This year, SeafoodFest held two different eating competitions. First, the well known Lutefisk eating competition. And second, for the first time, the salmon dog eating contest, hosted by the Ballard Kiwanis Club.

Ballard News Tribune's lead reporter and web editor, true to his promise, participated in the lutefisk eating competition. And just as he predicted, he lost miserably and was kicked out in the first round, after just 1/2 pound -- a far cry from the 3 1/4 pounds required of the winner.

Other participants included a lifetime Ballard resident, David Johnson, who had competed in the contest around eight times before; Ed Valley, who has been in Ballard since 1993 and was competing for the first time; a man from South Dakota who simply loved Lutefisk; and an aspiring competitive eater, Victor "The Devastator," who won the Lutefisk eating competition last year.

Lutefisk, a traditional dish from Nordic countries, is a gelatinous food made from dried whitefish. Mostly it is known as a food that can make people's noses crinkle and stomach's churn just from the thought of it. One SeafoodFest goer described it as "Fish jello."

The lutefisk served at the competition was surprisingly palatable. It was freshly cooked and garnished with spices and lemon. Some contestants groaned because they wanted straight lutefisk without the spices, but others, including BNT's reporter, were thankful.

It went down fairly easy and the competition went along quickly and smoothly. It eventually came down between two contestants, Valley and Johnson. It was close, mere seconds apart, but Johnson was declared the winner.

The salmon dog eating contest, however, was a different story. Participants included Ballard High School football players, a reappearance from "The Devastator," and Sam, who also participated in the lutefisk eating competition and has been in Ballard 4-5 months.

Contestants had to eat four hot dogs in the first round, then three, then two, then one.

In the first round, the pain was already evident. Other than "The Devastator," who plowed through the salmon dogs like he was a vacuum cleaner, contestants did all they could to swallow every bite and keep from gagging. The audience was in for a long show.

Different styles of eating were at play. Sam calmly ate each salmon dog, dipping the bun in water to soften the bread and make it easier to swallow. "The Devastator" swished water in his mouth with every bite. Some separated the dog from the bun and took on them one at a time. And some forewent the water and tried, without great results, to cram as much hotdog in their mouth as possible.

The contest eventually came down to Sam and "The Devastator," and while Sam had been fairly calm and slow-going all the while, eating like a "librarian" according to the announcer, the last round was surprisingly close. Each contestant was chewing on the last bite in their mouth before "The Devastator," who constantly bobbed his head back and forth with each chew, opened his mouth wide in victory.

"The Devastator," who got his start in competitive eating with a pizza eating competition, was unconcerned with stomaching the salmon dogs. When asked, he said he could eat 17. He also said he recently ate 7 pounds at a lutefisk eating competition in Poulsbo.

"The Devastator" plans to recuperate from his lutefisk loss and change his technique up so he can win that contest next year.