Rerun: Michelle "Cardboard Shell" Lesco achieved her third world record in competitive eating on 13th December, 2018 - this time for consuming the most amount of mayonnaise in three minutes.

She consumed 2,448g - the equivalent of 3.5 jars, and 16,000 calories.

Her previous titles were the fastest time to eat a bowl of pasta (26.69 seconds), and the fastest time to eat a hot dog with no hands (21.60 seconds).

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly ask whether all the viewers watching women with mayo on their faces are *purely* interested in the sport; trace the history of competitive eating back to 17th Century Kent; and recall the times when speed-eating has turned tragic…

Further Reading:

• ‘Woman eats 5 lbs of mayo in 3 minutes | Guinness World Record’ (SoAmazing TV, 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oiwfl9IrZbk

• ‘What It's Really Like to Train for the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest’ (Men’s Health, 2019): https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a28196268/nathans-hot-dog-eating-contest-training/

•’Competitive Eating Was Even More Gluttonous and Disgusting in the 17th Century’ https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/eating-kent-eater-competitive-history-nicholas-wood-food

‘Why am I hearing a rerun?’

Each Thursday and Friday we repeat stories from our archive of 800+ episodes, so we can maintain the quality of our independent podcast and bring you fresh, free content every Monday-Wednesday…

… But 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴members get an additional full-length episode each Sunday! Join now with a free trial on Apple Podcasts or Patreon and support our show ❤️

The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Emma Corsham.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2024.

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The 7

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts