Me and some of my cheer squad after the contest
I saw a tweet a few weeks ago about a cupcake eating contest at Bakers Market and decided to sign up because I love cupcakes and I’ve never entered an eating contest before. I didn’t think much about it.
A couple of days ago I got a DM from 100.5 FM The Peak asking if I was still participating and if they could interview me the day before the event. That’s when I started wondering if I should be prepping for this. I tweeted that I was still competing and a flood of well wishes from tweeps started filling up my ‘mentions’ column. Apparently people like to see me eat! LOL
What was originally just a random fun thing to do with a friend or two turned into a contest with a name (I was the Cake-a-tar-i-an), theme colour (light pink), and no less than 13 cheerleaders who came donned in pink shirts to chant “GO ANNY EAT EAT EAT SWALLOW!!! SWWAAAAALLLOOWWW!!!!” behind me. I think at one point Lisa screamed “OPEN YOUR THROAT!!!” and I started laughing so hard that it was difficult to swallow the first couple of cupcakes I shoved into my mouth. I have the best friends and family ever!
In five minutes, 12 contestants (9 guys, 3 girls) stuffed their faces with as many cupcakes as they could. After the tweets of support I got really nervous about the contest and worried that I’d disappoint everyone by only eating two cupcakes or something.
I think this is around Minute 3
Minute 1: I began with a cupcake in hand and peeled the liner off while biting down at the same time. Bite. Squish. Water. Swallow. Swallow. Chew. Swallow and peel. Second cupcake. Bite. Water. Swallow. Chew. Swallow. Gulp. Swallow.
Minute 2: Lisa pointed out a smaller cupcake. I grabbed it. Peel. Bite. Chew. Water. Swallow. Squish. Swallow. I realized that some of my cupcakes were denser than others (different flavours and cupcake bakers) and started weighing my cupcakes as I chewed. Peel. Bite. Chew. Squish. Water. Saw a piece leftover. Squished it with my hand. Stuff. Swallow. Water. Swallow. Swallow.
Minute 3: I’m out of lighter cupcakes!! Damn. Grabbed a chunky chocolate one. Peel. Bite. Water. Oh shoot, I wasn’t thinking. Should’ve squished first. Swallow. Swallow. Water. Swallow and peel. Bite. Squish. Swallow. Water. Swallow.
Minute 4: Oh geez, gag reflex is started up. I find myself nodding as I try to swallow hard. Lisa’s screaming beside me. “SWALLOW!!! WATER!! DRINK!!! OPEN YOUR THRROOOOOOAAATTT!!!” Bite. Water. Swallow. Swallow. Swallow. Swallow. Gag. Swallow. I hear a girl in the audience say something about worrying that I was going to throw up. Bite. Swallow. Squish. Swallow. Water. Squish. Swallow. Mmm.. this one’s mint!
TEN!!
Minute 5: “THE GUY BESIDE YOU IS BEATING YOU!!! SWWWWAAAALLLLOOOWWW!!!!” and “STUFF IT IN YOUR MOUTH!!!” is all I hear at this point. There’s water everywhere from the guy beside me who has tipped over his bottle and reached for my third one. Bite. Swallow. Squish. Gag. Swallow. GAG. SWALLOW. Gulp. Water. Swallow. Bite. Swallow. Stuff. Stuff. Swallow. Swallow. STUFF. And TIME.
So how’d I do for my first eating contest? I’m proud to say that I beat most of the guys by eating TEN cupcakes in FIVE MINUTES and placed THIRD!!!! 
I won a tub of ice cream.
The winner (the messy guy beside me who grossed out most of the audience by literally stuffing his face and dropping chunks in his shirt in the process) had 18, and the runner-up (a tall girl on the very end) ate 11. The New Zealander on my other side who had a fantastic team cheering him on ate seven, the rest were between six and nine and one very neat eater had three.
These photos were taken by Morten Rand-Hendriksen and Philip Wu:
