Category: Live Action

Competitive Eaters Ranked

I’ve been watching competitive eating on YouTube since early 2024. I was in the midst of a keto diet phase (it was a mistake; I don’t recommend it), and I think the YouTube algorithm sensed I was hungry. Initially, I was disgusted by watching Erik the Electric eat meals featured on My 600-Pound Life x2 four times in a day but continued watching his videos anyway. These days I mostly just think it’s impressive. I don’t watch all the competitive eaters, I may not even watch the best ones, but below is my ranked list of eaters that I watch regularly or have otherwise made an impression.

1. Erik the Electric

The YouTuber who introduced me to competitive eating has to go at the top of the list for multiple reasons. Erik’s videos are unique among all competitive eaters that I watch. Unlike other eaters listed here, Erik rarely does restaurant challenges. Instead, he sets challenges for himself. For the past three years, he’s based these challenges around a theme or a story. In his most recent video as of this writing, for example, he trained an AI, presumably on his previous challenges, to create a 14-day-long challenge for him to follow to prove he was still the “World’s Hungriest Man” as his tagline proclaims. His previous format, which he used when he posted challenges weekly, usually included eating a ridiculous amount of calories while showcasing new foods, entire menus, and seasonal specials at fast food restaurants and grocery stores.

Currently, Erik posts videos at a much slower cadence than other competitive eaters. It’s not out of the ordinary for months to pass between videos, but they’re always worth the wait for Erik’s humor, storytelling, and unique video editing style. Erik has a way of making food look delicious or at least making the challenge of eating a large quantity of it exciting (because, really, eating a 1-pound gummy bear in one sitting is disgusting no matter how you frame it). Where other competitive eaters merely tell the viewer how tasty their 10,000 calorie burger is week after week, Erik emphasizes his enthusiastic “Mmm!”s with fist pounds, camera shakes, video and audio effects, and animated fireballs. His challenges and loose storylines have plot twists, obstacles, and rising and falling action, and his onscreen calorie counters, timers, and progress graphics further emphasize the difficulty of his challenges and keep you wondering if he’s finally given himself too great of a challenge.

Erik’s backstory also distinguishes him other eaters. Like most eaters, Erik is an exercise enthusiast, his particular interests being in power lifting, bike riding, and most recently triathlons. He found these passions and competitive eating, however, after years of struggling with anorexia. It was his discovery that he could eat massive quantities of food and still maintain a healthy weight that ultimately gave him a better relationship with food.

I also have to put Erik at the top for the effect he’s had on me, and not only by introducing me to competitive eating. Don’t worry. He hasn’t inspired me to want to eat a sickening amount of food. He did, however, inspire me to try all the food. When I went to restaurants, I used to ask myself, “What’s the ‘safest’ thing on the menu, or what have I tried that I know is ‘safe’?” I often ordered the same foods over and over again. Now when I go to restaurants, I ask myself, “What haven’t I tried before that I’d like to try?” I keep a list of restaurants and menus from around Missoula with notes about what I liked, what I didn’t like, and what I thought about what I’ve tried. I’ve ordered from fast food places and restaurants that I’ve never tried before. I’ve ordered tasty food and desserts that I’d never considered. The inspiration came from simply watching Erik try all manner of tasty-looking foods. I wanted to try them, too. If he could eat a disgusting amount of food and be perfectly fine, why couldn’t I be fine giving a reasonable portion a try? Obviously, I’m not on the keto diet anymore, and I partly thank Erik for that as well.

2. Max vs. Food

I only found Max vs. Food a few months ago through collaborations with Katina Eats Kilos and Randy Santel, but he’s quickly risen to the second spot in my tier list. Max posts bi-weekly videos, featuring mostly restaurant speed and/or capacity challenges and some food-eating competitions and at-home challenges. Max is impressive for both his speed and his capacity. I rarely see him fail a challenge due to running out of time or feeling too sick to continue, and I’ve never seen him eat to the point of getting sick. He almost always breaks previous time records and out-eats the eaters he collaborates with. Alongside his bi-weekly, self-edited videos, he also works a fulltime job and runs several hours a day.

Max is enthusiastic and entertaining. His video format follows Katina Eats Kilos’ style where video of him eating is lightly edited, sped up, and overlayed with music and Max narrating his thoughts throughout the challenge. While videos in this style also include live audio of the eater interacting with the staff and audience, I find the additional narration makes it more interesting by adding observations and doubts that the eater might not admit aloud. Max makes food look good and rarely shows misery during a challenge, even when he says he’s struggling. While some eaters strategize how they approach a challenge, such as eating all the meat first, Max often has more fun with his food, attempting to eat giant burgers whole, making sandwiches from piles of meat and bread, and saving his favorites for last. His significant other Laura often assists, coaches, and supports him from behind the camera, which keeps me rooting for him when times are dire as well.

Being based in the UK, he also eats a lot of tasty-looking English breakfasts.

3. Katina Eats Kilos

Katina found competitive eating through the world of bikini competitions. In these competitions, natural competitors (i.e. non-steroid users) such a Katina ride a fine line between building muscle and remaining lean. After a competition, Katina decided to try competitive eating as a method of building muscle or bulking. She has since become a professional eater, although she maintains a strict regimen of weightlifting and bike riding. Katina isn’t a speed eater, but what interested me in her was her impressive capacity for being my size.

Katina also streams World of Warcraft regularly on Twitch. She brings her well-practiced narration to her weekly (recently turned bimonthly) videos to keep them engaging with her inner thoughts.

4. Randy Santel

Randy isn’t particularly impressive for his speed or unmaintained physique. Even his capacity is questionable at the frequency with which he struggles through or fails challenges. This may be, however, because he frequently eats one or two challenges a day for weeks at a time while on tour to accumulate videos to post over a much longer timeline while he’s not on tour. He has also beaten over a thousand restaurant challenges across the United States and around the world and owns foodchallenges.com, which maintains a global list of food challenges and tips for how to eat big and maintain physique. I don’t know for sure, but I would guess he’s one of the original professional eaters on YouTube and has inspired many of those that exist today.

Unlike other competitive eaters here, Randy doesn’t edit his own videos, and it shows. His videos are very formulaic, and since he has the beginning and end of the videos to share most of his thoughts, the introductions and closings can be drawn out. Randy is enthusiastic and infinitely supportive, but he usually comes across as showy and obnoxious rather than charming.

I discovered Randy through his fiancé Katina Eats Kilos. When I hear the two of them supporting each other off camera, I suppose I have to support both, although I find Katina more entertaining and impressive. Randy has recently decreased his schedule from bi-weekly to weekly videos in preparation for his marriage to Katina. He plans to retire as a professional eater when his new YouTube channel–featuring his knowledge as a dietician–grows to a sustainable size.

He also managed to find a challenge in Missoula:

5. Matt Stonie

Matt Stonie reminds me of Ryan Higa except instead of making short films with his Asian friends, his Asian friends film him cooking and eating disgusting food. Matt specializes in speed eating but has an impressive capacity as well. I don’t watch many of his videos, but most that I’ve seen feature home challenges he creates for himself, mostly focusing on challenging textures, uniformity, and flavors. As mentioned, Matt’s editing and video style reminds me a lot of Ryan Higa short films and also Erik the Electric videos. He doesn’t, however, make food look good and frequently fails his own challenges.

6. Molly Schuyler

As one of the top professional eaters in the world, Molly Schuyler doesn’t chew. She just swallows.

That said, I don’t go out of my way to watch her videos. Despite her ability to eat a two-foot long cheesesteak and an entire tray of cheese fries in less than three minutes, she’s not very entertaining. Of the few videos I’ve seen, there is somewhat uninformative and meandering introductions, bad audio, and zero narration during the challenges. Unlike most of the eaters I’ve listed here, she’s also not a “clean eater,” frequently turning her food to mush before stuffing it in her mouth.

I do appreciate seeing her on other eaters’ channels though. As long as someone else is handling the entertaining, video editing, and audio, she is very impressive and worth watching.

Ghost Adventures (Seasons 26-30)

After several years of not watching Ghost Adventures, I returned for Seasons 26-30. Zak Bagans proceeded to tell me nearly every episode something along the lines of, “This is some of the most profound evidence ever captured.” And I thought to myself, “This is such bullshit.”

I remember the days of Ghost Hunters where nothing would happen for multiple episodes. Orbs were almost immediately disregarded as dust or bugs. Compelling evidence consisted of muffled EVPs. Creepy feelings were debunked as high electromagnetic fields from faulty electrical panels, and investigators were annoyed to discover haunted house gimmicks hadn’t been deactivated in restaurants purporting to be haunted. Shadow figures and poltergeist activity caught on camera was the stuff of season finales.

Now you’re going to claim to me that you captured a loud, disembodied, demonic scream for the SECOND TIME in Ghost Adventures history right after an episode capturing an object moving by itself? Half the time they can’t even get through a pre-investigation interview without supernatural activity interrupting or someone claiming to feel ill or weird.

Then, I thought I saw something move in my periphery in my house and freaked out, so I guess I’m still a believer. XD

On one hand, Zak Bagans feels like a slimy salesmen, and I wouldn’t put it past him to fake evidence. On the other hand, he’s investigated some sketchy places, participated in rituals, and actively invited entities into his life over the years I’ve been watching Ghost Adventures. In that way, I can believe the frequency and intensity of the supernatural activity surrounding him is merely increasing. In the documentary Demon House, Zak was haunted so hard that his eyes permanently crossed. Is that a joke, or is that real? I can’t tell anymore.

Notes:
Season 30 Episode 10
Psychometry – the ability to sense the aura of an object through touch.

Stranger Things Subtitles

I usually watch everything with subtitles when subtitles are available. For Stranger Things, occasionally, I find them hilarious.

In Season 1, Nancy admits to her mother and the police that her friend Barbara went missing while she and Nancy were attending an unsanctioned party at Steve’s house. When Nancy’s mother is more outraged that Nancy was at Steve’s house than upset about Barbara, Nancy shuts herself in her room. She sits on her bed, sniffling slightly and accompanied by the subtitle:

[Crying]

In Season 3, Joyce and Hopper fight the Russian Terminator in the large Russian base under the mall. Joyce makes a variety of sounds during the fight, each one of which are subtitled:

[Joyce yelps, grunts]
[Joyce squeals, pants]
[Joyce screams]

1984 (Joe White Adaptation)

Big Brother would approve of this audiobook/radio play adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984. 75% of the words have been replaced with heavy breathing and lip smacking.

On the subject of what content is there though… In some ways, 1984‘s world still parallels common conservative criticisms of modern socialist and big governments. The fictitious totalitarian superstate Oceania restricting language and spreading propaganda as facts, for example, eerily parallels real governments’ tendencies to emphasize certain views and suppress others.

Some of George Orwell’s other predictions for the future, however, haven’t aged as well. For example, the citizens of Oceania are encouraged to have children for the good of the Party. Having sex out of love or for pleasure is forbidden. In today’s reality, conservatives are more likely to complain that sex for pleasure, devoid of its biological purpose of procreation, is celebrated and used by governments to distract the first-world population from their replacement by third-world immigrants.

Red Letter Media gave another example of 1984 showing its age in the course of a somewhat relevant discussion about AI and dystopian futures. George Orwell imagined that, in the future, the government would place cameras everywhere to watch everyone. As the future has actually unfolded, today, almost everyone has a camera almost at all times, built into their smart phones at their own request. Everyone is watching everyone else, ready to record inappropriate behavior and use those recordings incite public ridicule or other life-destroying consequences. We did it to ourselves! We are our own Big Brother!

Frankenstein (2025)

When Victor Frankenstein kills his benefactor Henrich Harlander by mistake, I expected his death to play a larger part in the story. Perhaps Harlander would somehow become the Creature, or his soul would animate the Creature in bid return for revenge. Nothing really happened though. He was just dead.

During post-movie analysis, one of my friends surmised that Victor killed Harlander as short hand for him being an asshole. She recalled that in the book Victor is emphasized as being an asshole by repeatedly blaming other people for his mistakes. The movie, which was long enough as it was, didn’t have time to repeatedly show the Creature killing Frankenstein’s love interests and Frankenstein painting himself as the victim, so he killed someone instead.

It seems plausible, but still, I missed the significance of Harlander’s death, leading it to feel like a sub-plot that went nowhere. Victor didn’t intentionally kill him, which might have made him too much of an asshole to the audience. The intent seemed to be for Victor to either use the death to play the victim or to show his remorselessness or single-mindedness. There isn’t a character to be horrified by his behavior though (at least about killing someone by accident and not caring that much), so there wasn’t guidance as to how I should feel about it. In contrast, Victor’s treatment of the Creature and Elizabeth’s outrage with him quickly made him look like enough of an asshole to overshadow murder.

Closer

Closer is a new play based on The Day the Earth Stood Still. That’s Closer as in “he moved closer to it,” not “he was the show closer.” Contrary to what I thought when I tried to remember if I had seen the story before and what it was, The Day the Earth Stood Still is also not The War of the Worlds, which originated as a radio play that caused mass panic because people thought aliens had really come to Earth.

I’ve recently begun compiling a list of books, movies, and other entertainment that have inspired my science fiction saga over the years. I can’t remember if I’ve seen either the 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still or the 2008 remake, but the concept of an alien coming to Earth and threatening to kill all of humanity unless they committed to changing their ways sounded very familiar. Hmm… That’s almost like something I wrote.

Then again, I’m sure this idea has been rehashed in multiple other stories and mediums. I just have yet to find the one that inspired me. There’s also a theory in the UFO-community that if aliens ever did come to Earth, it would be to encourage peace and harmony with the planet. I may have gotten the idea from that.

I do want to see the 2008 remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still though to see if it looks familiar. Plus, Keanu Reeves is the perfect actor to play an alien.

Good Boy

When I watched Dog in theaters a few years ago, I realized I have zero tolerance for sad animal movies. It was marketed as a comedy, and some of it may have been funny. Ultimately, I found then entire movie about a dog with PTSD and an incorrigible man disturbing. Sure, the dog didn’t die at the end, but I didn’t see anything to be happy about.

I had a similar experience with Smile a few months later. The first half of the movie was uncomfortable and disturbing. When the protagonist found her dead cat gift wrapped in a box, I seriously considered walking out of the theater. Fortunately, it became a standard, silly horror movie after that, but I wasn’t tempted to come back for Smile 2.

Recently, knowing nothing about the movie except that it was a horror, I went to a friend’s house to watch Good Boy. When the first scene depicted a sad, frightened dog, I wondered if I should leave immediately. Good Boy turned out to be quite tolerable though. The movie depicted a dog’s worst nightmare told from a dog’s perspective. I found it really interesting. And secretly, I wanted to coo at the screen the whole movie, “Look at that good boy!”

So for those of you with a similar sensitivity to animal movies, don’t be afraid to give Good Boy a watch.

Predator: Badlands

Predator: Badlands didn’t feel like a Predator movie. Granted, it’s been more than a decade since I’ve seen a Predator movie. Actually, I can’t remember if I’ve seen a Predator movie. Was it Alien vs. Predator? Was it Alien? Was it something else entirely? Is there a Predator movie? O.o I remember nothing about what I’ve seen of Predator except that it should be scary or at least attempt to be so.

Watching Predator: Badlands was like what I imagine watching modern Star Wars is like. Given that I also have very little experience with modern Star Wars, I’m basing this opinion entirely on The Mandalorian & Grogu trailer I saw before Badlands started. About at the midpoint in the movie, Badlands introduces a cute mascot character. From that point forward, I felt like I was watching a ripoff of The Mandalorian & Grogu: a brooding protagonist, a comedic side kick, and a cute mascot having a space adventure.

Also, there’s a series of shots of the Predator and his side kick walking through fields and over mountains. After the first couple shots, I predicted the next shot would show the Predator walking along a mountain ridge. Lo and behold, the next shot was the Predator walking along a mountain ridge. Hell yeah! I’m watching a Lord of the Rings ripoff, too!

Overall, I don’t know what I watched or what I expected, but it seemed like something else with the Predator brand slapped on it.

Spring Baking Championship (Season 8)

Season 8 of Spring Baking Championship introduced two gimmicks, and both of them failed.

The first was the elimination of two bakers in episode one and the introduction of two new bakers in episode two. Typically, a season begins with twelve bakers and one is eliminated each episode until the season finale with the final 3-4 bakers. In this season, two bakers were eliminated in the first episode to make way for the addition of two more bakers in episode two. The new bakers, however, first had to compete against each other alongside the other bakers. Out of the two bakers, the one with the better dessert would continue competing. At the end of the episode, one of the new bakers and one of the original contestants were eliminated, bringing the contestant count down to the regularly scheduled ten. The second new baker, however, was eliminated in episode three, making the whole gimmick pointless.

The second gimmick was the unexpected introduction of a pre-final bake off. Until Season 11, season finales included two rounds. The first round eliminated one of the four finalists. In the second, the final three competed for winner of the season. In Season 11, the four finalists still competed in round one, but then, the bottom two were required to compete against each other in a bake off to join the top two in the final round. Unprepared for the sudden development and overwhelmed by the emotional toll of the previous round, however, one of the contestants simply quit, making the other the winner by default and the whole gimmick pointless.

The first gimmick never made another appearance. Despite its similar failure, however, the second would become the new finale format for all following seasons of Spring Baking Championship. No one has quit since, so it seems the contestants get a warning about it now.