The Jalapeno King Rules San Francisco

Jed Donahue, who holds the world record for jalapenos at 152 in 15 minutes, fought his way through the San Francisco qualifier on Saturday with 19.5 hot dogs to earn a spot at Coney Island. This will be his second time at the big table, the first time being 8 years ago when Japanese eater Hirofumi Nakajima swept everyone away. Donahue tried to qualify in San Fran last year and lost to Joey Chestnut...20.5 to Joey's 21. What a difference a year makes! Jed fought tooth and nail against Erik "The Red" Denmark, another eater who was also determined to secure a win or a number high enough to earn him the wild card slot. (If our numbers are correct, it looks like Hall Hunt beat out Erik for that coveted final wild card position.)

Jed credits another recent event in his life for the edge over Erik: "I got married two weeks ago to Erica Sikorski, so maybe she brought me good luck and I won today by a half."

C'mon, people: awww!

We caught a few words with the man of the hour.

Give us the quick lowdown on the event.

A smallish crowd and somewhat cold and foggy (classic San Francisco summer). A stage in front of Century Theater in Daly City, CA. Nacho Libre was packing them in. The neat-eating competition was a hit, but there were no dachshunds dressed as hot dogs like last year. I won with only 19.5 and the passionate and determined Erik "The Red" Denmark came in with 19. I think Ron Koch ate 14 or 15. Not sure about him. He was coming off sunstroke and I think that affected him.

Rich LeFevre and Carlene were there to throw support towards all the competitors. Carlene's mom also lives in the area. Joey Chestnut was also there for interviews and to support all the eaters. It showed a lot of class for them to be there and their cheering was appreciated.

Eddie Dunn was great on the mike and made a reference to the two brothers in the contest. He said "they were joined by a hot dog at birth and were successfully separated by surgery, but will always have that bond between them."

How did you feel about your chances going into this qualifier?

I thought I had a 50-50 chance between me and Erik Denmark. If Bertoletti had showed, my chances were about 5%. Thank goodness he chose Atlanta.

Did things go like you expected, or were there some surprises?

I wanted to hit 20 at least, but I was next to Denmark and stayed one ahead of him throughout the contest. I followed his pace and made sure I didn't even come close to a reversal. It was OK in my mind to eat just enough to win. Erik is a great competitor and I wish him luck in his eating endeavors.

Tell us something funny or unusual that happened during this qualifier.

The only thing I can thing I can think of is that the Nathan's rep said we had to eat at least 18 to go to Coney. I always thought that if you win a qualifier, you get to go regardless of the total. I asked for clarification, and he basically said that regardless of winning, you had to eat at least 18 and win to go this year. I guess this is a new rule.


Any thoughts on the San Fran winner's chance on the 4th? Any predictions about what will happen at Coney Island? Is this the year Kobayashi will be unseated?

If there's 20 eaters, I will certainly be in the bottom half. Hot dogs is not my strength. I hope and think that Kobe will go down this year. My money is on Joey and I'm stoked that I get to see it live and in person.

Finish this sentence: If I could change one thing about the Nathan's qualifiers...

There would be more of them. There's lots of Nathan's around the country and it's expensive to travel all over. Logistics are tough though.

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