Eating Contest Odds-The Quarantine Challenge

While most books now offer sports simulations to place wagers on, BetOnline has gone above and beyond as it partnered up with Major League Eating to provide bettors with additional content. Specifically, they will be hosting the “Quarantine Challenge” which will take place over a six-day time period starting on April 17.

Unlike the NBA 2K Tournament and the NBA Horse competition, there will be a live stream on YouTube for people to watch as their favorite competitive eaters like Joey Chestnut and Matt Stonie will be looking to win the title.

However, these competitive eaters will not be eating hot dogs like most fans are accustomed to every July. Instead, there will be a different food being consumed in each round.

Schedule

The qualifying round will take place on April 17 and it will feature two pounds of bologna and it will be a race against the clock to see which contestants make it into the quarterfinals.

On April 19, the eight competitors remaining will be required to consume 48 Oreos along with half a gallon of milk as the four people with the best times will advance into the semifinals.

On April 21, the final four contestants will be required to eat 1.5 gallons of baked beans as the two people with the best times will advance into the finals.

The contest will finish on April 22 as the final two contestants will eat ten Nissin Chicken Cup Noodles. The first one to finish all ten will be crowned the champion.

List of Contestants

Contest Breakdown

The question on every bettor’s mind is how well hot dog eating will translate into this competition considering the fact that there will be a variety of foods being consumed over these six days. Is Joey Chestnut a lock to win since he has won the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest a record 12 times or will someone else rise up to upset the betting favorite? In order to address my thoughts on the contest, I am going to analyze each individual round of this competition.

Qualifying Round: Since this is a qualifying round, one can safely assume that there will be no shockers here. Chestnut and Stonie should qualify with ease as they will each be able to devour the bologna quickly enough in order to advance into the next round. On a fun side note, Chestnut actually holds the competitive eating world record for pastrami as he ate 25 Katz's Delicatessen half pastrami sandwiches in ten minutes back in 2013 so one can assume that he should finish with the best time.

Quarterfinals: With 40 cookies and a lot of milk on the horizon, it should be pretty tough to predict exactly how these competitors will finish. One can expect to see Chestnut and Stonie in the semifinals based on their respective reputations but this is a difficult food to find historical comparisons. Chestnut does hold the competitive world record for funnel cake, Twinkies and glazed doughnuts so one can potentially infer that he should have no issue with the sweets once again on April 19.

Semifinals: In the baked beans section of the contest, technique will be extremely important since competitors will be unable to dip the beans into water like the previous two rounds. As a result, I have no choice but to go with the chalk here. Chestnut and Stonie are the class of the contest and I expect them to breeze into the finals.

Finals: As much as I would like to be different and pick an underdog, I cannot do it. Chestnut is the most decorated eater of all-time and I think that he will be too much for Stonie to handle. It is important to note that Chestnut holds the competitive eating record for Gumbo as he ate a whopping 15 bowls in just eight minutes back in 2015 so he is no stranger to this liquid obstacle. As a result, I think that Chestnut will be able to do enough in order to add another title to his collection.

Pick: Chestnut (-110)