Ewwww! First face eating and now this...

http://www.miamiherald.co...ating.html

The Miami Herald
Posted on Mon, Oct. 08, 2012
Man collapses, dies after winning roach-eating contest in Broward

BY ANNA EDGERTON
aedgerton@MiamiHerald.com

Edward Archbold was willing to do anything to win an exotic python — even eating bugs both crunchy and slimy.

His competitive spirit ended in tragedy.

After downing more than 20 giant creepy-crawlies, Archbold vomited, collapsed and died. The grand prize has been put aside in his name and will be given to his estate.

Friday night’s contest at a Deerfield Beach reptile store started with a party atmosphere, with food and drink – besides the bugs. The insect-eating began with an eye on the prize: a female Ivory Ball python that sells for $700.

Archbold, 32, wasn’t a “snake enthusiast” himself, said shop owner Ben Siegel, and it was the first time the West Palm Beach man had been in the store. Siegel described Archbold as someone who would be “up for anything.”

“He seemed like kind of a wild guy – he was wearing a bandanna, wrist bands and a shirt that said ‘Event Staff,’” Siegel said. “He was brought there by his friend, and he was trying to win the snake for him.”

According to rules posted in an online forum, the prize would go to “the guy or gal that eats the most bugs in 4 minutes without vomiting.”

Archbold was a crowd-pleaser, downing discoid roaches and worms one by one and winning the contest. But he started throwing up before he was able to collect the prize python.

He collapsed outside the store and was taken to Broward Health North where he was pronounced dead.

His body was taken to the Broward Medical Examiner’s Office, and investigators with the Broward Sheriff’s Office are awaiting an autopsy report to determine what killed him.

The store owner said it wasn’t the food.

Discoid roaches, Siegel said, are “eaten by people all over the world.”

The roaches served up at the contest were domestically raised. “They’re clean – raised for exotic pet feed,” Siegel said. “We sell expensive animals, and these bugs are perfectly safe.”

The “Midnight Madness” bug contest was the first one at Ben Siegel Reptiles on West Hillsboro Road, although an employee said “customers or close friends will eat them all the time as a dare.” Renee, who declined to give her last name, said she has also eaten bugs.

“The horn worm kind of tastes like a melon, but it has a sweet flavor. Crickets don’t really taste like anything, and meal worms have a kind of nutty flavor,” she said. “I’ve eaten the roaches too, but just the baby ones.”

Nearly 30 people participated in the contest Friday night, according to Siegel, including his brother Andy and a close friend who ate just one less bug than the winner Archbold. None of the other contestants got sick.

All the bug-eaters were “entirely aware of what they were doing,” and they “signed thorough waivers accepting responsibility for their participation in this unique and unorthodox contest,” according to a statement issued through the store’s attorney, Luke Lirot.

The insect-eating that grossed out observers on Friday night is not so unusual in other parts of the world.

Edwin Lewis, an entomologist at the University of California at Davis, described the surprisingly enjoyable experience of eating cooked waterbugs in Thailand, which are not too far removed from cockroaches.

“It’s kind of gross, but if he chewed them up, they wouldn’t be doing much to him,” Lewis said. “It wouldn’t be any different than eating a shrimp.”

Lewis suspected that an allergic reaction could have been the cause of death.

Siegal said he’d never heard of anyone dying from eating discoids.

“It’s nothing but pure, clean protein.”

[Edited 10/8/12 20:21pm]

lawd h'ammercy. WTH ever happened to just going out for a couple drinks for a fun night out?

yuck

Natural selection is a wonderful thing.

uPtoWnNY said:

Natural selection is a wonderful thing.

Just what I was thinking

I heard about this on the way to work.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with eating domestically raised roaches. Due to my cultural upbringing, I probably wouldn´t really LIKE to eat them, but I´ve seen people in Thailand eat them (and I´ve tried fried grasshoppers there).

He probably had an allergic reaction or he just suffocated on one of those roaches.

I almost suffocated on a big piece of warm, melted mozzarella string cheese a few minutes ago.

And who knows how insect eating cultures feel about eating a product that´s made from the milk of a different species, a different mammal. That´s actually disgusting, too, when you really think about it.

What happened was that two of the roaches he ate weren't dead.

They traveled down his esophagus part way before getting purchase on the inner lining. They tried to walk back up and out. But part way up, the two roaches got tangled up with each other, and caused a blockage.

They couldn't move, and he couldn't breathe. He could feel the tiny roach legs moving furiously inside his throat, and he probably guessed what that was, so he threw up as a means of dislodging the cockroaches.

But it was too late.

OK, I made that up.

No comment.

I've read about this incident from various sources and people have been comparing it to eating shrimps, lobsters or whatever. I sort of get the comparison, but wouldn't simply such a huge amount of the shells alone ending up in the stomach be a bit of a problem? When people eat crustaceans they don't eat the shells either. When people eat insects and crustaceans they are usually at least prepared in some way, fried or cooked.

I don't have a problem believing that a small amount of those things in your stomach is not a huge problem, but if you eat dozens and dozens of them in a short amount of time? Cardboard might not be "poisonous" either and it can be actually eaten, but I really don't think you should stuff your stomach with it.

[Edited 10/9/12 6:36am]

“The horn worm kind of tastes like a melon, but it has a sweet flavor. Crickets don’t really taste like anything, and meal worms have a kind of nutty flavor,” she said. “I’ve eaten the roaches too, but just the baby ones.”

funny the prize is a python as that whole line sounds like something out of a Monty Python sketch.

I don't get eating contests period, let alone ones that involve eating things which in theory sound like something that'd make one go sick, insects being clean or not. It's not a dare for nothing. so ridiculous.

uPtoWnNY said:

Natural selection is a wonderful thing.

You got that right!

RodeoSchro said:

What happened was that two of the roaches he ate weren't dead.

They traveled down his esophagus part way before getting purchase on the inner lining. They tried to walk back up and out. But part way up, the two roaches got tangled up with each other, and caused a blockage.

They couldn't move, and he couldn't breathe. He could feel the tiny roach legs moving furiously inside his throat, and he probably guessed what that was, so he threw up as a means of dislodging the cockroaches.

But it was too late.

OK, I made that up.

Just stoppit!

insects are actually a really good food source.

novabrkr said:

I've read about this incident from various sources and people have been comparing it to eating shrimps, lobsters or whatever. I sort of get the comparison, but wouldn't simply such a huge amount of the shells alone ending up in the stomach be a bit of a problem? When people eat crustaceans they don't eat the shells either. When people eat insects and crustaceans they are usually at least prepared in some way, fried or cooked.

I don't have a problem believing that a small amount of those things in your stomach is not a huge problem, but if you eat dozens and dozens of them in a short amount of time? Cardboard might not be "poisonous" either and it can be actually eaten, but I really don't think you should stuff your stomach with it.

[Edited 10/9/12 6:36am]

So far the speculation is leaning toward an allergic reaction.

When I first heard it I was sure there must have been some big money involved since people will do a lot of dumb things for cash but he died for a prize of a seven hundred dollar snake.

I don't think I'd eat a roach for a million bucks but if I were starving or something who knows?

Nope...I'd just go ahead and die.

were the insects alive or cooked? i hate to see them eaten alive, very cruel.

babynoz said:

novabrkr said:

I've read about this incident from various sources and people have been comparing it to eating shrimps, lobsters or whatever. I sort of get the comparison, but wouldn't simply such a huge amount of the shells alone ending up in the stomach be a bit of a problem? When people eat crustaceans they don't eat the shells either. When people eat insects and crustaceans they are usually at least prepared in some way, fried or cooked.

I don't have a problem believing that a small amount of those things in your stomach is not a huge problem, but if you eat dozens and dozens of them in a short amount of time? Cardboard might not be "poisonous" either and it can be actually eaten, but I really don't think you should stuff your stomach with it.

[Edited 10/9/12 6:36am]

So far the speculation is leaning toward an allergic reaction.

When I first heard it I was sure there must have been some big money involved since people will do a lot of dumb things for cash but he died for a prize of a seven hundred dollar snake.

I don't think I'd eat a roach for a million bucks but if I were starving or something who knows?

Nope...I'd just go ahead and die.

Wait - someone was allergic to cockroaches?

No way!

XxAxX said:

insects are actually a really good food source.

yep

0% fat

100% proteins

too bad the taste is not...good (I guess)

RodeoSchro said:

babynoz said:

So far the speculation is leaning toward an allergic reaction.

When I first heard it I was sure there must have been some big money involved since people will do a lot of dumb things for cash but he died for a prize of a seven hundred dollar snake.

I don't think I'd eat a roach for a million bucks but if I were starving or something who knows?

Nope...I'd just go ahead and die.

Wait - someone was allergic to cockroaches?

No way!

Pending an autopsy, that seems to be the suspicion although I do wonder what allergen a cockroach would contain? Ewww.

babynoz said:

RodeoSchro said:

Wait - someone was allergic to cockroaches?

No way!

Pending an autopsy, that seems to be the suspicion although I do wonder what allergen a cockroach would contain? Ewww.

Yeah I'm not buying this lol

Timmy84 said:

No comment.

Does this story in any way at all help to substiate the argument of killing all mosquitoes.....?

RodeoSchro said:

What happened was that two of the roaches he ate weren't dead.

They traveled down his esophagus part way before getting purchase on the inner lining. They tried to walk back up and out. But part way up, the two roaches got tangled up with each other, and caused a blockage.

They couldn't move, and he couldn't breathe. He could feel the tiny roach legs moving furiously inside his throat, and he probably guessed what that was, so he threw up as a means of dislodging the cockroaches.

But it was too late.

OK, I made that up.

you tho craaazee

babynoz said:

This type of "there's no scientific evidence that it is harmful" reasoning always makes me uncomfortable. As if there would be any scientific studies done on what eating shitloads of unprepared insects can do to you. Calling it an allergy without any evidence that there exists such an allergy or that the person would possess the said type of an allergy is just... abuse of scientific concepts to get your ass out of trouble, really.

http://www.aafa.org/displ...p;cont=312

Cockroach Allergy

What Is Cockroach Allergy? When most people think of allergy "triggers," they often focus on plant pollens, dust, animals and stinging insects. In fact, cockroaches also can trigger allergies and asthma. Cockroach allergy was first reported in 1943, when skin rashes appeared immediately after the insects crawled over patients' skin. Skin tests first confirmed patients had cockroach allergy in 1959. In the 1970s, studies made it clear that patients with cockroach allergies develop acute asthma attacks. The attacks occur after inhaling cockroach allergens and last for hours. Asthma has steadily increased over the past 30 years. It is the most common chronic disease of childhood. Now we know that the frequent hospital admissions of inner-city children with asthma often is directly related to their contact with cockroach allergens—the substances that cause allergies. From 23 percent to 60 percent of urban residents with asthma are sensitive to the cockroach allergen. The increase in asthma is not fully understood. Experts think one reason for the increase among children is that they play indoors more than in past years and thus have increased contact with the allergen. This is especially true in the inner cities where they stay inside because of safety concerns. What Causes the Allergic Reaction? The job of immune system cells is to find foreign substances such as viruses and bacteria and get rid of them. Normally, this response protects us from dangerous diseases. People with allergies have supersensitive immune systems that react when they inhale, swallow or touch certain harmless substances such as pollen or cockroaches. These substances are the allergens. Cockroach allergen is believed to derive from feces, saliva and the bodies of these insects. Cockroaches live all over the world, from tropical areas to the coldest spots on earth. Studies show that 78 percent to 98 percent of urban homes have cockroaches. Each home has from 900 to 330,000 of the insects. Private homes also harbor them, especially if the homes are well insulated. When one roach is seen in the basement or kitchen, it is safe to assume that at least 800 roaches are hidden under the kitchen sink, in closets and the like. They are carried in with groceries, furniture and luggage used on trips. Once they are in the home, they are hard to get rid of. The amount of roach allergen in house dust or air can be measured. In dwellings where the amount is high, exposure is high and the rate of hospitalization for asthma goes up. Allergen particles are large and settle rapidly on surfaces. They become airborne when the air is stirred by people moving around or by children at play. Who Develops Cockroach Allergy? People with chronic severe bronchial asthma are most likely to have cockroach allergy. Also likely to have it are people with a chronic stuffy nose, skin rash, constant sinus infection, repeat ear infection and asthma. Those who were allergic to cockroaches and were exposed to the insects were hospitalized for asthma 3.3 times more often than other children. This was true even when compared with those who were allergic to dust mites or cats. What Are Its Symptoms? Symptoms vary. They may be a mildly itchy skin, scratchy throat or itchy eyes and nose. Or the allergy symptoms can become stronger, including severe, persistent asthma in some people. Asthma symptoms often are a problem all year, not just in some seasons. This can make it hard to determine that a cockroach allergy is the cause of the asthma. How Is Cockroach Allergy Diagnosed? The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute recommends that all patients with persistent asthma be tested for allergic response to cockroach as well as to the other chief allergens, dust mites, cats, dogs and mold. Diagnosis can be made only by skin tests. The doctor scratches or pricks the skin with cockroach extract. Redness, an itchy rash, or swelling at the site suggests you are allergic to the insect. Cockroaches should be suspected, though, when allergy symptoms—stuffy nose, inflamed eyes or ears, skin rash or bronchial asthma—persist year round. How Can I Manage Cockroach Allergy? If you have cockroach allergy, avoid contact with roaches and their droppings. The first step is to rid your home of the roaches. Because they resist many control measures, it is best to call in pest control experts. For ongoing control, use poison baits, boric acid and traps. Don't use chemical agents. They can irritate allergies and asthma. Do not leave food and garbage uncovered. To manage nasal and sinus symptoms, use antihistamines, decongestants and anti-inflammatory medications. Your doctor will also prescribe anti-inflammatory medications and bronchodilators if you have asthma. If you keep having serious allergic symptoms, see an allergist about "allergy injections" with the cockroach extract. They can reduce symptoms over time.

[Edited 10/10/12 5:17am]

[Edited 10/10/12 5:18am]

[Edited 10/10/12 5:21am]

Visionnaire said:

Does this story in any way at all help to substiate the argument of killing all mosquitoes.....?

mosquito eating contest!!!! payback time!!!!!