Speed-eating causes arthritic jaw

Few things make me really disgusted. Speed-eating is one of them. The point of the contest is to eat as many hot dogs as quickly as possible. The event was invented in 1916 in Coney Island, the amusement Park, by the American sausage company called Nathans. The winner gets a silly-looking yellow belt and it is currently in Japan, where it stands in a secure display case here in Saitama near the Nakazato Danchi campus. The "champion" of speed-eating is a young Japanese guy.

Today there is news that he has developed an arthritic jaw. He says to BBC that he is in so much pain he can barely open his mouth. The revenge of the jaws...?

In a world where over a billion people still don't have enough food, why the fascination with speed-eating? I can understand that in 1916, noone cared much about these issues. But isn't it just a freak-show? Is he mentally ok in his head? And what makes people want to watch these people? The PR effect for the food company is obviously huge, but I just don't get it (BTW don't get me started on K1 or "professional wrestling").