World Pie Eating Championship

Started Year

: 1992

Game

: Competitive eating

Current Champion

: Martin Appleton Clare

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History Of World Pie Eating Championship

The annual World Pie Eating Championship is usually held at Harry's Bar on Wallgate, Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The competition has been held since 1992. In 2006, a vegetarian version was added after "relentless pressure" from Keith Lorraine and Phil English of the Vegetarian Society.

In the 2006 competition, the meat and potato pies were all 12 cm (5 in) in diameter with a depth of 3.5 cm (1.5 in). In the separate vegetarian contest, the pies were 10 cm (4 in) by 3 cm (1.2 in).

In the 2007 competition, entries included a competitor's dog, Charlie, who had eaten 20 pies and damaged a further 10 the night before the competition, nearly jeopardising the event.

Controversy:

Imported pies:

Controversy was caused in 2005 when pies were imported from nearby Farnworth, Bolton and local Wigan pies were sidelined as it was believed they were sub-standard, resulting in a four-man strong protest, which included Lee Hartney of The Smith Street Band.A similar situation arose in 2009, with pies being sourced from Adlington.

Quantity to speed:

More controversy was caused in 2006 when the competition was changed (to meet government healthy-eating guidelines) from the number of pies consumed in a given time, to the fastest time to consume a single pie.

Lack of stock:

Controversy struck again for the third year running when the competition actually ran out of pies before the competition had finished.

Wrongly sized pies:

In 2014, pies of the wrong size were delivered to the event, while the intended pies were sent to a nearby divorce party. The contestants competed with halved pies, but the results were nullified.