Tim Janus (born December 31, 1976) is a competitive eater from New York City known in the competitive eating community as "Eater X." He is a member of the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE), and is one of the most colorful IFOCE characters, both literally and figuratively. He always performs in contests wearing a painted mask and once stated "I'd eat anything. One of my goals is to eat everything in the world. I'd eat a roll of pennies. I hope we make contact with beings from other planets. I'd eat an alien."[1]
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The IFOCE's 2004 Rookie of the Year, in the summer of 2005 Janus advanced to the Final Four of the inaugural Alka Seltzer U.S. Open of Competitive Eating, a single-elimination tournament featuring 32 of the world's best eaters. He is the current tamale-, cannoli-, burrito-, and tiramisu-eating champion of the world.
In 2006, Janus was featured on the show "True Life: I'm a Competitive Eater" along with then world-champion hot-dog eater Takeru Kobayashi. The show showcased his daily life, including his training for different events.
In 2007, Tim was a test subject in a documentary, The Science of Speed Eating from National Geographic. He underwent an upper gastrointestinal series and was shown to have a stomach that expands four times larger than a normal stomach. His digestive rate of the stomach was also slower than a normal human.
On July 4, 2007, just before the release of the last Harry Potter book, Janus appeared on-stage at the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest with a sign saying "Hermione dies".[2] Janus would later admit that the stunt led to rules against signage at competitive eating events, and that he suffered a significant amount of personal backlash for the prank.[1]
On September 22, Tim Janus ate 10¾ 18-ounce burritos (made of rice, black beans, pork, cheese and a mild sauce wrapped in a tortilla) in a 12 minutes to win the $3,000 Costa Vida world burrito-eating championship.[3]
On November 21, 2007, Tim Janus helped draw attention to the plight of New York City's homeless by consuming a Thanksgiving meal for four, including a 10-pound turkey, four pounds of mashed potatoes, three pounds of cranberry sauce, 2½ pounds of beans, and a pumpkin pie. The IFOCE donated $6,000 to Second Harvest, a hunger-relief organization, to celebrate the accomplishment. Second Harvest estimated that the donation would provide 30,000 meals to area residents.
On May 16, 2009, Janus became the third person in the history of the world to eat 50 or more hot dogs and buns in a Nathan's hot dog eating contest, consuming exactly 50 in his qualifier in Hartford, CT. In the finals on July 4, he ate 53 hot dogs.
On July 4, 2010, Eater X placed second at the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest by eating 45 hot dogs and losing to Joey Chestnut who ate 54 hot dogs and buns.
In an August 24th, 2010, episode of "Shaq vs." on ABC, Tim coached a team led by Shaquille O'Neal to victory in a hot dog eating contest against Joey Chestnut.
He is the current champion of the Doodle Challenge, a hamburger eating contest in Connecticut.
Janus appeared in the music video for the Boston Spaceships song "Let it Rest for a Little While" from the band's 2009 album "Zero to 99".
Tim appeared on the syndicated version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in 2009, winning $100,000 before choosing to walk away, although he had surmised the correct answer to the $250,000 question. Millionaire at the time had an event called the Million Dollar Tournament of 10 where the ten highest earning contestants from the season's first 45 shows will return for a chance to answer a million dollar question, and Janus qualified as the fifth seed for the Million Dollar Prize. He returned on November 16 to answer his Million Dollar Question.
| $1 Million (Tournament of 10 #5) - 3:16 time limit (0:45+2:31 banked) | |
| Who once wrote, "'Bartlett's Familiar Quotations' is an admirable work," a quotation now listed in "Bartlett's Familiar Quotations"? | |
| • A: Truman Capote | • B: John Lennon |
| • C: Winston Churchill | • D: Mark Twain |
As the game progressed, he first said that he knew the answer to the question, but it was later revealed that he was toying with Meredith, as a response to her "tricking" contestants in the Hot Seat. He had an inkling towards Winston Churchill (which was the correct answer) but decided to walk away because he was not even sure and because of the money at risk.
He also won $1600 on the Discovery Channel show Cash Cab with Ben Bailey.