Geoffrey Esper defends World Slopper Eating Championship title at Colorado State Fair

His shirt was soaked with green chile, saliva, and blue Powerade, and the ghost of 33 Pueblo sloppers downed in eight minutes covered his face.

Massachusetts-based professional eater Geoffrey Esper stood triumphant, having defended his title as World Slopper Eating Champion for the third year in a row.

The fourth World Slopper Eating Championship, held at the Colorado State Fair Saturday afternoon at the PB&T Bank Pavilion, featured professional talent from across the nation, including states such as California, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, Massachusetts, Florida, and others.

The rules of the main event were simple, whoever eats the most sloppers — Pueblo’s specialty dish consisting of a quarter-pound cheeseburger smothered in pork green chile — wins.

Esper pulled out to an early lead and never looked back, though his 33-slopper haul didn’t quite match the record he set in 2020, when he downed 37-and-a-half sloppers.

At the beginning of the show, Colorado State Fair General Manager Scott Stoller presented the world's largest slopper, a visual representation of the amount eaten in that record performance. The slopper, presented in a large cast iron skillet, featured nearly 10 pounds of beef patties along with cheese and green chile.

Following a "celebrity" undercard featuring personalities in Colorado media, politics and government, in which Colorado Department of Agriculture Deputy Commissioner of Operations Hollis Glenn bested the field in a contest to see who could eat a single slopper the fastest, it was on to the main event.

There, 11 professional eaters duked it out for slopper-eating supremacy.

The contest was at once disgusting and fascinating, with the contestants shoving as much food down their gullets as possible, chewing hard with eyes closed and looks of intense determination on their faces as they sought to swallow the next bite.

When all the sloppers were put down, Esper had handily defeated second-place finisher Nicholas Wehry, a fellow Major League Eating competitor based out of Tampa, Florida. His victory earned him a $2,000 cash prize, a first-place trophy, and a chili pepper necklace, the latter two of which were presented by Pueblo Mayor Nick Gradisar.

"Normally, I would make a big song and dance about it being close between one and two, but this victory was decisive," said Master of Ceremonies Sam Barclay, of Major League Eating. "It was clean, it was brutal, it was pure, and I enjoyed it."

In third place came Miki Sudo, eight-time women's division winner of the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island, New York.

Esper said that of the three years he's been in Pueblo, the sloppers tasted best this year.

"There's not a whole lot of strategy that goes into it," he said. "The bun is already so soggy, they go down pretty good."

Since sloppers are a unique Pueblo delicacy, Esper said they're not easy to train for.

"When I tell people I'm in a slopper eating contest, they say, 'What the heck's a slopper?'" Esper said. "I really like these smaller items like this."

However, having defended his title in the past, he felt like he knew what to expect.

As a professional eater, Esper said he's done around 10-11 similar eating events this year already, with four or five more to come. His favorite event this year was a banana pudding contest.

"The slopper is up there though," he said.

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This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Geoffrey Esper defends World Slopper Eating title at Colorado State Fair