The annual World Pie Eating Championship is usually held at Harry's Bar on Wallgate, Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The competition has been held since 1992. In November 2006, a vegetarian version was added^[1] after "relentless pressure", from The Vegetarian Society's Keith Lorraine and Phil English.^[2]

In December 2006, in the competition, the meat and potato pies were all 12 cm (5 in) in diameter with a depth of 3.5 cm (1.5 in). In the separate vegetarian contest, the pies were 10 cm (4 in) by 3 cm (1.2 in).^[3] In December 2007, in the competition, entries included a competitor's dog, Charlie, who had eaten twenty pies and damaged a further ten the night before the competition, nearly jeopardising the event.^[2]

Dave Smyth, a painter from Hindley, won the inaugural contest in 1992, when he ate four pies in three minutes.

Dave Williams of Preston, Lancashire.

Scott Ormrod of Aspull, Wigan, Greater Manchester, eleven pies in thirty minutes.

Anthony "The Anaconda" Danson, a weight trainer from Lancashire, managed to eat seven pies in three minutes, setting a new record.^[4]

Matt Dunning (Australian Rugby Union).

Adrian Frost (42) from Wigan who downed his pie in a record breaking 35.86 seconds ^[5]

Fred Wyatt, a sixty one year old warehouse packer won the 2008 Championship, which was broadcast live on the internet by pie per view.^[6][7]

Barry Rigby, a warehouseman won, eating a pie in forty five seconds.^[8]

Neil Collier, aged 42, won this contest, with a new World Record of 23.91 seconds.^[9]

Martin Clare won, with a new record time of 22.53 secs.^[10]

Ian Coulton of Wigan took the title, albeit with the slowest winning time ever of 1 minute and 6.61 seconds.

Former champion Barry Rigby once again recorded the best time.^[11]

2012 champ Martin Appleton Clare regains his title after missing 2013 and the "wrong size pie" incident of 2014.

The reigning champion, Martin Appleton-Clare registered a record breaking third win to take the 2016 Championship.^[12]

It is the third time in a row for Martin Appleton-Clare.

Martin Appleton-Clare won the new category of "Chicken and Carrot" with a time of 19.6 secs after a fierce Pie Off

Ian Gerrard won the contest with a time of 34.5 seconds.^[13]

Barry Rigby, 49, guzzled down the regulation meat and potato pie in a relatively average time of 35.4 seconds, taking the pie crown for the third time. The championship was delayed slightly and took place in January 2023 as opposed to its usual December date. The Wigan man previously won the championships in 2009 and 2014.^[14]

Ian Coulton faced off all competition and ensured the trophy remained in Wigan, winning the competition for the first time since his previous victory ten years earlier, in 2013. ^[15]

At this year's contest - which was held on December 12 2024 with 22 contestants - Michael Chant, 43, from nearby Bury, broke the world record for eating a pie the fastest, completing it in 17 seconds - beating the previous record holder Martin Appleton-Clare, who ate his pie in 23 seconds. Channel 5 filmed the event for their TV show 22 Kids and Counting, as the show's star Noel Radford supplied the pies for the competition. The championship's organiser and "piemaster", Tony Callaghan, dropped and partly broke the trophy. Hits Radio interviewed Callaghan afterwards. Several newspapers were also present.^[16][17][18]

In December 2005, controversy was caused, when pies were imported from nearby Farnworth, Bolton, and local Wigan pies were sidelined as it was believed they were substandard, resulting in a four-man strong protest.^[19] In December 2009, a similar situation arose, with pies being sourced from Adlington.^[8]

In November 2006, more controversy was caused, when the competition was changed (to meet government healthy eating guidelines) from the number of pies consumed in a given time, to the fastest time to consume a single pie.^[20]

In December 2007, controversy struck again for the third year running, when the competition actually ran out of pies before the competition had finished.^{[citation needed]}

In December 2014, pies of the wrong size were delivered to the event, while the intended pies were sent to a nearby divorce party. The contestants competed with halved pies, but the results were nullified.^[11] The head of the World Pie Eating Championship went to court on the television show Judge Rinder because of this, against the pie maker of the wrongly sized pies, but was awarded nothing.^[21]

Wiganers are proud to be called pie eaters, but the nickname is not thought to be because of their appetite for the delicacy. The name is said to date from the 1926 General Strike, when Wigan miners were starved back to work, before their counterparts in surrounding towns and were forced to eat "humble pie".^[3]

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