(B)eat that

Joseph Christian “Jaws” Chestnut isn’t exactly a household name, but in the world of competitive eating he’s right up there. Winner of countless titles, Jaws’s most recent triumph was taking the world record for macaroni cheese eating – he managed to put away 10 and a half pounds of the stuff. Here he is at a 2007 contest, scoffing 66 hotdogs to edge out Japanese legend Kobayashi and set a new record.

Jaws makes his living as a professional competitive eater, or gurgitator – with big prize money up for grabs it can be quite lucrative and you get free food – a bit like being at a permanent all-you-can-eat-buffet.

On the downside, gurgitating can be risky. For every success story like Jaws, there’s a tragedy. Like 48-year-old Russian Boris Isayev who collapsed and died last month in mid-chew after eating 43 cream and banana filled pancakes (he was posthumously declared the winner).

Or the 32-year-old Canadian woman who choked when her throat became blocked with a sticky mass of half-chewed marshamallows. Contest rules demanded gurgitators say the words “chubby bunny” each time they stuffed another marshmallow in.

If that doesn’t deter you and you reckon you’ve got what it takes to gurgitate, check out the official website of the International Federation of Competitive Eating. You could soon be adding “World Deep-Fried Asparagus Eating Champion” to your CV.

Hone your competitive eating skills…