At 47kg or 105 pounds, Juliet Lee is a 44-year-old mother of two who is based in the US, runs her own hair salon and shuttles her children to and from school commitments during a normal week. What's really unusual about her is that she takes part in competitive eating competitions as a professional and can guzzle down loads of food in a very short time. She is also ranked the number 2 female competitive eater in the world.
Recently in Singapore to take part in the CP Biggest Eater Competition, Juliet held her own against two other male competitive eaters, world No. 1 Joey Chestnut and world No. 2 Takeru Kobayashi. She downed 160 shrimp wantons in a go.
What drives such a petite woman to indulge in such an unusual pasttime at a competitive level? Juliet speaks to Diva about the highs and lows of her competitive eating career.
I ENTERED my first contest in August 2006. I heard something about competitive eating on the radio news, and found out that another local woman who was about my size was doing it. Since I’ve always been able to eat more compared to other people, I thought that I might be good at it. Moreover, I liked the idea of winning money just for eating, so I thought that I would like to try it if I got the chance.
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| Juliet with her daughters |
When I heard about a local pizza-eating contest, I signed up and went for the competition not knowing what to expect. Surprisingly, I won the amateur contest and was told that I would probably do well as a professional competitor. So, I decided to pursue it.
I’ve been competing professionally for almost three and a half years. My first professional competition was in December 2006.
I don’t spend a lot of time preparing for competitions, other than trying to find out as much as possible about the competing food item. If the food is readily available, I usually get a sample of it just to see if I can figure out the fastest way to eat it. Mostly I try to get a good night’s sleep before the competition and try to wake up hungry.
The most that I have eaten would probably be the 13.23 pounds of cranberry sauce that I ate in eight minutes during a competition in 2007. I’ve also eaten 384 raw oysters in eight minutes and 277 raw clams in six minutes during contests. My normal meals don’t even come close to these amounts.
One of the biggest highlights of being a competitive eater is the opportunity to travel all over the world and meet so many nice people. People get so excited to see the competitions and meet me that it’s kind of embarrassing, but fun.
It’s an interesting way to spend the little free time I have, and sometimes it’s profitable. On a more humorous note, I’ll encounter someone who thinks I’m really weird and think I eat like that all the time once in a while. It’s sort of strange when I’m out doing some grocery shopping and someone comes up to me and says “Hey – I just saw you on TV!” and then starts checking out how much food I’m buying.
As much as I enjoy seeing new places, travelling is also one of the pitfalls because it means that I’m away from my family often.
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| Juliet as a child |
I'm not more watchful of my weight since I started eating professionally. Since I only compete 10 to 15 times each year, and the competitions are just a few minutes in length, I’m not really consuming that much food in the long run. I think of it as going out to a big dinner about once a month. I tend to lose a pound or two before major competitions just because mentally I feel like it helps me eat better. My normal diet is generally pretty healthy anyway, so the competitive eating really doesn’t have that great of an impact on my body.
My favourite foods are seafood and shellfish. Growing up near the coast in China, I developed that preference as a child. There’s really nothing I can think of that I don’t eat or drink, but I don’t really care too much for highly-processed foods. We generally cook with fresh ingredients at home, so that’s the kind of thing that I like.
I don't have to battle any weight problems so far, and I’ve been fortunate that my weight has been about the same, within five to seven pounds of my current weight since college.
This probably sounds strange for me as a competitive eater to say, but I think the best way is to do everythingm including eating, in moderation. I try not to deprive myself too much because I’ll over-compensate for it later.
I know that when I’m not eating before a competition, my body makes it much easier for me to overeat even after the contest is finished. If you can do most of your shopping in the fruit and vegetable sections of the grocery store, you’re automatically going to have a high fibre diet that’s going to make you feel full even if you don’t eat that much.
I think if you try to limit the salt, sugar, and processed meat in your diet, it’s easier to keep your weight manageable.
It’s challenging to juggle, work, family and eating competitively. I’m extremely busy and really have to organize my time well. Scheduling is critical, but also I need to keep priorities straight and recognize that some things just might not get done. Fortunately, I don’t have to handle everything myself. Everyone in the family pitches in to help things go as smoothly as they can.
Juliet's past records:
Clams: 23 dozen in 6 minutes
Sandwiches: 4 and 1/3 10" sandwiches in 10 minutes
Various Foods: 7 Chicken Wings, 1 lb of Nachos, 3 Hot Dogs, 2 Personal Pizzas,
3 Italian Ices in 7 minutes and 13 seconds
