By Kacey Earl
Ben and Jerry''s opened their doors and welcomed over 40 big eaters on Thursday Oct. 3, promising a prize of $150 if a team of two could devour the 'Vermonster.'
Twenty scoops of ten different ice-cream flavors, four bananas, three cookies and one brownie made up a base for the Vermonster. M&M''s, sprinkles, whipped cream, gummy bears, walnuts and hot fudge were added to the mix to finish the creation.
The rules were simple. The team of two who ate the ice cream monstrosity the fastest won. After a team believed it had finished, the bucket was measured to make sure that less than three ounces of melted ice cream remained in the bottom.
Any ice cream dropped or even thrown up had to be eaten to maintain eligibility, according to the rules.
Ice cream flavors included chocolate and vanilla along with some stranger flavors like coffee, mint and raspberry.
What would be worth this kind of stomachache? The first-prize winners received $150 and their name on Ben and Jerry''s wall of fame.
The prize inspired contestants to prepare for the eating extravaganza.
'I expanded my stomach last night by drinking lots of water so that I would have lots of room,' said Benjamin Kartchner, a 21-year-old BYU freshman from St. Johns, Ariz. 'When my friend and I are eating, we''re gong to stir it up so it gets more liquidy and compacts it a little so it''s easier to eat.'
While men obviously dominated the competition, the few female contestants held their ground. Sisters Astrid Olsen, a senior, and Amanda Burke, a BYU graduate and first grade teacher, took on the Vermonster challenge with many strategies in mind.
'The hand-to-mouth action was our biggest strategy so we stayed low to the bucket. It really helped a lot,' said Olsen. 'Amanda did the double spoon approach until one broke. The frozen gummy bears slowed us down in the end. You could do damage with those!'
James Eastman, a 23-year-old junior from Renton, Wash., and Chris Kasper, a 21-year-old senior from Orlando, Fla., won the contest by finishing their entire bucket in six minutes and 53 seconds.
'The defining moment was when James picked up the gallon over his head and drank the remaining ice-cream so it would be underweight,' said their coach, Adrian Dayton, a 23-year-old senior from Salt Lake City.
Eastman and Kasper didn''t have much of a game plan.
'We didn''t really have a strategy,' said Eastman. 'We both ate beforehand. I had a steak dinner and Chris had pizza. I think I''ve eaten more than that just as a friendly bet.'
His teammate Kasper said, 'It wasn''t really that much, it was just how fast you can eat it. It was getting a little tougher at the end with the frozen brownies but it wasn''t nearly as hard as I thought it would be.'
Ben and Jerry''s owners Rich Israelsen, Bill Freedman, John Freedman and Charlie Freedman wanted the contestants to have a good time. Vermonster buckets usually sell for $29.99, but contestants only paid $5 per person.
The new Ben and Jerry''s at Brigham''s Landing plans to hold many Vermonster Eating Contests in the future.