Wellington's Josh Anderson retained the mantle of the world's fastest pizza eater after competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi failed in a bid in on his record in New York on Saturday.
Kobayashi, 22, screamed in anguish after failing to consume the 360g margherita pizza faster than Mr Anderson's record time ofone minute 45.37 seconds - set March 22, 2008 in Wellington.
Kobayashi attempted the record as part of his comeback after a high-profile banning from a US hot dog eating contest in Coney Island this year during a contract dispute with the competition's organiser, Major League Eating.
In the latest contest, he was allowed to cut the pizza into segments before the challenge began, but had to eat with a knife and fork. He finished up 18secs short.
Kobyashi had an excuse ready as soon as his time was read out: "The pizza's condition was not very good," he said. "It was too soft".
Kobyashi already has three world eating records and had trained for two weeks for the pizza.
The organiser of the Wellington 2008 event, Leonardo Bresolin of the Scopa restaurant, told NZPA that contestants in Wellington weren't allowed to cut up the pizza before timing started.
"We actually had three guys beat the previous record of 2min 19secs, but Josh was the fastest," he said.
"He still comes here for pizza".
Mr Bresolin said he was "astounded" the record had stood for two years, but said Wellington bar Electric Avenue was mounting a November 30 bid to set a faster time.
A spokesman for the Courtenay Place bar said times of around 2min 30secs had been recorded in the initial heats, but with practice the contestants were likely to beat Mr Anderson's time.
