History Main / EatingContest

* A ''{{Garfield}}'' strip had Garfield and Jon have a popcorn-eating contest together. However, Garfield won unfairly by eating both bowls of popcorn instead of one kernel at a time like Jon did. Another strip had Garfield and Jon have a hot pepper-eating contest to see who would endure the hotness of each different pepper they ate. Garfield lost in the end when he ate a Peruvian Death Pepper.
* Another strip had them seeing who could eat swallow bigger sized foods whole starting with a grape. Eventually Jon got a turkey stuck in his mouth and Garfield got his head stuck in a watermelon causing them both to have to go the doctor.

* In ''MenInHats'', Aram enters a [[http://www.meninhats.com/d/20030905.html taco eating contest]] to compensate for his lack of real emotions so he can have something to write in his diary.

* In [[Webcomic/OutAtHome]], Thurman [[http://www.out-at-home.com/archives/425 enters one]] as part of a story arc.

* The DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse short story "Too Rich for My Blood" by Rebecca Levine (in the collection ''Short Trips: Seven Deadly Sins'', representing Gluttony) is set at a hot dog eating contest in Las Vegas. One of the contestants has been doped with an alien serum to increase his appetite. When they run out of hot dogs, [[ImAHumanitarian he starts on the other competitors]]. [[ZombieApocalypse And then it goes viral...]]

-->At an eating contest you boast\\

-->'''-Music/TomLehrer''', ''[[TheElectricCompany L-Y]]''

* The Picollet family of ''[[RanmaOneHalf Ranma 1/2]]'' practices Martial Arts Dining as one of the series' many MartialArtsAndCrafts, with the goal not being to see who can eat the most, but who can eat the fastest, an area where the Picollets have a rather disturbing hereditary advantage. Additionally, Martial Arts Dining requires that one eats "elegantly", where "eating elegantly" means "chewing and swallowing so fast that it can't be seen by the unaided human eye". The only way to win against a Picollet is to shove your own food into the Picollet's mouth without him noticing.
* Maid Latte puts on an eating contest in ''KaichouWaMaidSama'', with SupremeChef Usui making the dishes, as a means of showcasing their dessert menu; Misaki participates in disguise as a favor to her co-worker Erika, who carelessly promised one of her regular customers that she'd go out on an all-day date with him if he won the contest. They both lose to [[BigEater bottomless pit]] Hinata.
* Fuu enters an eating contest in one episode of ''SamuraiChamploo''. This earned her a surprising reputation as the BigEater.

* Timon and Simba both competed in a bug-eating contest in ''Disney/TheLionKing 1½''.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* A fairly common competitive sport, albeit one forbidden by orthodoxy, in the TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture {{Dystopia}} ''ThinnerThanThou''. One of the protagonists is even a semi-professional participant.
* The DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse short story "Too Rich for My Blood" by Rebecca Levine (in the collection ''Short Trips: Seven Deadly Sins'', representing Gluttony) is set at a hot dog eating contest in Las Vegas. One of the contestants has been doped with an alien serum to increase his appetite. When they run out of hot dogs, [[ImAHumanitarian he starts on the other competitors]]. [[ZombieApocalypse And then it goes viral...]]
* In ''ClarenceGoesToTown'', Clarence, a realistically portrayed dog, is in a quiz-and-stunt contest with a bunch of humans. One of the stunts is a pie-eating contest. The show runners decide that, since pie isn't good for dogs, Clarence's pie is substituted with a half pound of raw hamburger.
* StephenKing uses this one in his story "The Body" (made into a film under the title ''StandByMe'', see Film section).

* Inverted in ''StandByMe'', where Gordie tells a story he made up about a kid entering an eating contest just for the chance to drag his entire town into a [[VomitChainReaction mass vomit-chain]] as revenge for treating him as the ButtMonkey for years.

[[AC: NewspaperComics]]
* A ''{{Garfield}}'' strip had Garfield and Jon have a popcorn-eating contest together. However, Garfield won unfairly by eating both bowls of popcorn instead of one kernel at a time like Jon did. Another strip had Garfield and Jon have a hot pepper-eating contest to see who would endure the hotness of each different pepper they ate. Garfield lost in the end when he ate a Peruvian Death Pepper.

[[AC: {{Live-Action TV}}]]

* Has happened occasionally in the reality show ''ManVsFood''.

* This trope can range from professional competitions (for the money!) and ''ManVFood'' to informal college and high school contests.

* Timon and Simba both competed in a bug-eating contest in ''[[TheLionKing The Lion King 1 1/2]]''.

* Inverted in ''StandByMe'', where Gordie tells a story he made up about a kid entering an eating contest just for the chance to drag his entire town into a mass vomit-chain as revenge for treating him as the ButtMonkey for years.

* In the old Polish comic ''KoziolekMatolek'', the titular goat encounters some indians, and after being challenged to a duel by their chief, the goat picks the competition to be eating grass. The chief eats until he explodes.

* In ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'', Jackie and his friends have to compete in an eating contest to find the tiger talisman.

* JP and Zoe engaged in one of these in episode 17 of ''DigimonFrontier''. Too bad that JP was the one who ended up with the BalloonBelly in the middle of it, while [[BigEater Zoe]] just kept on eating the food that came her way. Takuya and Koji even [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] it with the following dialogue in the English dub:

* ''{{Naruto}}'' and Sasuke once compete by having an EatingContest, finish at the same time and [[CrowningMomentOfFunny promptly throw up]].

* An episode of ''{{CSI}}'' had a man who died from an over-expanded stomach in the midst of an eating contest, because his brain could not process 'full' signals from his stomach. This happened because the person who cared for him was a {{Jerkass}} who wanted to use him to win the contest.

* ''{{Bones}}'' had an episode where the victim was a competitive eater.

* In ''{{Warhammer}}'', this is a form of DuelToTheDeath between ogres: The winner gets to eat the loser. The ogres will gladly take similar challenges from non-ogres, except trolls, whose HollywoodAcid digestive system is a GameBreaker even by ogre standards.

* A RippedFromTheHeadlines episode of ''KingOfTheHill'' featured a hot-dog eating contest where Dale shows up Bill by double-fisting the hot dogs, but losing in the end to a skinny Asian speed-eater.

{{Exactly What It Says On The Tin}}, two characters, one of them possibly being a {{Big Eater}}, engage in this type of contest, where they try to outeat each other with as much food as possible. Often, the Big Eater will come out as the victor, while the other loses by becoming full too fast, sometimes ending up with a {{Balloon Belly}}.

There are also some cases where both characters will lose in the midst of the contest, by also gaining the aforementioned Balloon Belly. Also, after the Big Eater wins, sometimes he'll ask, [[{{Ill Take Two Beers Too}} "What's for dessert?"]] or show signs that he's still hungry.

----
!'''Examples'''

[[AC: {{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]
* JP and Zoe engaged in one of these in episode 17 of ''{{Digimon Frontier}}''. Too bad that JP was the one who ended up with the {{Balloon Belly}} in the middle of it, while [[{{Big Eater}} Zoe]] just kept on eating the food that came her way. Takuya and Koji even [[{{Lampshade Hanging}} lampshade]] it with the following dialogue in the English dub:
--> '''Takuya''': Zoe ate all that!?!? Where does she put it all?
--> '''Koji''': Well, she is a growing girl.

* Maid Latte puts on an eating contest in ''{{Kaichou Wa Maid Sama}}'', with {{Supreme Chef}} Usui making the dishes, as a means of showcasing their dessert menu; Misaki participates in disguise as a favor to her co-worker Erika, who carelessly promised one of her regular customers that she'd go out on an all-day date with him if he won the contest. They both lose to [[{{Big Eater}} bottomless pit]] Hinata.
* Fuu enters an eating contest in one episode of ''{{Samurai Champloo}}''. This earned her a surprising reputation as the {{Big Eater}}.

[[AC: ComicBooks]]
* An ArchieComics story had [[BigEater Jughead]] compete against a member of a rival gang in a hamburger-eating contest at Pop's chocolate shop. [[spoiler:Jughead won in the end, because no other {{Big Eater}} could quite match up to Jughead's style]].
* In the old Polish comic ''KoziolekMatolek'', the titular goat encounters some indians, and after being challenged to a duel by their chief, the goat picks the competition to be eating grass. The chief eats until he explodes.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* A fairly common competitive sport, albeit one forbidden by orthodoxy, in the {{Twenty Minutes Into The Future}} {{Dystopia}} ''{{Thinner Than Thou}}''. One of the protagonists is even a semi-professional participant.
* The {{Doctor Who Expanded Universe}} short story "Too Rich for My Blood" by Rebecca Levine (in the collection ''Short Trips: Seven Deadly Sins'', representing Gluttony) is set at a hot dog eating contest in Las Vegas. One of the contestants has been doped with an alien serum to increase his appetite. When they run out of hot dogs, [[{{Im A Humanitarian}} he starts on the other competitors]]. [[{{Zombie Apocalypse}} And then it goes viral...]]
* In ''{{Clarence Goes to Town}}'', Clarence, a realistically portrayed dog, is in a quiz-and-stunt contest with a bunch of humans. One of the stunts is a pie-eating contest. The show runners decide that, since pie isn't good for dogs, Clarence's pie is substituted with a half pound of raw hamburger.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* In the live-action ''Film/{{Underdog}}'' film, one of the scenes shown during Shoeshine/Underdog's bouts of crimefighting showed him in a hot dog-eating contest with a fat guy. Underdog beats him before the fat man could even get a bite.
* Timon and Simba both competed in a bug-eating contest in ''[[{{The Lion King}} The Lion King 1 1/2]]''.
* Inverted in ''{{Stand by Me}}'', where Gordie tells a story he made up about a kid entering an eating contest just for the chance to drag his entire town into a mass vomit-chain as revenge for treating him as the ButtMonkey for years.
* George and Beethoven enter a hamburger-eating contest at the county fair in the second ''Film/{{Beethoven}}'' film. They won by only three burgers remaining.
* ''Mr Woodcock'' has this.

[[AC: {{Newspaper Comics}}]]
* A ''{{Garfield}}'' strip had Garfield and Jon have a popcorn-eating contest together. However, Garfield won unfairly by eating both bowls of popcorn instead of one kernel at a time like Jon did. Another strip had Garfield and Jon have a hot pepper-eating contest to see who would endure the hotness of each different pepper they ate. Garfield lost in the end when he ate a Peruvian Death Pepper.

[[AC: {{Live-Action TV}}]]
* An episode of ''{{CSI}}'' had a man who died from an over-expanded stomach in the midst of an eating contest, because his brain could not process 'full' signals from his stomach. This happened because the person who cared for him was a {{Jerkass}} who wanted to use him to win the contest.
** Also, because in the end, it was revealed that the man actually had a neurological disorder called Prader-Willi Syndrome, definite {{Squick}}.
* ''{{The Drew Carey Show}}'': Drew enters a pie-eating contest at a county fair and beats the reigning champion, a pig.
* ''{{The Brady Bunch}}'': When Bobby gets envious of the other Brady kids for all having trophies except him, he enters an ice cream eating contest on TV. He loses.
* ''{{Malcolm in the Middle}}'': When the family discovers that the neighborhood has a block party whenever they leave, Hal and Lois decide to show them up by winning the kielbasa eating contest.
* In ''Series/ThirtyRock'', Kenneth entered a pig-eating contest to win money to leave for New York to start his dreams. Turns out his pig was his old childhood pet Harold.
--> '''Kenneth''': I ate all of him. Even the face in case of a tie. I ate my father-pig!

* On ''YesDear'', Greg mentions in one episode that he and Jimmy once had a contest to see who could eat the most butter.

* Has happened occasionally in the reality show ''{{Man vs Food}}''.

[[AC: {{Tabletop Role Playing Game}}s]]
* In ''{{Warhammer}}'', this is a form of {{Duel to the Death}} between ogres: The winner gets to eat the loser. The ogres will gladly take similar challenges from non-ogres, except trolls, whose {{Hollywood Acid}} digestive system is a {{Game Breaker}} even by ogre standards.
** In ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'', the Space Wolves Primarch, Leman Russ, went into an eating contest against the Emperor when they first met. [[spoiler:He WON. Empy only got his allegiance by challenging him to a proper fight and winning.]]

[[AC: {{Western Animation}}]]
* An episode of ''{{Garfield and Friends}}'' had Jon and Garfield go to an authentic Chinese restaurant while visiting China. While there, the owner tells them the story of how thousands of years ago, a cat similar to Garfield [[{{Batman Gambit}} outwitted the dragon]] out of all the food that he stole by bullying the villagers by challenging him to an eating contest. When the dragon discovers that he had been tricked out of all the food he acquired, he then chases the cat clear across China, making it sort of a [[{{Subverted Trope}} subversion]]. When the story is finished, the owner then warns Jon that if an orange cat with black stripes (referring to Garfield) should ever eat too much whilst in China, the dragon will return and exact his revenge. However, much to the horror of both Jon and the restaurant owner, Garfield had already eaten all of the food that was in the restaurant while the owner was telling the story, [[{{Broken Aesop}} claiming it to be a long fable]], so he and Jon leave afterward.
* ''{{The Simpsons}}'': Homer gets in an eating contest with a trucker named Red, who dies right after beating Homer by finishing a 16-pound steak first. Just before the contest Red had eaten an entire lamb. Before the contest, Red and Tony Randall had been the only two people ever to complete the challenge.
* [[{{Big Eater}} Coop]] in ''{{Megas XLR}}'' competes in these, and has three championship crowns from the "Lord of the Large Pants" eating contest.
* Arnold competes in one in the ''{{Hey Arnold}}'' episode "Eating Contest".
* A {{Ripped from the Headlines}} episode of ''{{King of the Hill}}'' featured a hot-dog eating contest where Dale shows up Bill by double-fisting the hot dogs, but losing in the end to a skinny Asian speed-eater.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Jackie Chan Adventures}}'', Jackie and his friends have to compete in an eating contest to find the tiger talisman.

[[AC: {{Real Life}}]]

* In ''ThirtyRock'', Kenneth entered a pig-eating contest to win money to leave for New York to start his dreams. Turns out his pig was his old childhood pet Harold.

** Also, because in the end, it was revealed that the man actually had a mental disorder called Prader-Willi Syndrome, definite {{Squick}}.

* This trope can range from professional competitions (for the money!) and ''Man vs. Food'' to informal college and high school contests.

-->'''-TomLehrer''', ''[[TheElectricCompany L-Y]]''