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American Morning
Coney Island Hosting Hot Dog Eating Contest
Aired July 04, 2003 - 07:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, when you think of Fourth of July, you think fireworks, baseball, apple pie and hot dogs. But this many? Later today, two time defending champion -- help me out here -- Takeru Kobayashi, goes for his third straight title in the Coney Island hot dog eating contest. Can he do it?
Our Michael Okwu joins us from the Coney Island boardwalk in Brooklyn now with a preview -- hey, Michael, the anticipation is building.
MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, there's a great deal of anticipation here. I haven't really seen the odds in Vegas yet, but I understand that Mr. Kobayashi is probably the odds on favorite here.
I want to take a quick shot of him right now. This is Mr. Kobayashi, William "The Refrigerator" Perry, and, of course, Eric "Badlands" Booker.
Now, you take a look at these guys, who outweigh Kobayashi by a good 300 pounds, and one wonders how this all happens.
I'm joined by his interpreter here and I want to ask you a couple of quick questions.
You have a very unusual eating style. Tell us about that and tell us about how that helps you put away so many hot dogs.
TAKERU KOBAYASHI, WORLD CHAMP (through translator): So what he does is he splits the sausages in half, chews them up, dunks his bread in the water to make it soft and drinks down the bread like water.
OKWU: Now, I understand that he also meditates before the competition, though I haven't seen him meditating this morning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, he does. But he'll be meditating later in his room.
OKWU: Last year, 50 1/2 hot dogs in about 12 minutes. Is he going for 51 or 52 this year?
TAKERU (through translator): He is here to break the record from last year.
OKWU: OK, interesting.
Now, are you intimidated, Mr. Perry, when you hear this? What is your style going to be? WILLIAM "THE REFRIGERATOR" PERRY: Well, you know, I'm going to do it the old-fashioned way, that old school? I'm going to -- I'm going to eat a hot dog and hey, his bun and wheat and bread and that's it. So I'm just here. I'm having fun, enjoying myself, enjoying myself, and, hey, we've got to eat later and everything's fine.
OKWU: People, of course, will remember you from your football playing days with the Chicago Bears.
How did this happen? How did you go from football to sucking down dogs?
PERRY: Well, we all ate hot dogs in our day. Still eat 'em now. So, you know, it's just something that, you know, to do on the Fourth of July. Have a great time. Come out to Coney Island and (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Watch him, see if he can break the record.
OKWU: The Chicago Bears are very American. Hot dogs are American, too.
PERRY: Well, that's the bottom line.
OKWU: This is Eric "Badlands" Booker.
ERIC "BADLANDS" BOOKER: Yes.
OKWU: Mr. Booker, you are the number one U.S. qualifier. So all eyes are on you to try to dethrone the Japanese today.
What is your methodology going to be?
BOOKER: Well, basically I'm going to do a style, I nicknamed it the double Japanese. It's kind of similar to Kobayashi's style, but instead of splitting the dogs in half, you know, I'm a bigger guy. Why split them in half? Just take two dogs at a time, you know, wolf 'em down, take two buns, dunk the buns, wolf 'em down one at a time and just go at it in, you know, rapid succession, you know?
You see the headphones right here? I'm going to listen to some real fast techno music just to keep my pace. You know, if he -- you know, you hear the beats, 130 beats per minute, basically you just hear something go boom, boom, boom, boom, right? I'm just going to pretend that just says eat, eat, eat, eat and just eat and devour and just conquer and destroy. And I'm going to try to do my best to keep up to Kobayashi and bring it back for the USA.
OKWU: Eric, millions of Americans want to know, is this something -- is there a lot of chewing going on or is there just gulping?
BOOKER: It's both. There's a lot of chewing, there's a lot of swallowing, you know. The rule of thumb is four bites and swallow, right? And just, you know, you've just got to keep your mind focused, you know what I'm saying? You know, when your body says stop, you've got to just, you know, use your mental toughness and intestinal fortitude to go on and just, you know, be the best. I mean I'm doing this for everybody here, all the CNN watchers, everybody in the USA. I'm just gonna bring it back home.
OKWU: A quick answer from everyone. Anyone here eaten this morning?
BOOKER: No. This was my breakfast right here.
OKWU: No one ate this morning? Just a bottle of water. There you have it, Heidi.
We'll be watching today as they all gear up to get in front of this table, 30 foot table. There'll be about 20 competitors from around the world, about five countries, all trying to dethrone the Japanese -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Michael, I have to ask, I mean there's absolutely no denying the difference in the physical composition between Kobayashi and the other two contenders, so to speak.
Can you find out the weight difference there? I'm just very curious.
OKWU: Can we talk about the weights?
COLLINS: Difference, yes, between Kobayashi and the other two.
OKWU: I think Kobayashi, if I'm not mistaken, he's about 145 pounds
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A hundred and forty-five pounds, correct.
OKWU: A hundred and forty-five pounds. William "The Fridge" is about what?
PERRY: Three fifty-five.
OKWU: Three fifty-five, and you don't mind saying that on national television. I like that.
PERRY: Hey, I played anyway.
OKWU: You are a real man.
And you are?
BOOKER: Let me tell you something, I'm 420, man, mouth and solid eating machine. I've got muscle. I've got a little bit of, you know, a little bit of flubber down here. But it's all, it's all my training weight.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, my god.
BOOKER: You know, I had to put on the extra pounds to get up to, you know, 50 dogs. It's all good, though.
OKWU: And, Heidi, in case you're wondering, I am somewhere in between these two.
COLLINS: Yes, we were wondering that.
O'BRIEN: All right, yes.
COLLINS: Definitely.
All right...
O'BRIEN: But, Michael, you've been practicing the Heimlich maneuver just in case? You ready? Just in case.
OKWU: I was thinking about it, yes.
O'BRIEN: OK.
COLLINS: Michael Okwu, thanks so much.
O'BRIEN: All right.
COLLINS: Coney Island boardwalk.
We will check in a little bit later on to see how many they actually eat.
O'BRIEN: Something we all relish.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 4, 2003 - 07:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, when you think of Fourth of July, you think fireworks, baseball, apple pie and hot dogs. But this many? Later today, two time defending champion -- help me out here -- Takeru Kobayashi, goes for his third straight title in the Coney Island hot dog eating contest. Can he do it?
Our Michael Okwu joins us from the Coney Island boardwalk in Brooklyn now with a preview -- hey, Michael, the anticipation is building.
MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, there's a great deal of anticipation here. I haven't really seen the odds in Vegas yet, but I understand that Mr. Kobayashi is probably the odds on favorite here.
I want to take a quick shot of him right now. This is Mr. Kobayashi, William "The Refrigerator" Perry, and, of course, Eric "Badlands" Booker.
Now, you take a look at these guys, who outweigh Kobayashi by a good 300 pounds, and one wonders how this all happens.
I'm joined by his interpreter here and I want to ask you a couple of quick questions.
You have a very unusual eating style. Tell us about that and tell us about how that helps you put away so many hot dogs.
TAKERU KOBAYASHI, WORLD CHAMP (through translator): So what he does is he splits the sausages in half, chews them up, dunks his bread in the water to make it soft and drinks down the bread like water.
OKWU: Now, I understand that he also meditates before the competition, though I haven't seen him meditating this morning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, he does. But he'll be meditating later in his room.
OKWU: Last year, 50 1/2 hot dogs in about 12 minutes. Is he going for 51 or 52 this year?
TAKERU (through translator): He is here to break the record from last year.
OKWU: OK, interesting.
Now, are you intimidated, Mr. Perry, when you hear this? What is your style going to be? WILLIAM "THE REFRIGERATOR" PERRY: Well, you know, I'm going to do it the old-fashioned way, that old school? I'm going to -- I'm going to eat a hot dog and hey, his bun and wheat and bread and that's it. So I'm just here. I'm having fun, enjoying myself, enjoying myself, and, hey, we've got to eat later and everything's fine.
OKWU: People, of course, will remember you from your football playing days with the Chicago Bears.
How did this happen? How did you go from football to sucking down dogs?
PERRY: Well, we all ate hot dogs in our day. Still eat 'em now. So, you know, it's just something that, you know, to do on the Fourth of July. Have a great time. Come out to Coney Island and (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Watch him, see if he can break the record.
OKWU: The Chicago Bears are very American. Hot dogs are American, too.
PERRY: Well, that's the bottom line.
OKWU: This is Eric "Badlands" Booker.
ERIC "BADLANDS" BOOKER: Yes.
OKWU: Mr. Booker, you are the number one U.S. qualifier. So all eyes are on you to try to dethrone the Japanese today.
What is your methodology going to be?
BOOKER: Well, basically I'm going to do a style, I nicknamed it the double Japanese. It's kind of similar to Kobayashi's style, but instead of splitting the dogs in half, you know, I'm a bigger guy. Why split them in half? Just take two dogs at a time, you know, wolf 'em down, take two buns, dunk the buns, wolf 'em down one at a time and just go at it in, you know, rapid succession, you know?
You see the headphones right here? I'm going to listen to some real fast techno music just to keep my pace. You know, if he -- you know, you hear the beats, 130 beats per minute, basically you just hear something go boom, boom, boom, boom, right? I'm just going to pretend that just says eat, eat, eat, eat and just eat and devour and just conquer and destroy. And I'm going to try to do my best to keep up to Kobayashi and bring it back for the USA.
OKWU: Eric, millions of Americans want to know, is this something -- is there a lot of chewing going on or is there just gulping?
BOOKER: It's both. There's a lot of chewing, there's a lot of swallowing, you know. The rule of thumb is four bites and swallow, right? And just, you know, you've just got to keep your mind focused, you know what I'm saying? You know, when your body says stop, you've got to just, you know, use your mental toughness and intestinal fortitude to go on and just, you know, be the best. I mean I'm doing this for everybody here, all the CNN watchers, everybody in the USA. I'm just gonna bring it back home.
OKWU: A quick answer from everyone. Anyone here eaten this morning?
BOOKER: No. This was my breakfast right here.
OKWU: No one ate this morning? Just a bottle of water. There you have it, Heidi.
We'll be watching today as they all gear up to get in front of this table, 30 foot table. There'll be about 20 competitors from around the world, about five countries, all trying to dethrone the Japanese -- Heidi.
COLLINS: All right, Michael, I have to ask, I mean there's absolutely no denying the difference in the physical composition between Kobayashi and the other two contenders, so to speak.
Can you find out the weight difference there? I'm just very curious.
OKWU: Can we talk about the weights?
COLLINS: Difference, yes, between Kobayashi and the other two.
OKWU: I think Kobayashi, if I'm not mistaken, he's about 145 pounds
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A hundred and forty-five pounds, correct.
OKWU: A hundred and forty-five pounds. William "The Fridge" is about what?
PERRY: Three fifty-five.
OKWU: Three fifty-five, and you don't mind saying that on national television. I like that.
PERRY: Hey, I played anyway.
OKWU: You are a real man.
And you are?
BOOKER: Let me tell you something, I'm 420, man, mouth and solid eating machine. I've got muscle. I've got a little bit of, you know, a little bit of flubber down here. But it's all, it's all my training weight.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, my god.
BOOKER: You know, I had to put on the extra pounds to get up to, you know, 50 dogs. It's all good, though.
OKWU: And, Heidi, in case you're wondering, I am somewhere in between these two.
COLLINS: Yes, we were wondering that.
O'BRIEN: All right, yes.
COLLINS: Definitely.
All right...
O'BRIEN: But, Michael, you've been practicing the Heimlich maneuver just in case? You ready? Just in case.
OKWU: I was thinking about it, yes.
O'BRIEN: OK.
COLLINS: Michael Okwu, thanks so much.
O'BRIEN: All right.
COLLINS: Coney Island boardwalk.
We will check in a little bit later on to see how many they actually eat.
O'BRIEN: Something we all relish.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
