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A Pasco man will go to Japan to eat (and eat and eat) on TV in hopes of winning $50,000.
By MATTHEW WAITE
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 22, 2001
PORT RICHEY -- Bob Middleton conquered the China Dragon's buffet. Now he's set to do battle with the rest of the world.
The 40-year-old self-proclaimed buffet king, who in April was asked to leave a Pasco all-you-can-eat buffet for eating too much, passed his audition for a show on the Tokyo Broadcasting System.
Middleton will face a handful of other big eaters from Japan and elsewhere to chow down for a chance at $50,000.
Tomo Moribe, one of the network's two U.S.-based talent hunters, told Middleton on Friday that he'd leave Sept. 7 for the taping of the show, the name of which translates to Food Battle Club.
"I'm going there to win, my friend," Middleton said Tuesday. "That's a lot of money, and I'm going there to win."
On the possibility of the show serving Asian food, one of Middleton's favorites:
"That's like a home-field advantage to me."
Remember, it was the China Dragon Buffet in Holiday that said no more.
Last month, show producers called Middleton and told him they were interested in having him on the show. Now, Food Battle Club producers say they will bring a crew here to film pre-show interviews, including interviews with area buffet managers.
The Port Richey security guard said he doesn't have the game rules yet so he doesn't know what he'll have to do. In the past, some non-Japanese competitors have gotten a first-round bye -- the sushi speed-eating contest.
No matter. He's preparing.
Middleton already has formed a starvation strategy: don't eat for days, go in starving, eat like your life depends on it.
For the longest time, Middleton didn't like sushi. Not that he'd ever eaten it, he just had a tough time pushing past a mental barrier of eating anything raw.
And now?
"It's not half bad."
He does know one of his competitors, one who scares him.
"This kid is like a human eating machine," he said.
The kid is Takeru Kobayashi, a 131-pound kid from Nagano, Japan, who ate a stunning 50 hot dogs in 12 minutes on July 4. He was the fourth Japanese national in five years to win the Nathan's Famous hot dog-eating contest in New York.
Kobayashi is evidence of Japan's obsession with food, where cooking shows are among the highest-rated programs and Kobayashi is a hero.
Middleton thinks he can beat him.
"He's built for sprint racing, and I'm a marathon man," he said.
Middleton said the network will fly him and his wife, Jacqueline, to Tokyo, and they'll stay a few extra days to see the sights.
"If I don't see it now, I never will," he said.
Middleton still hopes to cash in on his fame. He has been calling any diet company he can think of to talk about becoming a poster boy.
"Anyone who wants to pay me to eat or talk," Middleton said, "that's a job made in heaven."