Enough. I am officially declaring this Double Down-eating developer competition over. Electronic Arts may not have really set the land-speed record for consuming Kentucky Fried lard, but it did raise $1,000 for - wait for it - cancer research.
You may remember that when Disney Interactive claimed the record two weeks ago, its champion eaters specifically called out EA. The publisher responded with a full-on employee event. (Video at the link) A $500 challenge to Sam Breach, a self-styled food snob and EA employee, got her to consume the KFC sandwich that's been all the (out)rage since it was released to the general public last month. Employees ponied up, the publisher matched the employee contribution and gave it all, $1,078, to the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.
EA's Jason Kim took advantage of an exploit in the competition (we promise to patch this, well, never) - apparently determining that Activision's and Disney Interactive's previous record times were clocked once the entire sandwich was in a competitor's mouth, not when he actually chewed and consumed the last bite. So at 20 seconds, with 15 seconds to beat the record and more than half a sandwich to go, Kim stuffed the whole thing in. It was his second of the day.
Now: That's it. No more Double Down eating. I'm a little flattered that what began as a weekend joke by Activision turned into a round robin among three major studios and ended up doing some good. But the Double Down is no longer a trending topic on Twitter, so we can't discuss it anymore thanks goodbye.
The progression of world record holders, for those who must know:
Activision: 57.97 seconds (April 28, 2010.)
Disney Interactive: 35.8 seconds (May 5, 2010.)
Electronic Arts: "26 Seconds" (May 17, 2010). Mark later ruled invalid by Federation Internationale de Double Down Eating*, title stripped.
(*-me, apparently)
EA and the Double Down Challenge [Electronic Arts]