Nothing beats a juicy hamburger on a summer day. But how about seeing how many burgers you can suck down in 7 minutes? That was the goal for contestants in the Back Yard Burgers regional hamburger eating contest in Bryant.
Free food, a grand prize of $500 and a trip to Memphis for the national competition sounded good to James "Stubby" Barton and his buddies, so they showed up for the showdown at Back Yard Burgers in Bryant. Of the three of them, they thought Darren "Big Burger" Baugh had the best chance at a win because of his notorious stomach. Baugh told Fox 16 it's, "like a bottomless pit, really."
You'd think the best strategy would be to eat as little as possible. But some in the contest say what they actually do is train the night before eating as much as they can so they stretch out their stomachs. Baugh said, "I pigged out on pizza last night."
With a smathering of ketchup to help each bite slide down, they made their way through the pile. Of the 20 or so contestants one female competitor gave it a shot. "We have stomachs too," she told us.
Darren Baugh ended up downing four. It was impressive but not enough for a win. Eating 5 burgers in 7 minutes, Brent Hurst of Bald Knob took home the big check. But Baugh can give it another shot next year. Only he'll train a little harder to make sure his jaws are up to the challenge. He plans to "chew some gum, maybe some steel or something."
Now Brent Hurst goes on to the national competition in Memphis in September. If he can't go, the second place winner, Migual Cruz will take his place. This contest celebrates the 20th anniversary for Memphis-based Back Yard Burgers.
