Speed eating contests are popular and often lucrative, but they can turn out to be fatal
There’s no good way to die, but going out choking on a giant doughnut is certainly not the way you would probably choose. In the world of speed eating, choking poses a real threat to participants, so much so that it led to the deaths of two different speed eaters in the same week.
Travis Malouf died in Denver after attempting to eat a 250g glazed doughnut in under 80 seconds at an American pastry chain known as Voodoo.
Travis was attempting a challenge to consume the oversized doughnut in as short a time as possible, but the pastry became stuck in his oesophagus, ultimately leading to his death from asphyxia.
Julia Edelstein was present at the incident and told reporters at the time that the doughnut Malouff was given was “the size of a small cake,” and part of a long-running in-store challenge in which successful competitors earned the pastry for free and a button declaring victory.
Voodoo Doughnuts later suspended the contest. According to Edelstein, Malouff tore the massive doughnut in half and began eating with determination. Only when things were too late did anyone realise something was wrong.
“Watching somebody participate in an eating contest, it looks like they’re distressed,” Edelstein said. “The whole thing looks like a sign of distress. Nobody realised what was happening until it was too late.”
He collapsed moments later. Two customers tried to catch him as he fell and began urgent attempts to help, while others called 911. Paramedics arrived quickly, but Malouff was pronounced dead at the scene.
His death came the same weekend as 20-year-old Caitlin Nelson, a college student, who died after choking during a pancake-eating contest at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut.
“We weren’t running in front of cars or playing with guns,” Edelstein said. “We were just out having fun. No one expected anything like this.”
This tragic pair aren’t the only speed eaters to have died while attempting to break a record. Back in 2016, a Japanese man choked to death while trying to eat five sushi balls in three minutes.
The 28-year-old man, who has not been named, fell unconscious at the event in Hikone and sadly passed away three days later.
