Gus Beisel, an X-ray technician from Tempe, won the inaugural Pizza Muffin-Eating Contest at Floridino’s Pizza & Pasta in Chandler on Saturday, downing 29 muffins in 10 minutes.
Along with getting his photo on Floridino’s wall, Beisel (pictured above celebrating his victory) receives free pizza muffins for a year, as well as five sessions with personal trainer Kyle Herrig at Triplex Training.
“You can’t beat free food in this economy,” Beisel says.
Beisel says he read about the contest online and made his first-ever visit to Floridino’s two weeks ago to qualify for Saturday’s final. To qualify, he ate 24 muffins in just 4 minutes, 17 seconds.
“I thought I’d do better today,” he admits. “My pace was way off.”
Beisel says he has competed in several other eating contests, including chicken wings at Native New Yorker and Nathan’s hot dogs at Arizona Mills, but Saturday was his first victory.
Darren Brown of Gilbert finished second Saturday by eating 24 muffins. Brandon Badl of Chandler and Jason Hill of Gilbert tied for third with 23.
More photos
Hundreds of piping-hot pizza muffins cool off before the start of Saturday’s contest. The muffins are a popular menu item at Floridino’s, which sells them in baskets of six ($3.99) or 12 ($6.79):
Contestants qualified for Saturday’s final over the past four Mondays by posting the fastest times to eat 24 muffins. And … they’re off!
Joe Michaels of Tempe uses a slow-but-steady pace to down 22 muffins:
Brandon Badl uses ranch dressing to help the muffins go down:
Darren Brown came decked out in Pittsburgh Steelers gear:
Dilan Dean, one of the first qualifiers for the finals, finished 22 muffins:
Beisel uses a two-hand approach on one of his 29 muffins:
Jason Hill pauses before swallowing:
Dean, like all contestants, had a counter assigned to track his total:
Floridino’s owner Jeff Weninger keeps an eye on Michael’s count:
Beisel is the only competitor to employ a stand-up strategy:
Hill dunks his muffin in water to help it go down:
Brown wins a $100 Floridino’s gift certificate for finishing second, while Badl and Hill receive $50 certificates for third. All others get $25 certficates.
Floridino’s also donated 10 canned goods to St. Vincent de Paul for every dozen muffins consumed during the contest.
