FAIRMONT, W.Va. — The ninth annual Three Rivers Festival Pepperoni Roll Eating World Championship will take place Saturday at Fairmont’s Palatine Park.
Contestants will have 10 minutes to eat as many pepperoni rolls as possible for the chance to win $5,000 in prizes.
Competitive eater Joey Chestnut set the festival record in 2019 when he ate 43 pepperoni rolls. He is not taking part in this year’s competition.
According to spokesman Sam Barclay, 46-year-old Geoffrey Esper of Oxford, Massachusetts, is representing Major League Eating at the event. Esper was the Hooters wing eating champion in 2017 and 2018.
“He’s got all the physical tools and the mental tools to dominate the competition,” Barclay said. “He’s the former pepperoni roll eating champion of the world.”
Barclay continued, “Eighty-three slices of pizza in ten minutes, 281 Hooters chicken wings in ten minutes, over nine pounds of spam in eight minutes. He’s a power eater, he’s a capacity eater, and [Esper] enters Saturday’s competition as a firm favorite.”
The eating competition will begin at 8 p.m.