By Ashley Pemberton via SWNS
A builder was today (Thurs) crowned the world pie-eating champion after scoffing a meat and potato in just 17 seconds.
First-time entrant Michael Chant, 43, beat rivals in the annual event – held in Wigan, Gtr Manchester – by spinning the pies around the foil for increased speed.
Michael beat previous record holder Martin Appleton-Clare, who scoffed a pie in just under 23 seconds in 2012.
Pies for this year’s competition were provided by Noel Radford, dad of Britain’s biggest family and star of channel 5’s “22 kids and counting”.
After claiming his trophy, Michael, of nearby Bury, said: “My dad always told those who ate fastest, eat the most, so I’ve always eaten fast since I was a kid, so my dad didn’t beat me.
“I’ve wanted to compete for a while but Covid stopped it for a couple of years and this was the first time since then I could enter.
“I saw the previous quickest was 23 seconds and I thought I could probably eat two in that time.
“I’d been eating them in 12 seconds in practice, but these pies must be a bit bigger.”
Michael romped to victory after munching his first pie in 15 seconds, but bosses said he’d dropped some filling on the floor, so he was forced to eat a second.
He plans to defend his crown next year and said: “I told the guy I beat about my technique so we should have a good battle next year.
“He just picked it up and ate it from his hand. What I do is slap the bottom of the pie so it lifts from the foil and spin it round. That way you can eat it quicker.
“I’m going to watch my son’s nativity play and let him know his dad is a world champion.”
The championships were rocked by scandal after two competitors were disqualified for eating too slowly.
Dave Johnson, 54, and Gareth Jones, 49, both of Wigan, were red carded after saying the pies were ‘too tasty’ to eat quickly.
Championship supremo Tony Callaghan said: “I’ve never seen anything like it.
“It was like Erling Haaland and Kevin de Bruyne stopping to have a chat in front of an open goal, which they seem to be doing a lot lately.
“They’re both Wiganers as well, it’s just embarrassing.
“There were scandals all over the place – we had pies from outside Wigan, a winner not from Wigan and I dropped the trophy.
“Other than that, it was a very successful event and we love having something like this just before Christmas.”
Pie lover Tony, who runs Harry’s Bar in the town which hosts the championships, now plans to send a humble meat and potato to Hallstatt Memory of Mankind in Austria.
Wiganer Tony, who previously tried to launch a pie into space, said fears around the link between animal production and global warming could spell the end of meat-filled pastries.
He added: “We’re now going to send a championship pie to the world’s leading time capsule repository, the Hallstatt Memory of Mankind in Austria before elite-level pie eating is forgotten.
“Hopefully they’ll store it forever, and maybe even open the seal in centuries to come when Star Trek-like food technology will allow it to be returned to its original sell-by date condition for a taste of Wigan in 2024.
“We’ll also include some chips and gravy to ensure the quality of taste of a championship pie and its accouterments can be fully savored.”
The competition has been held annually in Wigan – where locals are known as pie eaters – since 1992.
Some say the nickname comes from local miners “eating humble pie” after going back to work during the general strike of 1926.
The event was postponed in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 regulations when the government refused to make the same allowances as it did for professional sport.
