Week 11 Story: 30 for 30: The Iron Stomach

Updated Version: https://sites.google.com/view/davidrportfolio/30-for-30-the-iron-stomach

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What if I told you that the greatest competitive eater got his start in middle school? That he has no fun while eating, but does it for the thrill of winning? That he is actually a fictional character from the movie Matilda? This is the story of Bruce "The Iron Stomach" Bogtrotter.

(Matilda (1996) - Bruce vs. Chocolate Cake Scene (4/10) | Movieclips)

"My name is Bruce Bogtrotter, and I'm the number one ranked competitive eater in the world. I hold the record for basically every food out there: hot dogs, Twinkies, honey butter chicken biscuits. If it can be eaten, I will eat the most of it in record time without a doubt. It all started when I was like 12 years old. We had this crazy principal named Ms. Trunchbull. She was absolutely nuts. In hindsight, the police should have definitely been involved from all the acts of child abuse she committed against us. Many of us had to go to therapy... Anyways, she made me eat an entire chocolate cake in front of the whole school. This cake was massive, and at the time I was really self-conscious about my weight. The only thing that got me through it was the whole school started cheering me on. They were all like 'Bruce! Bruce! Bruce!' and their cheers gave me a rush of adrenaline. I felt like death when I finished, but after eating that cake I was a hero in school. All the girls wanted me. Well, they wanted to see me eat, but whatever it's the same thing you know? It was from then on that I decided to commit my life to competitive eating. To be honest, I don't even like it, but I love the competition. It's something that I'm good at and the rush after a win makes everything worth it. But like any other sport, it starts taking a toll on your body."

If I were to ask you what the most dangerous sport is you would probably guess football or some other contact sport, right? Well you would be wrong if you answered that. Competitive eaters have the highest mortality rate out of all sports. Bruce has seen many of his dear friends be taken away too soon by the sport they love. He's even cheated death a couple of times himself.

"After my 10th heart attack I took a step back and had to reevaluate my life. The one thing I am good at in life is literally going to kill me if I don't stop. There were many sleepless nights, I was a shell of my former self, and my stoke tank was at an all-time low. So I asked myself, 'What would Paul Walker do?' I knew the answer. Paul Walker wouldn't give up. Even after losing his first race to Dominic he still got with his sister. If that's not inspiring then I don't know what is. So a couple hours after I was released from the hospital I started training for the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest which is hosted every Fourth of July."

It's Fourth of July at the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. Number one versus number two. Bruce Bogtrotter versus Joey Chestnut. The stage is set and the crowd is growing restless.

"Joey and I are neck and neck near the end of the contest. There's maybe thirty seconds left and I'm pushing myself to my limit. I felt like I was about to pass out from the pain, but then the image of Paul Walker came into my head and everything went black. When I came to I was holding up the championship belt and everyone was going wild. Joey told me he was going to retire. He was the only other eater that could even come close to me. I realized at this moment it was time to pass the torch onto the next generation. I left my mark on the competitive eating scene. I knew Paul Walker would be proud of me."

Author's Note: The origin folk tale this story is based on is called “Atdlarneq, The Great Glutton.” In this story, Atdlarneq is a great seal hunter who always manages to catch multiple seals every time he goes out to hunt. Then one day while he’s out hunting, he sees a house with a lot of women. He decides to go to the house and the women treat him well. Then Atdlarneq finds out that the master of the house is coming home soon so he decides to hide. When the master comes home Atdlarneq reveals himself and the master treats him well too. However, the master makes Atdlarneq eat a lot of food or else he will beat him up basically. Atdlarneq ends up nearly dying from overeating and decides to never go South again. For my retelling, I chose to tell it kind of how ESPN does their 30 for 30 series. I also incorporated a character from the movie “Matilda” into it who was forced to eat a huge chocolate cake in front of his whole school as a punishment. I thought of this movie scene immediately when I read about how Atdlarneq was forced to keep eating. Once again, I added some aspects from the San Clemente City Council Meeting about the Paul Walker statue. It’s a callback to one of my previous stories and I thought it would add some more humor to students who had read that story earlier this semester.

Bibliography: Eskimo Folk-Tales by Knud Rasmussen with illustrations by native Eskimo artists (1921).