beef. Do you know, was only recently I found out that hot dogs are made of beef. What?

Andy: They might be shown to a cow at some point in their production, but there's no meat in a hot dog. Seriously.

Mark: funny enough what I was reading about Nathums was that they're gluten-free and I thought ⁓ well that's interesting why would they actually promote the idea of gluten-free in America but obviously what they actually mean is there's no bread bulking or whatever you call it there's no bread in the sausage is what they actually were promoting

Andy: right so instead they use sawdust

Mark: Yeah, it didn't say anything about cellulose, you're right.

Andy: Well, fascinating that the sport of stuffing yourself, stupid. But I mean, two million viewers on ESPN, that's more viewers than EastEnders gets.

Mark: Sport. It's literally, if I get a thing on YouTube promoting eating competent, I just, ⁓ I wouldn't even think about it.

Andy: Well, you know you will get that now.

Mark: Yeah, unfortunately I will because, you know, the algorithm is such, there is a guy, an English guy actually, a bearded English guy who does these enormous meals. So that's sort of like an eating competition, but that's just eating a lot of food. It's not to do it as fast as possible. Even that I find it's tasteful. Exactly that sort of thing.

Andy: that one of those if you can finish this in an hour you get it for free.

Mark: which I've got absolutely no interest in seeing, but it's obviously very popular because the algorithm keeps throwing these things up. And funny enough, was only three or four days ago there's a girl who does it now as well. Why? Why would I want to see someone eating a massive amount of food?

Andy: But I question, I question 94, 95 % of what comes across my feed when I'm scrolling, doom scrolling.

Mark: Well you do because you would want to watch it. I mean, I'm quite lucky because most of my stuff is car related or sadly politics, but luckily not too much food related stuff. And if it gets worse, I'm going to blame you.

Andy: Well, you're going to get the food stuff now, that's for sure.

Mark: I'm going to have to start turning my phone off while we're recording these things.

Andy: doesn't help because it doesn't matter if your phone's off or on. You've got a microphone that you're speaking into right now.

Mark: Well, of course it does. ⁓ Yeah, but that's my computer.

Andy: Well, you think they're different? You think your computer's not listening to you?

Mark: Yeah, I don't...funny enough, the only time I use my computer is probably when we're doing this.

Andy: Yeah. So what's the point in turning the phone off? you'll be listening to anyway.

Mark: You've lost. Come on, I want to get outside. The sun is shining. Even our listeners might have good weather. They shouldn't be listening to podcasts. They should be getting out there and enjoying a bit of vitamin D exposure.

Andy: I've been trying to finish this, but you keep talking. Well, before we go, we'll just do this. And now a word from our sponsors. Nathan's Venus.

Mark: Yeah, yeah, Nathan's famous hot dogs gluten free.

Andy: Anyway, thanks for listening, guys. Hope you enjoyed that. Thanks, Luke, for the suggestion. And we'll be back same time, same place next week with another story. And if you're one of our Patreons, you can catch us on Wednesday with yet another episode. If you're not a Patreon, why not become one and support us with the price of a coffee or the price of a beer. And for that, you get an extra two episodes of rubbish every week.

Mark: Yeah. Yeah. Luke, did you say? Well done, Luke. Indeed.

Andy: How can you say no to

Mark: Yes, I think they might deserve to be paid to have to endure two more episodes of rubbish. Yep.

Andy: you Maybe. In the meantime, have yourself a strange week. Don't do anything Mark wouldn't do like eat a hot dog or 77 of them. And we'll see you same time, same place. Bye for now.

Mark: Yeah. No. Cheerio!