THE CONTESTANTS – 2013 Feast Your Eyes on This Spicy Cooking Challenge

Yes we are back for our 3rd go around in this spicy cooking contest. We have 8 new spicy product makers raring to go and show us their fiery talents in the kitchen. We have more sponsorship than we have had in the previous 2 years with a value of over $3000! Can I get a woo-hoo?! So what exactly is this Feast Your Eyes on This Spicy Cooking Challenge(FYEOT)? Every Wednesday starting March 6th at 9am est, and all the way through April 17th, we will be giving a spicy challenge to our contestants. We will post their cooking videos Sunday mornings at 9am est as well. Our special judges will send me their results and we will reward a sponsored $50 prize to the winner of that round on the next Wednesday announcement video and a special bonus for the next challenge as well. The worst video result will get booted out of the contest. We will announce the winner on April 17th and we will laud them with much fanfare and prizes.

Besides the ginormous trophy the winner will get from yours truly, the prizes are well worth the effort these fine cooks/chefs will have to go through. Once again Carol Borge of the Houston Hot Sauce Festival will support us with another free booth for their September 21-22 event. PLUS, the good people at the Zestfest Midwest show will also give a free booth for their 3-day show which will debut on June 28-30. A big thanks to Judy Fuhrhop and Greg Bagarozy for their support. Then on top of all that despite Chile Pepper Magazine honoring last year’s FYEOT winner Shauna Jellsey from TATS with a free booth at the new Chile Pepper Extravaganza in New Orleans September 27-29, they will also donate an advertising package for this year. Valued at over $2,000, immediately upon winning the contest, Chile Pepper Magazine will get the wheels rolling with a 1/4 page ad in their next issue of their magazine, plus a free web banner for their website for 3 months. The winner will also receive free Facebook posts, tweets and email blasts about their victory to all their subscribers, which includes submitted photos. On top of that they will get a free 2 year subscription and an official Chile Pepper Magazine ball cap. Quite a nice deal for the winner.

Yet, we still have more sponsors that will donate some cash for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishers. The great co-packer, Endorphin Farms ($400) and the super hot chile grower Refining Fire Chiles($150). We will break that money down as follows…1st place $300, 2nd place $150, and 3rd $100. Plus we will have weekly sponsors for the 1st 5 weeks that will give a $50 cash gift card to the winner of that round. We really appreciate the generosity that we have received from this great chile community, and we are so happy to be the conduit to connect these great spicy product makers with these wonderful sponsors.

We wanted you to get to know a little about our contestants ahead of the FYEOT Spicy Cooking Challenge. So we told our contestants to create a 3 minute or less video introducing themselves to you, our loyal spicy lovers. Well some had video issues which I hope they will be able to correct for the big show next week. Some of the videos went short and sweet and others went a tad too long. It is okay, but it won’t be okay once we start the contest. Time limits will be strictly enforced and points will be deducted from our panel of judges. We will introduce our judges next week, but today is about our contestants, so without any further delay here are the 3rd Annual FYEOT Spicy Cooking Challenge fiery 8…

Sam Peters from Patter Fams

Bo Perkins from Addiction Sauces

Tracy Carter from JAC’s Tailgaters

Mike Isenberg from Wicked Cactus Sauces

Kevin Billings from High Octane Sauce Company

Jennifer Reynolds from and is the Sauce Goddess

Tina Tillman from Chesterville Pepper Company

Ricky Sanders from Madison Chocolatiers West