An appetite for competition

Mike Sciacca

Jed Donahue has an unquenchable appetite for competition, but it’s

not the type of competition you might think.

Beginning tonight and running through Saturday on ESPN, the

Huntington Beach resident’s unique talents will be on display when he

competes in the Alka-Seltzer U.S. Open of Competitive Eating.

Taped two weeks ago at the ESPN Zone at the New York, New York

casino in Las Vegas, the event has been called the “most dramatic” in

the history of competitive eating.

The ESPN series, produced by the International Federation of

Competitive Eating, also will feature the top-ranked competitive

eater in the world, Takeru Kobayahi of Japan, and the No. 2-ranked

eater, Sonya Thomas of Alexandria, Va., who has earned the nickname,

“The Black Widow.”

Donahue is ranked 16th among competitive eaters in the world.

“It’s like an athletic endeavor, so to speak,” said the

32-year-old, who works in sales. “There’s a lot of preparation and

practice time that goes into something like this.

“If you were to compare it to another sport, it’d be like NASCAR.

Competitive eating is really catching on.”

The premise of the U.S. Open of Competitive Eating is this: a

one-on-one elimination tournament that will whittle 32 competitors

down to a single champion through five rounds of consuming various

foods.

The three episodes follow the competitive eaters through the

tournament.

Donahue said he consumed a two-pound plate of cheese fries, a

mega-dose of spaghetti during a 14-minute endurance contest, chopped

salad, and the ESPN Tailgater, which was composed of various

appetizers.

Although he can’t reveal the final outcome of the competition, he

said he’s “really happy” with the results.

You could say that food is a hobby to Donahue, but as he puts it,

it’s “more of an occupation.”

He says he’s won nearly $20,000 during his competitive eating

career.

“‘Foodies’ watch the Food Network for recipes, but for me, once I

see food, I wonder how long it would take to eat,” said the 6-foot,

215-pound Donahue, who said he likes all foods but considers peanut

butter cookies to be his favorite.

“I discovered I had a talent for competitive eating back in high

school, when I ate 40 jalapenos during a contest held by our Spanish

Club. I think I won some movie tickets or something like that. That’s

how I started.”

From there, Donahue -- who is originally from Dallas -- honed in

on his talent while attending the University of Texas at Austin. It

didn’t begin as some fraternity prank -- he never belonged to a house

-- but it did start when he said he read about a jalapeno eating

contest held during the annual Jalapeno Festival in Laredo, Texas.

He had read that the winner the previous year had consumed 89 of

the peppers in 15 minutes.

In his first stab at that record, Donahue showed little sweat in

woofing down 152 jalapenos in 15 minutes. That’s seven pounds of

jalapenos.

He would win that festival’s contest seven times over a nine-year

period, hence his nickname, “Jalapeno.”

Donahue says he enters about eight contests per year. Some of his

past eating competitions have included consuming 12 hamburgers in five minutes, eating 30 1/2 doughnuts in a five-minute period --

which won him $500 at the San Diego Fair -- and chowing down on cows’

brain, the latter during a reality-type TV program called “The

Glutton Bowl” that was televised earlier this year by Fox.

“That would have to be the wildest thing I’ve eaten, but to be

honest, although it didn’t look appetizing, it didn’t taste bad at

all,” he said of the cows’ brain.

His fiance, Erica Sikorski, has entered a few competitive eating

competitions, but now she serves as Donahue’s main cheerleader.

“For some reason, he can get his throat open wide and get food

down there quickly,” she said. “He definitely goes about these

competitions in a very methodical way.

“I’d have to say it’s unique to be in a relationship with a man

with this talent. Some of it’s fun to watch, while others, well, it’s

all right.”

Donahue says competitive eating has to do with technique.

He says he’ll eat solid food two days out before competition then

the day before he competes, switch to water-based foods, such as

grapes and plenty of water.

The day of competition, he’ll have very small, “if any,” meals.

“I try to stretch my stomach out, much like a balloon, a few days

before a competition,” he explained. “Jaw strength, suppressing your

gag reflex, they play a big part in a competitive eater’s success.”

And every second during a competition is critical.

“You try to clear your mouth and with 10 to 15 seconds to go, you

stuff and swallow as much as you can,” he said. “What you stuff and

swallow at the end that doesn’t come out of your mouth, that counts

toward your total. Those last few seconds can make all the

difference.”

Accidents, which he refers to as “reversals,” have happened to him

in the past, as well. As for any jalapeno burn-out, he takes care of

that by going out for ice cream.

“That takes care of the heat, but the next day can be the

problem,” he said, with a chuckle.

Donahue will enter his next competition on Wednesday at the

GoldenPalace.com World Grilled Cheese Eating Championship in San

Diego. At last year’s competition held in Venice, Ca., he ate 23 of

the grilled variety, good for second-place and the $1,700 prize that went with it.

“Every year I say that I’m going to retire, but I’m good at what I

do, and I just keep going,” he said.

* MIKE SCIACCA covers sports and features. He can be reached at

(714) 966-4611 or by e-mail at michael.sciacca@latimes.com.