His goal -- to eat his way out of the container. Conti is a competive eater and is the current world champion of oyster-eating. Tuesday night was the debut of a movie about Conti's life. Conti's popcorn submersion was a spectacle designed to drum up publicity for the film. Apparently, Conti was only able to eat his way down to his shoulders before he decided enough was enough. Conti said that it wasn't so much the popcorn as the "butter" that got the better of him (I say "butter" because nature could never come up with something so wonderful as the mystery liquid that is squirted on movie theater popcorn).
Popcorn and oysters are not the only foods on Conti's mind. Apparently, Conti hopes to one day defeat Takeru Kobayashi at the world hot dog-eating championships at Coney Island. Kobayashi, a slender Japanese man, is no doubt a world class eater, but Kobayashi suffered a very public defeat on national television last year when he was soundly beaten by a grizzly bear on FOX's original "Man vs. Beast" in 2003. So, there is hope for Conti at Coney Island if he is as hungry as a bear. However, if Conti is unsuccessful at Coney Island, he could always challenge a starfish to an oyster-eating contest on "Man vs. Beast III" which I sincerely hope FOX will produce next fall.
