Day 7 – August 5 – Methods (From News Shopper)

Day 7 – August 5 – Methods

2:53pm Tuesday 5th August 2008

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Demoralised by my lack of progress over the last few days I started to scour the internet for tips.

Some ‘experts’ recommend drinking lots of water before the challenge begins to moisten up the mouth.

Others dismiss this as pure folly and suggest this technique only succeeds in putting too much strain on the stomach thus producing a “cracker paste” which can be projectile vomited by anything up to six feet. That sounds like a challenge for another day!

Another challenger pointed to his inability to perform in front of an audience. “As soon as the spotlight’s on me – I get nervous and my mouth goes dry,” he said.

Maybe that’s why I was so rubbish on my dummy run!

There do however seem to be three recognised methods:

Method 1 – The All-in-one

The challenger stacks all three on top of each other and takes a huge bite. After a 15 second period of chewing and swallowing he takes a second bite, and then a third and final.

Pros: Mentally it feels like you are eating one cracker and if you are strong-minded enough you can convince yourself this is true.

Cons: You need a big mouth.

Method 2 – The Beaver

Small manageable bites are steadily taken out of the crackers while constantly swallowing.

Pros: The challenger never has too much food in his mouth and is less likely to gag/vomit.

Cons: This technique requires extremely fast chewing.

Method 3 – The Step

This method is all about taking one cracker at a time.

You shove that first one down as fast as you can and then repeat.

Pros: If you can down the first cracker quickly your confidence increases and adrenalin sees you through to the end.

Cons: The risk of vomiting is increased due to the high levels of food in the mouth. Panic can also ensue - leading to jaw-lock.

Dare Deadline - August 13

If you have any tips to help me out, or examples of times you have tried this challenge - please email me or leave a comment.