Up to his ears: Georgia's Gideon Oji wins corn-eating contest

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Lend him your ears -- and he will eat them.

Ears of corn, that is, and you won’t get them back.

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Gideon Oji, of Atlanta, ate 57 ears of corn in 12 minutes Sunday to become crowned the Sweet Corn Champion at the South Florida Fairgrounds Yesteryear VIllage, the Sun-Sentinel reported.

Oji won $2,500 to win the Sweet Corn Fiesta and finished ahead of Darren Breeden of Orange, Virginia, who wolfed down 43 ears of corn, the newspaper reported.

This was no fluke, either. Oji, a 6-foot-9 native of Zaire, Nigeria, is a former basketball player who now is one of the top competitors on the Major League Eating circuit. Oji, who is No. 6 in the organization's rankings, weighs 225 pounds and lives in Morrow, Georgia. He played basketball for the Clayton State men's team in the 2014-15 season, but decided that packing away food was preferable to packing the lane on defense.

Joey Chestnut, acknowledged as the world eating champion, is ranked No. 1. According to the Major League Eating website, Oji finished fourth at the 2016 Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating contest in New York City by eating 38 hot dogs.

Eating corn must have seemed like a breeze.

Cox Media Group