In the warmup to today's Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, yesterday there was the pachyderm vs. homosapien showdown over eating Nathan's Hot Dog Buns. And perhaps to no one's surprise, Ringling Bros. Circus elephants Bunny, Susie and Minnie ate 505 buns in six minutes—while Juliet Lee, Gravy Brown and Eric "Badlands" Booker could only chow down 143. Circus production manager Jason Gibson told the Daily News he was confident, "Our girls train every day. They eat 150 to 200 pounds of food a day. I knew they'd do fine," said Jason Gibson, circus production manager.
Booker, a subway conductor and rapper, was philosophical to NY1, "We probably got about five dozen down apiece, but the elephants, you know, they're just massive. In one whole swoop they get about one or two dozen. You know, we can't compete with that." And Lee was pleased with her performance, "I eat 10 percent of my body weight. They only eat three percent of their body weight, so I am the real winner."
Major League Eating chairman George Shea was disappointed; he lamented to the Brooklyn Paper, "Am I embarrassed for my species? Of course I am. This is as dark a day for humanity as the evening of the Hindenberg crash. But this time, my heart is screaming, ‘Oh, the pachydermity! Oh, the pachydermity.’"
