It’s another vending machine challenge and you know how we feel about those (too much time, not enough food, doesn’t put hair on anyone’s chest) BUT it does involve a contract (described as “amazing” by the half of Dealbreaker that was at one time licensed to practice law in New York1), the terms of which state that in the event of a loss, the loser will pay for a lunch he’s not invited to, so we’ve got award points for that. Read more »
food eating challenges
Does Your Next Food Eating Challenge Involve Binge Drinking Herbalife’s Formula 1 Nutrition Shake?
By Bess Levin
As many of you know, around these parts we are constantly debating the merits of various financial services employees’ food eating challenges. Historically, we’ve detracted points for allowing the participants far too much time to complete the task at hand (opening bell to close, might as well just make it limitless), an insufficient volume of food (a box of Munchkins, considered by many to be a snack), and lack of originality (vending machine challenges have been done). On the flip side, we’ve applauded creativity (an investment banker and 500 Starburst enter a room and there’s a webcam involved),* obscene amounts of food and enough sugar to cause hyperglycemia (244 oysters, a cupcake of death), and topicality (the delicacy that is the Sausage Pancake Bite: yes! Double Downs: double yes!).
Which brings us to this: the Herbalife Food Eating Challenge. New York Observer reporter Patrick Clark noticed that while the Herbalife story has been covered by many an angle so far (the blood-sucking pyramid scheme angle, the grandma angle, the Dan Loeb/UWS hedge fund manager on UWS hedge fund manager angle), the most important angle of all had yet to be explored: the actual ingesting of this stuff angle. Read more »
Food Eating Challenge Of The Day: “It’s Not Clear What’s Going On In His Mind And Body”
By Bess Levin
As you all are well aware, from time to time we cover food eating challenges around these parts. We don’t chronicle all the feats of gastrointestinal fortitude that come our way, though, because while we love you all, not all of your FECs constitute what we’d consider an actual challenge worth covering. As previously discussed, our high bar has everything to do with the first contest we ever wrote about (as a postmortem), which involved a man named Oyster Boy, who consumed 244 oysters in 1 hour at Ulysses, throwing down the gauntlet down for one of you to pick up, vis-à-vis goring yourself for sport. Do we really expect anyone to match OB in magnitude or strength of stomach lining? No, we do not. Having said that, “challenges” such as eating 8 vending machine items in 12 hours (or in an unlimited amount of time!) are not going to cut it. It’s not an exact science but we look for FECs that are imaginative, topical, and/or represent a high degree of difficulty. (And while we wouldn’t actually advise it, live streaming the whole thing would make our day.) Which brings us to this afternoon’s challenge. Read more »
The Montana State Society’s Testicle Festival in Virginia Square was a rousing success this year. Festival-goers consumed 110 pounds of bull and bison testicles, 84 liters of Crown Royal and 1,500 cans of beer this year, according to event organizer and Society president Jed Link. All three were records for the event, now in its eighth year. Organizers estimate that nearly 600 people attended the Testicle Festival, which was held at the American Legion post at 3445 Washington Boulevard. Even though the event didn’t start until 6:00 on Saturday evening, Link said a line started to form at 4:30 p.m. [ARL]
A reader/FEC enthusiast asks: “Today’s Living Social deal for five Big Macs and five large fries BEGS for a New Normal eating challenge. Someone has to have a hungry analyst, right?” Read more »
Remember Sonya Thomas, AKA The Black Widow? For those who need a refresher, Thomas, dubbed the BW because she “often beats male competitors in eating contests” and maybe also killed a man in cold blood for stealing her lunch, housed 183 chicken wings in 12 minutes last September to take home first place in the 10th annual National Buffalo Wings Festival. When asked by a reporter if she was worried about any potential competitors, like some financial services employees who dabble in tests of gastrointestinal fortitude, she responded, “No, nobody can do it. What I do takes special skill. Talent.” And In fact, she said, “I’ll bet you a million dollars you can’t beat me.” We thought maybe someone would accept the challenge but apparently the Widow’s track record, which includes titles for cheesecake, (11 pounds in 9 minutes), crab cakes (46 in 10 minutes), Maine Lobsters (44 in 12 minutes), oysters (46 dozen 10 minutes), hard boiled eggs (65 in 6 minutes, 40 seconds), and jalapeños (251 in 9 minutes), left people cowering in the shadows. While the offer still stands, Thomas added another notch to the old belt, having beat a ten pound turkey into submission. Read more »
The answer is yes and it’s this- the Paul Tudor Jones-approved KFC Bacon Bowl (Description: “There’s a reason our KFC Bowl is famous- okay, 5 reasons. Mashed potatoes, fried chicken, corn, gravy, cheese. Layered together for what might be the world’s best tasting full meal, how do we make that recipe even more famous? We put bacon on it. Wow. Another one for the Colonel. Everything’s better with bacon.”) But, obviously some details need to be ironed out. Read more »
Dollars To Donuts You Don’t Have The Gastrointestinal Fortitude To Beat Vikram Pandit At His Own Game
By Bess Levin
“Citi North America Markets is raising money for the Police & Fire Widows’ & Childrens’ Benefit Fund- with an official food eating challenge. From an email sent today to all markets employees (Fixed Income, Equities, Commodities, Currencies)…” Read more »
There’s A Million Bucks With Your Name On It If You Can Beat The ‘Black Widow Of Eating Contests’ At Her Own Game
By Bess Levin
Perhaps you’ve competed in on the job eating challenges before, maybe even successfully. A few Double Downs here, a couple of vending machine items there. Probably felt pretty good about yourself, too. “I can shovel food down my mouth like a pro,” you might have said to a colleague who was equally impressed by your feats of gastrointestinal fortitude, right? WRONG. You have zero reason to be cocky about your so-called binge-eating abilities, according to Sonya Thomas, AKA the Black Widow. Read more »
How Many Tender Little White Castle Burgers With Those Little, Itty-Bitty Grilled Onions That Just Explode In Your Mouth Like Flavor Crystals Can 3 JPMorgan Interns Eat In 5 Minutes?
By Bess Levin
Three summer interns are about to go head to head. All are said to be of “medium build,” with two standing at about 5’11 and one at 5’5. Read more »
To commemorate the listing on the Nasdaq (ticker symbol: CRMB), consider going head to head with “six and a half inches high of deliciousness and love” today. [Crains, earlier]
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SoFi Answers the Call to Refinance Student Loans and Provides Unique Community Benefits
This is a guest post written by SoFi’s CEO, Mike Cagney.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE
Recently, there’s been a lot of talk amongst leaders in Washington about how to improve the painful process of repaying student loans. At SoFi, we feel your pain and work hard to offer more flexible, more affordable options for our borrowers. One idea that’s getting a lot of attention is increasing the options for refinancing debt after graduation. The only lender currently focused on refinancing private and federal student loans is SoFi.
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In a recent article posted on MainStreet.com SoFi General Counsel Rob Lavet had this to say about SoFi’s ReFi products: Read more »
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