Krystal Square Off
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The Krystal Square Off was the official World Hamburger Eating Championship from 2004 to 2009, taking place in Chattanooga,
Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
and sanctioned by the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE). In this event, contestants ate as many
Krystal Krystal may refer to: People * Krystal Ann Simpson (born 1982), American poet, fashion blogger, DJ, reality television personality, and musician * Krystal Ball (born 1981), American political commentator * Krystal Barter, Australian activ ...
hamburgers A hamburger, or simply burger, is a food consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. Hamburgers are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, or c ...
as possible in eight minutes. The sole difference between the hamburgers consumed for the Square Off and the hamburgers purchased from Krystal restaurants is that pickles were removed from hamburgers consumed for the event to minimize the risk of choking. The Krystal Square Off consisted of a qualifying tour and a world championship. In the qualifying tour, amateur eaters competed with professional eaters for a spot at the world championship. In 2004, the first year of the event, local amateurs Sam Vise and Jeff Hicks defeated professionals to earn a position at the world championship. The two-minute qualifier record stands at 39 Krystals eaten by "Humble" Bob Shoudt in Nashville, 2007. Citing "significant" demands on company resources, the company cancelled the event in 2010, looking to shift its "marketing focus and efforts" to new products and new store locations.


List of winners


History

*2004: Kobayashi consumed 69 Krystals in the 8-minute contest, pocketing $10,000 in prize money. Second place went to "The Black Widow"
Sonya Thomas Sonya Thomas (born Lee Sun-kyung on July 26, 1967), also known by her nickname The Black Widow, and "The Leader of the Four Horsemen of the Esophagus", is a South Korean-born American competitive eater from Alexandria, Virginia. Thomas joined ...
who ate 46, pocketing $5,000. *2005: Kobayashi consumed 67 Krystal hamburgers in the 8-minute contest. Second Place went to Joey Chestnut (62) of
San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...
. Sonya Thomas (56) took third. "Humble" Bob Shoudt (51) of Royersford, Pennsylvania took fourth place. Prize money was $10,000, $5,000, $2,500, $1,500 respectively, for the top four positions. *2006: The event, taking place at the First Tennessee Pavilion, was televised live on
ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially fo ...
for the first time. Kobayashi and Chestnut both topped the event's world record near the midpoint of the contest, with Kobayashi (97 Krystals) taking the victory. Patrick "Deep Dish" Bertoletti, of
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
also broke the previous world record, finishing third with 76. The winners split a $30,000 purse. An amateur event, dubbed the Krystal Sackful Challenge, was held prior to the main event. It featured two-person teams chosen from the audience, eating as many Krystals as possible in two minutes. The winners of the inaugural challenge were Matt Alling, 24, of
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
, and Bruce Clements, 23, of Chattanooga.Breaking News: Kobayashi remains Krystal king
, ''Chattanooga Times Free Press'', October 28, 2006. Retrieved 2006-10-31.
*2007:
Joey Chestnut Joseph Christian Chestnut (born November 25, 1983) is an American competitive eater. As of 2022, he is ranked first in the world by Major League Eating. He is a California native and resides in Westfield, Indiana. Chestnut's height is ; his weigh ...
devoured 103 Krystal hamburgers in eight minutes to win the Krystal Square Off IV World Hamburger Eating Championship. The battle for second between 22-year-old Patrick "Deep Dish" Bertoletti and "Humble"
Bob Shoudt Bob Shoudt (born October 16, 1966), also known as "Humble Bob" or "Notorious B.O.B." (the name of his YouTube channel), is an American competitive eater from Royersford, Pennsylvania. He holds a number of eating records, including the most food ...
, 41, ended in an upset. Shoudt, ranked seventh in the world, consumed 95 Krystals to edge out Bertoletti, the number two ranked eater in the world. Chestnut won $10,000 and a Krystal Square Off champion's belt and trophy made out of crystal. Shoudt's runner-up finish earned $7,500, while Bertoletti third-place finish earned $3,500. The winner of the first three competitions, Takeru Kobayashi, did not participate due to a jaw injury. *2008: Joey Chestnut defended his title successfully, eating 93 Krystals. Pat "Deep Dish" Bertoletti finished second with 85. Takeru Kobayashi scored 84, 13 fewer than his 2006 total, to place third. *2009: This last edition featured a revised ruleset. First, eaters were no longer allowed to dunk their hamburgers in liquid in an effort to eliminate “detritus” during the competition. Also new this year, every eater was given five Big Angus Burgers at the start of the competition in addition to their tray of Krystal hamburgers. Each Big Angus Burger consumed added five hamburgers to an eater’s total count. Takeru Kobayashi defeated reigning champion Joey Chestnut with a score of 93 (68 Krystals, 5 Big Angus Burgers), earning the $20,000 top prize. Chestnut was second, with 81, and Pat "Deep Dish" Bertoletti finished third, with 76. *2010: There has been no event since 2010 as the company changed its "marketing focus and efforts" to new products and new company-owned restaurant locations. It was called off in August.


A list of contestants


100 burgers or more ("The Double Tre Double Deuce")

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


90 burgers or more ("The Triple Tre")

* Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi (Nagano, Japan) - 97 (#1 2006) * "Humble" Bob Shoudt
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(Royersford, PA) - 95 (#2 2007) * Patrick "Deep Dish" Bertoletti (Chicago, IL) - 94 (#3 2007)


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


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

*
Tim Janus Tim Janus (born December 31, 1976) is an American entertainer, media personality and retired competitive eater known in the competitive eating community as "Eater X". He was a member of the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE). ...
(New York, NY) - 74 (#4 2007)


60 burgers or more ("The Double Tre")

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


50 burgers or more ("The Deuce Tre")

* Juliet Lee (Germantown, MD) - 55 (#7 2008) * Chip Simpson (USA) - 55 (#5 (tie) 2006) * Rich "The Locust" LeFevre (Henderson, NV) - 53 (#6 2007) * Shaun Kesler (Chattanooga, TN) - 52 (#2 Atlanta, GA qualifier 2006) * Eric "Badlands" Booker (Copiague, NY) - 51 (#2 Nashville, TN qualifier 2008) * Juris Shibayama (Murfreesboro, TN) - 51 (#2 Nashville, TN qualifier 2008) * Crazy Legs Conti (New York NY,) - 50 (#2 Knoxville, TN qualifier 2008) * Erik "The Red" Denmark (Seattle, WA ) - 50 (#3 Memphis, TN qualifier 2008)


40 burgers or more ("The Double Deuce")

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


30 burgers or more ("The Tre")

* Dale Boone (Atlanta, GA) - 38 (#12 2006 finals) * Elizabeth Canady (Bradenton, FL) - 38 (#2 Jacksonville, FL 2007) * Ron Koch (Las Vegas, NV,) - 37 (#8 2005 finals) * Justin Mih (Boston, MA,) - 36 (#13 2006 finals) * Eric "Steakbellie" Livingston (Drexel Hill, PA) - 35 (#4 Atlanta, GA qualifier 2008) * RJ Frasca - 35 (#3, Jacksonville, FL qualifier 2009) * Sam Vise (Union City, TN) - 35 (#10 2005 finals) * Micah "Wing Kong" Collins (Drexel Hill, PA) - 33 (#5 Atlanta, GA qualifier 2008) * Lynn Curley (Nashville, TN ) - 33 (#2 Nashville, TN qualifier 2004) * Charles "The Godfather" Hardy (Brooklyn, NY) - 33 (#6 (tie) 2004 finals) * Ed "Cookie" Jarvis (Nesconsett, NY) - 33 (#6 (tie) 2004 finals) * Chris Abatsas (TN) - 32 (#2 Chattanooga, TN qualifier 2006) * Nathan Biller (Briarwood, NY) - 32 (#5 Nashville, TN qualifier 2008) * Pete "Pretty Boy" Davekos (Boston, MA) - 32 (#3 Knoxville, TN qualifier 2008) * Russ Keeler (PA, USA) - 31 (#2 Perry GA qualifier 2007) * Rick Petralia (Chattanooga, TN) - 31 (#3 Chattanooga, TN qualifier 2009) * Dave "U.S. Male" Goldstein (Voorhees, NJ) - 30 (#5 Knoxville, TN qualifier 2008) * Cade Hardin (Huntsville, AL) - 30 (#3 Nashville, TN qualifier 2004) * Carlene LeFevre (Henderson, NV) - 30 (#2 Perry, GA qualifier 2004) * Kevin Ross (Temecula, CA) - 30 (#3 Nashville, TN qualifier 2007) * Loren "Bubba" Yarbrough (Newnan, GA) - 30 (#13 2005 finals)


See also

*
Competitive eating Competitive eating, or speed eating, is an activity in which participants compete against each other to eat large quantities of food, usually in a short time period. Contests are typically eight to ten minutes long, although some competitions c ...
*
Krystal (restaurant) Krystal is an American regional fast food restaurant chain headquartered in Dunwoody, Georgia, with restaurants in the Southeastern United States and Puerto Rico. It is known for its small, square hamburgers, called sliders in places other th ...
*
Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest The Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest is an annual American hot dog competitive eating competition. It is held each year on July 4th at Nathan's Famous Corporation's original, and best-known restaurant at the corner of Surf a ...
* Wing Bowl


References


External links

*
Krystal's homepage


{{Competitive eating Competitive eating