Wigan World Pie-Eating Championships: veterans' shock disqualification as champ is declared
Two elite level veterans were disqualified from the 2024 World Pie-Eating Championships in Wigan - for not downing them quickly enough because "the pies were too tasty".
It was in direct contrast to this year's champ, Michael Chant, a 43-year-old builder from Bury who chomped through his pastry in 57.2 seconds during a pie-off.
He scoffed his first one in a record 15 seconds.
The meat and potato delicacies were provided by Noel Radford of Channel 5's 22 Kids and Counting, a baker and piemaker from Morecambe.
Michael said: “It’s wonderful, I’ve been waiting a couple of years. If I come back next year I might be able to beat my record.
"I’ve tried it with Hollands Pies before and my record is 12 seconds.
"Generally I’m just a very fast eater. When I was younger my father joked whoever eats fastest gets the most.
"My uncle lives in Wigan so I visit all the time anyway so I knew of the event.”
But red-carded veterans Dave Johnson and Gareth Jones capitulated to temptation, and were still eating five minutes after the winner claimed victory - and The Poulet Surprise trophy.
Dave said: "I had no idea pies could taste so good, despite practising for the Championship virtually every night. They don't normally touch the sides, but there must be a secret ingredient.”
Pie master Tony Callaghan: "I've ne'er seen owt like it. It were 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.
"Such antics don't help when we've feared for years now that our championships may be bureaucratted out of existence through obesity laws and Westminster not knowing their rump from their pig's trotter. Extinction of the event - it's happened to icons like Rumbelows, C&A and MFI - is a real concern.
"The championships are taken seriously in Wigan, with prospective champs practising endlessly.
"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 accoutrements can be fully savoured."