Crazy Legs Conti
 Crazy Legs Conti at a 2007 french fry eating competition | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | John Conti |
| Nickname | Crazy Legs |
| Nationality | American |
| Born | 1974 (age 49–50) Belmont, Massachusetts |
| Alma mater | Johns Hopkins University |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Competitive eating |
Crazy Legs Conti (formerly known as John Conti or Jason Conti, prior to a legal name change[1]) is an American competitive eater. In 2011, he was ranked 21st in the world by the International Federation of Competitive Eating.[2]
Early life and education
[edit]Conti was raised in Belmont, Massachusetts.[3] He attended Johns Hopkins University.[4] He was a three-sport athlete for the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays, playing basketball, football ("third string punter"), and on the track team he competed in high jump ("but I never quite got high enough to qualify").[5]
Other careers
[edit]In addition to competitive eating, he has had a variety of jobs including purchasing agent for a steakhouse restaurant, screenwriter, bouncer, nude model, and window washer.[4] Conti has appeared as a commentator for MLE Chowdown on Spike TV. He appeared once on the Discovery Channel's Cash Cab program with Tim Janus who won $1600 total by answering the bonus question.
Competitive eating
[edit]Conti counts Eric Booker as an early inspiration to begin competitive eating. He won his first competition in New Orleans during Super Bowl weekend 2002 by eating over 400 oysters.[6] He has held several world records, including the green bean and buffet food categories.[7]
Conti trains by eating six hot dogs at a time as fast as possible and has studied video of Takeru Kobayashi in order to improve his technique. He also runs and goes to the gym three times a week to avoid gaining excess weight. This led him to compete in several marathons.[4]
He claims that his motivation in competing is the joy of winning, rather than prize money.[8] In addition to his successes, he is known to be magnanimous in defeat.[9]
He is the subject of the 2004 competitive eating documentary film Crazy Legs Conti: Zen and the Art of Competitive Eating.
Other endeavors
[edit]Conti and his fellow Johns Hopkins alumnus Chris Russell produced a short film, "Dearly Beloved", which won the Gold Award for Best Short Film Comedy-Adaptation at the Houston International Film Festival in 1997.[10][11]
Conti has been involved in several other productions as assorted crew members; films include Mambo Café (2000) and The Bumblebee Flies Anyway (1999).[citation needed]
Conti appeared as an uncredited cameo in The Sopranos, in the episode "The Ride".
Conti's short film 'SOULFINGER vs GOLDFINGER screened at The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival in 2017.[12]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Is Competitive Eating a Sport?". The Atlantic. 2014-06-09.
- ^ "Eater Profiles". ifoce.com. International Federation of Competitive Eating. Retrieved 27 January 2011.
- ^ Shanahan, Mark; Beggy, Carol (22 February 2005). "Eat Up". Boston Globe. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
- ^ a b c MB (September 2005). "An Elite Eater". Johns Hopkins Magazine. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
- ^ Conti, John "Crazy Legs" (2004). "Crazy Legs Conti". NewYorkCool.com (Interview). Interviewed by Jessica Coogan.
- ^ Laura Raposa; Gayle Fee (9 December 2002). "Crazy Legs ready to put the bite on chowing record". The Boston Herald. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
- ^ "Records". ifoce.com. International Federation of Competitive Eating. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
- ^ Wolf, Buck (10 September 2009). "Crazy Legs' Crowned Cannoli King". AOL News. Retrieved 23 February 2010.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Groves, Steve (2 October 2006). "Crazy Legs has no need to eat his words when it comes to losing". Western Mail. Cardiff, Wales. Retrieved 23 February 2010.
- ^ Snyder, Julia, ed. (September 1997). "Alumni Notes". Johns Hopkins Magazine. Johns Hopkins University. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
- ^ "REMI Winners: 1997". worldfest.org. Archived from the original on 26 January 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
- ^ Brooklyn, The Art of (2017-05-04). "Announcing the Official Selections of the 2017 Art of Brooklyn Film Festival". Medium. Retrieved 2017-06-26.
