Boston College students possess immense talent, but there are certain feats that a college student could never achieve, such as swallowing a billiard ball, a light bulb, and a goldfish and then coughing them back up whole and dry, in that order. Or, perhaps, guzzling 57 hot dogs in 12 minutes. On Friday, BC students were able to witness both horrendous and mesmerizing feats on campus. In the Nights on the Heights' double-dose gorge of gluttony, students crammed into the Cabaret Room to witness Stevie Starr, "The Human Reguritator," and participate in an eating contest. At 9:30 p.m. the show commenced with Starr, a man who has created a career and celebrity out of swallowing objects and regurgitating them. If Willy Wonka's majestic creepiness, George Carlin's dirty crude humor, and a circus performer with a Scottish accent were mixed, Starr would be the result. Decked in black leather pants and a sparkling gold open blazer (revealing his belly to emphasize his control over his stomach), he snatched the audience's attention - and fear - as he slurped a light bulb down his throat, sparking a collective roaring gasp in the crowd of 200. A moment later, he regurgitated it, stating that this was his simplest trick before the crowd could clap with astonishment. How do you top swallowing a light bulb? It's a question most BC students will never have to ask themselves, but, when Starr asked the crowed for a cigarette, they were forced to ask. Before he lit it, Starr squeezed bursts of butane down his throat. Then in one sickening drag - as the crowd shouted, "That's awful," and "Cancer!" - he smoked the stick dead in 20 seconds. He may as well have dumped tar into his mouth. Since he inhaled the entire cigarette, smoke has filled his lungs. He then proceeded to ask: "How would you like the smoke to come out: in one breath, in circles, or in a bubble?" Like kids at a puppet show everyone yelled, "bubble!" He then grabbed a bottle of soap, showing to someone in the front row that he hadn't filled the bottle with water, and proceeded to chug about half the bottle (for all the strange items he shoves down his esophagus, his digestive tract could use the cleansing). In a deep breath, he blew a soccer-ball-sized foggy bubble and, as it floated by his head, he popped it, releasing a cloud of smoke. An eruption of ooh's and ahh's mixed with applause rumbled throughout the audience. "You probably think this is a big con," he conceded. "But it's real, and I'm going to prove it with a participant from the crowd." And who knows? Perhaps he really has complete control of his stomach muscles. Perhaps you could swallow a Rubik's Cube and solve it in your stomach (a trick he performed in the middle of the show). But how would you discover you had such a talent in the first place? Growing up in an orphanage in Glasgow, Scotland, Starr occupied his childhood swallowing and spitting. According to his Web site, he began regurgitating his pocket money at the age of 4. "In school I would steal and swallow the chalk," he told us. "When the teacher asked for it back, I asked which color she preferred. Eventually whenever something in the class went missing she looked at me." But now the 36-year-old boasts an amazing array of digestive display: from popping a balloon with a nail in his stomach, to swallowing a key, a padlock, and a BC student's ring only to regurgitate the ring clamped in the lock - then spit the key back out and unlock it. With each dramatic swallowing, he braced himself with a blistering, loud smack on the chest, and slurped in a gasp that mirrored a diver about to take a plunge into unknown depths. His talent alone - which sparked a thrilling mix of shock, delight, and anger - could carry his act, but his theatrical zeal and interactive humor (you can guess the jokes he makes about swallowing), made for a memorable Night on the Heights. In the end, The Regurgitator didn't prove that just anyone could possess his talent. In the middle of the act, he planned on hypnotizing a girl (whose ring he swallowed) to swallow a goldfish, creating anxious glee in the crowd, but he finally admitted that the fish would die as she had never practiced the art of regurgitation. Instead, Starr concluded by swallowing a film canister filled with water, its detached cap, and a goldfish. Seconds later, he spat the canister out with the cap covered. A girl opened the cap to reveal the fish inside. Illusion or not, Starr walked off the stage, sweating and chuckling, as the crowd roared in a standing ovation. Digestion, however, we cannot fake. The night concluded with BC's second annual eating contest. Though the program lacked the resources and the stomachs to consume hundreds of hot dogs, Nights on the Heights staged four smaller contests: a "first to five" hot dog contest, water chugging, whipped cream, and saltine eating competitions. Though no competitor matched the awe-inspiring horror of the global king of gluttony, Takeru Kobayashi, they all wolfed at a rate faster than you would like to see anyone eat at Corcoran Commons or McElroy. The only eater of five to utilize the professional eaters' technique of dunking the dogs in water to ease their slide down his esophagus, Paul Huynh, A&S '08, won the contest in about three minutes. The night continued with a whipped cream contest in which competitors relocated one plate of whipped cream to an empty place using only their mouths. After they finished, the players lifted their heads to triumph in their cream-covered faces. After the saltine contest, the night concluded with the water chugging competition - first to two glasses. With a methodical, maniacal technique of tilting the cups upside-down, water surged down Brian Miller's throat and onward to victory as he ousted the nine other competitors. Basking in glory, Miller, CSOM '08, said he entered the competition to win, and he did. A moment later, his entourage of five friends cheered for him, one student boasting a homemade poster of Miller gulping hot dogs. To celebrate, Miller filled another cup of water, snagged a goldfish, and exited, leaving everyone to wonder if maybe BC students can achieve anything - at least in their stomachs.
'Human Reguritator' visits BC and its competitve eating scene
Published: Monday, October 29, 2007
Updated: Saturday, November 14, 2009 12:11
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