Texas Inn Celebrates National Chili Day With Winnerless “Great Bowls Of Fire”

Feb. 24 marked National Chili Day, a day celebrated by Lynchburg’s Texas Inn,  who hosted its own chili   eating contest. 

Six contestants were challenged to eat two bowls filled with 36 ounces of chili as well as relish, onion and oyster crackers in under an hour, totaling around 75 ounces of food. 

The contestants included Conor Hughes, Jasmine Ford, Wolfgang Blank, Joshua Sanchez, Randy Bush and Jason Laughlin. Many of them skipped several meals that day just to make room for the big contest. 

Winners of the Great Bowls of Fire Chili Contest would receive a roll of Tums, a can of Febreze and a small toilet bowl trophy. 

The humor of this contest was certainly not lost on Texas Inn. 

They also were not going to share their world-famous chili recipe – not even with the winners.  

“The winner does not get a copy of the recipe. It’s actually in a lockbox at the bank down the street. We’re not sharing that,” owner and contest host Dave Saunders said. 

With an hour on the clock, six contestants dove into the bowls in front of them.

Twenty minutes into the competition, the race slowed down from a sprint to a steady walk as the chili in the contestants’ stomachs started to take its toll. Blank and Bush had already started on their second bowls with the rest of the competition struggling to keep up. 

After another 10 minutes, Sanchez tapped out, followed by Hughes, Laughlin and, despite his early lead, Blank. 

The clock stopped at eighteen minutes and thirty-five seconds to temporarily relieve the remaining contestants Ford and Bush as they waited for their chili to be reheated. Unfortunately, during this brief time out, Bush was disqualified after needing to use his vomit bucket, leaving Ford by herself to finish the challenge. 

Once the clock started again, Ford tried her best to finish as much chili as she could in the remaining time, finishing one of her bowls with only two minutes remaining before throwing in the towel.

In the end, every contestant either dropped out or was disqualified, leaving no winner to take home any trophies. Fortunately for the participants, they did not go home empty handed. Each one was awarded a T-shirt reading “I Survived the Great Bowls of Fire Chili Contest” to commemorate their efforts. 

Despite National Chili Day being over, that doesn’t mean the contest itself is over. Texas Inn allows one participant a day to try to win the prizes. Anyone interested in eating two 36-ounce bowls of chili in an hour can sign up at the restaurant and attempt the impossible. 

Engel is a feature reporter.