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Professional Pigs Gorge on Publicity

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The nonstop TV exposure has created many unlikely stars. Booker, who still works as a New York City subway conductor, has become a frequent guest on "Last Call with Carson Daly," serving as a guest announcer and "Eater in Residence." He's also cut a rap album, "Hungry and Focused."

"The way the sport is evolving, you need money to just to prepare," says Booker, who lives in Brooklyn with his wife and three children. "I am looking just to pay for my costs."


A major event — like the hot dog contest — can require eight weeks of gut-busting training, wherein the food eater will work on stretching the elasticity of his stomach. Some competitors will practice with drills such as drinking a gallon of water in under a minute.

Kobayashi is said to earn about $150,000 in international competitions. Some U.S. competitors see corporate sponsorship as the way of the future, to pay for training costs.

"I'd like to see myself completely covered with advertisements, just like a NASCAR driver," says Ed "Cookie" Jarvis, a 429-pound world-class eater, who has criss-crossed the country over the last few years, setting records in ice cream (one gallon, nine ounces in 12 minutes), French fries (4.46 pounds in six minutes) and cannoli (21 in six minutes).

With more than 100 appearances on TV shows, Jarvis sees himself as the perfect human billboard. "I've been on Jay Leno and the cover of The Wall Street Journal," he says, "I reach a pretty broad audience."

The No. 6-ranked eater says he'd even retire from competition for the right offer. "I want to be the next Jared," he says, referring to Jared Fogel, the Indianapolis native who lost 245 pounds by eating only Subway sandwiches — and then became a company spokesman.

Perhaps one of the greatest strengths of the competitive eating circuit is that its stars come in all shapes and sizes, and can therefore appeal to any group an advertiser wishes to reach.

In what other sports do men and women of all ages compete against one another? The top-ranked American eater, Sonya "Black Widow" Thomas of Alexandria, Va., is a 37-year-old assistant manager of a Burger King at Andrews Air Force Base.

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