“In 25 minutes, whoever eats the most hot dogs is going to be the 2026 ASA SigEp hot dog eating competition champion,” Alpha Sigma Alpha President, Olivia Harris said.
On Thursday, Feb. 26, Alpha Sigma Alpha and Sigma Phi Epsilon joint-hosted a hot dog eating competition to raise money for its philanthropies.
The SigEp house was packed full of members of the organizations and students not affiliated with them to watch the competition.
Harris said that she approached SigEp President, Gavin James, to do the event together. The initial plan was to simply do a cookout where students could come get a plate of food, but she then recommended the twist of the competition.
James said, “I thought it was something that could do really well, that we could raise a lot of money.”
Harris said, “From there on we kind of ran with that.”
All University of Central Arkansas students were welcome to attend and could purchase a plate of hot dogs, or enter the competition, for $5. All of the proceeds from the competition was split evenly between the two organizations’ philanthropies.
ASA gave its half of the proceeds to one of its three philanthropies: Special Olympics.
Harris said, “A lot of our activities go towards Special Olympics … it gives these athletes something to look forward to every year, and we were just hoping that this would be another really fun way to raise money for a great cause that’s really close to our hearts.”
Special Olympics is a non-profit organization that gives athletes of all abilities and disabilities the chance to partake in sporting events.
SigEp’s split of the proceeds went to Big Brother, Big Sister.
James said that there are around 170,000 children that are a part of this organization.
James said, “[The organization is centered around] the children, and they’re sponsored by these adults who are just kind of going with them, increasing social skills, financial knowledge, anything you really think of, just kind of helping them out.”
Initially, the competition was going to be held outside but a sudden rain shower doused those plans and SigEp opened up its house to hold the competition.
Harris said, “The day started out super nice. Warm, sunny, I thought … ‘Wow, what a great day to have a hot dog eating competition’ … and then a plot twist.”
James, who was working the grill when the storm began to roll in, said, “One of my friends walked up to me like ‘Hey, it’s about to rain in seven minutes.’ I had, I think at that point, probably 40 hot dogs on the grill.”
After hearing this news, the organizations quickly jumped into action, moving the grilled hot dogs, hot dog buns and the Greek letters inside or underneath the awning of the SigEp house. All 40 of James’ hot dogs made it safely off of the grill and into the house.
Harris and James were both set to compete in the event.
Harris had her eyes set on five hot dogs in the allotted time period.
She said, “I prepared today. I didn’t eat a full lunch. I was snacking, but I didn’t eat lunch so I’m ready. I’m hungry.”
Harris completed the competition having eaten four hotdogs.
James had his eyes set on 10-15 hot dogs. He finished having eaten seven.
James said, “I think I’m gonna win.”
Senior Nick Hazeslip won the competition after eating 15 hot dogs.
“I kind of knew I was going to win,” Hazeslip, who has a background in competitive eating, said.
Hazeslip said he did eating competitions around the state regularly from his senior year of high school to his freshman year of college.
Hazeslip said, “I hate eating hot dogs… my favorite thing to do is probably the steak challenge.”
All of the leftover hot dogs from the competition were donated to Bethlehem House – a homeless shelter in Conway – after the conclusion of the challenge, ensuring that nothing went to waste.
