Black Widow Crowned ‘World Popcorn Champion…Of The World’

By Ryan - Wednesday June 08th 2005

30-oz boxes backstage Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas continued her dually unstoppable winning and eating streaks today at Hollywood and Highland, earning the world popcorn title with 9.5 30-oz boxes of popcorn and two 30-oz boxes in double overtime at 1:00pm. She was pushed by #3-ranked eater Rich “The Locust” Lefevre into the second overtime, and was saved a third overtime by the grace of good judging.

As an official judge for this event, I can attest that it is a humbling experience to be in the presence of some of the greatest eaters and athletes in the world. As a promoter at this event, I can attest that it is even more humbling to wear a losanjealous.com t-shirt shamelessy all over the stage in front of the MTV, KTLA, Fox and various other cameras. No press is bad press, right?

I’m still wiping Rich Lefevre’s popcorn residue off my cheeks (this one was messy), but when that’s done I’ll offer a full recap from a judge’s perspective. MTV may also host a webcast version soon (I’m not sure), so I’ll let you know if that becomes available.

UPDATE
A condensed version of the video is now available at MTV. Be amazed. Be disgusted. Be entertained!

What now?

10 Responses to “Black Widow Crowned ‘World Popcorn Champion…Of The World’”

Sarah : 6/16/05 at 1:23 pm

It looked like the guy beat the girl. They are both great eaters.
Ryan : 6/16/05 at 2:31 pm

It was really, really close. But don’t believe everything you read about a few kernels being the deciding factor. There were other factors in play - he basically sloshed 1/2 bottle of water (possibly accidentally) into his bowl in the second eat-off, which is why you can see him ‘drinking’ the bowl in the MTV clip. By strict theatre rules, that’s not allowed - and that had to be taken into consideration.
Richard LeFevre : 6/18/05 at 10:10 am

Ryan,

For your information, I did NOT slosh a 1/2 bottle of water into my bowl and there was no water whatsoever in my bowl. The only reason I picked it up was to scoop the little bits into my mouth so I wouldn’t leave any (in fact, that’s whan I dropped the few little pieces that would have fit on the surface of a quarter). If it makes you feel more justified in saying that so you can feel good about your call so be it. My only mistake was not securing one of my empty boxes that did not get stacked in my pile. However, not counting that, I still appeared to have a slight edge after regulation and in the first overtime as well. It would have been nice if MTV had given out a prize to me as well as the two of us made it the entertaining event that it was and the decision could have gone either way.
Ryan : 6/18/05 at 10:31 am

Rich,

Didn’t mean to offend you. Definitely saw a significant amount of water going into the bowl early in the second overtime; I think it happened after you tried to take a drink. Other judges wanted to rule on spillage - I was looking at the water factor.

That said, MTV should have ponied up more than one prize - this was just way too close.

Frankly, I’m just thrilled that one of the greatest eaters in America found this site. I might not want to be judging something that close again, but I do look forward to seeing you in action again soon. Eat on.

RM

Ps - with the miscount ref. above - are you contending that you actually ate 13 boxes!? Can this be repeated? Talk to me.
Rich LeFevre : 6/20/05 at 9:46 am

Hi Ryan,

Thanks for your response. I would be glad to show MTV that I can eat more than 10 boxes in a ten minute period (as I did during the competition). I’m really disappointed that others (aside from a Fox 11 TV reporter) didn’t notice that I was a full box ahead of Sonya with under two minutes to go. As I never even slowed down in the slightest, it would have been next to impossible for her to catch me.

Have them give me the time and place and I will prove it to them to erase any doubt about it.
audree : 6/24/05 at 4:00 pm

this is hilarious…since i missed the first showdown..i’d surely love to see The Locust in action for a repeat. Ryan..set up the neew time/place!
Buddy : 6/29/05 at 6:38 pm

I, too, am very curious. Why don’t you do it again and see if he can pull it off. I wouldn’t bet against him!
Ryan : 6/30/05 at 3:42 pm

I have about as much pull with MTV as I do with Bil Keane (creator of the immensely popular Family Circus series…you know the one…it’s round, it has Jeffy, Barfy, GhostGrandpa, Dotted-Line-Paths and NotMe) … namely, none.

That said, I’ll escalate what I can. I’ll escalate what I can. If a rematch should surface some day, at the very least they’ll need some type of official box counters on hand alongside the judges. I’m estimating somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 skilled judges/counters per contestant.
Chili Cheese History to be Made Saturday : 2/10/06 at 11:15 am

[...] Our very own Ryan, who maintained order in last year’s popcorn eating championship, will again serve as judge for this event. Check back for a full report on all the chilicheese festivities. [...]
Black Widow Out-Chili-Cheeses Chestnut By Ounce : 2/11/06 at 7:30 pm

[...] Sonya â€˜The Black Widowâ€˜ Thomas ate eight pounds and two ounces worth of Wienerschnitzel Chili Cheese Fries in ten minutes this afternoon at the Queen Mary, earning the title World Chili Cheese Fries Championâ€¦of the World by a mere ounce. [...]

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Black Widow Crowned ‘World Popcorn Champion…Of The World’

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10 Responses to “Black Widow Crowned ‘World Popcorn Champion…Of The World’”

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