Crazy Legs Conti
| File:Crazy Legs Conti.jpg Crazy Legs Conti at a 2007 french fry eating competition | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
Nickname | Crazy Legs |
| Nationality | American |
| Born | John Conti 1974 (age 51–52) Belmont, Massachusetts |
| Alma mater | Johns Hopkins University |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Competitive eating |
Crazy Legs Conti (formerly known as John Conti or Jason Conti, prior to a legal name change[1]) is an American competitive eater. In 2011, he was ranked 21st in the world by the International Federation of Competitive Eating.[2]
Early life and education
[edit | edit source]Conti was raised in Belmont, Massachusetts.[3] He attended Johns Hopkins University.[4] He was a three-sport athlete for the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays, playing basketball, football ("third string punter"), and on the track team he competed in high jump ("but I never quite got high enough to qualify").[5]
Other careers
[edit | edit source]In addition to competitive eating, he has had a variety of jobs including purchasing agent for a steakhouse restaurant, screenwriter, bouncer, nude model, and window washer.[4] Conti has appeared as a commentator for MLE Chowdown on Spike TV. He appeared once on the Discovery Channel's Cash Cab program with Tim Janus who won $1600 total by answering the bonus question.
Competitive eating
[edit | edit source]Conti counts Eric Booker as an early inspiration to begin competitive eating. He won his first competition in New Orleans during Super Bowl weekend 2002 by eating over 400 oysters.[6] He has held several world records, including the green bean and buffet food categories.[7]
Conti trains by eating six hot dogs at a time as fast as possible and has studied video of Takeru Kobayashi in order to improve his technique. He also runs and goes to the gym three times a week to avoid gaining excess weight. This led him to compete in several marathons.[4]
He claims that his motivation in competing is the joy of winning, rather than prize money.[8] In addition to his successes, he is known to be magnanimous in defeat.[9]
He is the subject of the 2004 competitive eating documentary film Crazy Legs Conti: Zen and the Art of Competitive Eating.
Other endeavors
[edit | edit source]Conti and his fellow Johns Hopkins alumnus Chris Russell produced a short film, "Dearly Beloved", which won the Gold Award for Best Short Film Comedy-Adaptation at the Houston International Film Festival in 1997.[10][11]
Conti has been involved in several other productions as assorted crew members; films include Mambo Café (2000) and The Bumblebee Flies Anyway (1999).[citation needed]
Conti appeared as an uncredited cameo in The Sopranos, in the episode "The Ride".
Conti's short film SOULFINGER vs GOLDFINGER screened at The Art of Brooklyn Film Festival in 2017.[12]
See also
[edit | edit source]References
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External links
[edit | edit source]- Crazy Legs Conti: Zen and the Art of Competitive Eating at IMDbLua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 30: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- Crazy Legs Conti Profile at Major League Eating