ABOUT JUANGrowing up, I always dreamed of being a professional athlete; I just never could've imagined it'd be as a competitive eater. As a child, I was a heavy set kid that never knew the meaning of full. I was always told, you always take one "more bite" than necessary and will explode one day. At the age of 9, while at a hotel breakfast, I cleared off twenty plates, consisting of mine and the party I was with. A fellow patron asked my mother if she "feeds me"...she then laughed and responded with, "look at him, are you kidding?"
Being young and heavy set wasn't an easy thing. It led to being very a self-conscious child/teen and strict diets forced me to hide my talent. From there I ventured into working out, weightlifting, personal training, etc; with such, my body would change with the seasons. Bulking in fall/winter by consuming between 5,000-10,000cal/day, getting lean in spring/summer by consuming 3,000-1,500cal/day, and noticing that during bulking stages I would still remain hungry at the end of the day. And on Easter Sunday in 2007 my family said I "didn't have it" anymore and challenged me to an eating contest, consisting of a pancakes, biscuits, potato casserole, French toast, sausage, bacon, and eggs. At the end of the hour, I stood alone while the other five competitors proceeded to vomit everywhere. It was then that I thought I could do this on a regular basis, but never really pursued it by looking for contests. This now sounds weird because I was a huge fan of the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest. Watching it every year, while hearing questions like "why are we watching this?" and "how can you watch this n not get sick?", I'd respond with "there's nothing more American than eating a hot dog on the 4th of July." Then with the emergence of Man vs Food, I started looking for challenges to test my limits before participating in a contest. From there, it’s been a whirlwind of fun and food, which is only getting started. Stay tuned.......... MISC. PRESS CLIPSFebruary 2, 2012 April 25, 2012 May 18, 2012 March 23, 2013 June 6, 2013 June 7, 2013 |
MISC ACHIEVEMENTS
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