Man beats his girlfriend's dad in a hot dog eating contest, 'let the best man win.' AITA?
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"AITA for beating my (25M) girlfriend’s (24F) dad (51M) in a hot-dog eating contest?"
Ok, so the hot-dog eating contest happened like 6 months ago during the summer, and I had no idea that I did anything wrong, but my gf and I were arguing about something else and she brought the contest up and said I had acted childishly, and I wanted to know if there was anything that I had to apologize for.
So, basically, six months ago my gf invited me to a food festival in her hometown. The day I arrived, I learned that there was a hot-dog eating contest and the prize would be an $100 gift card to a large tech retail store. Being a casual competitive eater in college, I decided it would be a fun idea to enter and signed up on the website.
When I told my gf’s family I had entered the contest, my gf’s dad good-naturedly clapped me on the back, and said “let the best man win.” Apparently, my gf’s dad had won the hot-dog eating contest for the last 4 years, and was somewhat expecting to win again.
Wanting the gift card, I decided to give the contest my all. I ate a bunch of hot dogs, I wasn’t even paying attention to what I was doing, but by the time I was done, I’d eaten 16 hot dogs in five minutes, beating my gf’s dad, who only ate 12 hot dogs.
When I was done, my gf’s brother Liam (14M) and a bunch of his friends mobbed me, calling me “The Doggler," giving me high-fives and clapping me on the back. They said that I had dethroned "The Doggler", pointing to my gf’s dad, and that I was the new "Doggler," that I was a real “glizzied rizzler” (or something like that) and that I was just shoving “glizzy after glizzy down my gullet."
They posed for pictures with me. It was weird but kind of fun. Later, my gf’s dad came up to me, shook my hand, and said I was good competition. He went home to do something in his woodshop, so I hung out with my gf, Liam, and his friends, going around to various food stalls and games.
When we all ate dinner that night, the hot dog contest didn’t come up at all, except for when Liam kept referring to me as The Doggler and saying that he wanted to make a special Doggler shirt for me. We had a nice breakfast the next morning. No sign that anything was wrong.
Today though, my gf brought up in our argument that her dad was actually really wounded by losing the hot-eating contest, but just didn’t say anything to me. I said if I wasn’t supposed to enter the contest, then was it really a contest at all?
And she said that it was less about the contest but about the special Doggler shirt (Liam made his dad a Doggler shirt for the years he won the contest, but I got the Doggler 2024 shirt). She said that her dad only wanted to win the contest to connect with Liam and, if anything, I should be able to understand the masculine ego. So, AITA?
Here's what top commenters had to say about this one:
Elea_Lithien said:
NTA. You didn't really have any idea this was an important family tradition and moment until after you signed up. And who has control of the actions of a crowd of 14 year olds anyway? That said, all this tension for a gift card is kinda intense, I hope you got something good with the prize money.
drake22 said:
NTA. “When we all ate dinner that night." So you had dinner after eating 16 hot dogs?!
cynical_overlord1979 said:
NTA. Your girlfriend should’ve told you all this stuff before the hot dog eating contest (if at all) so you could respond accordingly. It certainly wasn’t your responsibility to figure it all out.
For all either of you know, her dad let you win to make you feel part of the family. If this is the worst she can throw at you in a heated argument, then you guys probably have a good relationship and you are a reasonable person.
arachnobravia said:
NTA. This assertion is ridiculous and I think your gf is making some odd assumptions. If true though, if a 51-year-old adult man can't handle losing a silly game and nickname then it's his problem and needs to find better ways to engage his 14-year-old son that doesn't rely on eating copious amounts of processed meat once a year.
[deleted] said:
NTA- I bet the dad would be upset she told you that. He clearly was trying to be a good sport even though his feelings were hurt.
GlitteringGift8191 said:
NTA. You entered without knowing this was an issue. something that was important too him. It sounds like your girlfriend is just looking for a reason to be upset.