Over the last seventeen years, George Tsioutsioulas’ career as a filmmaker and host has taken him to some interesting places. As host of The Hospitality Guide and other series, he’s traveled the world. But he was close to his Toronto home when he witnessed a strange event – his first eating contest! And he was immediately hooked. Tsioutsioulas found a young competitive eater named Peter Czerwinski who was winning all the contests, but that’s not all Tsioutsioulas discovered. Pete was far more than just a big eater. The two embarked on a life-changing journey of discovery, documented in the entertaining and inspirational film The Story of Furious Pete. www.furiouspetedocumentary.com.
AB - How did you and Pete meet, and at what point did you see a film in him?
GT - A couple summers ago when I was shooting my travel show The Hospitality Guide. I did a story on the Buffalo Wing Festival and I got to experience my first eating contest and I was amazed! I couldn't believe that these men and women were putting that much food into their bodies in such a short amount of time. It didn't seem humanly possible. After doing a bit of research on competitive eating I realized that there's a long history to it. Some would argue that it's a 'sport' and in many ways I would agree with that. Okay, maybe it's more like WWE than a sport but there's no arguing the fact that it's damn entertaining to watch and that the people doing it are characters. I knew I wanted to make a documentary on the subject so I started researching some more on Canadian competitive eaters and that's when I found Pete. Not only was this guy breaking all kinds of records in competitive eating but also when I found out about his struggles with anorexia- that's when I realized I had a film!
AB - Pete is an interesting contradiction. First, we don’t often hear about male anorexics, and he’s one who is now famous for eating and bodybuilding. Why?
GT - That's the million dollar question. I don't know. It's all very strange, extreme and ironic but that's what attracted me to the story and made me want to make this documentary. Some things are not easily answered. I'm not sure how exactly you go from almost dying as a result of anorexia to then a few years later becoming one of the greatest competitive eaters in the world. Bottom line is that Pete overcame his eating disorder in his own unique way and now he's able to shine the spotlight on a few subjects that we don't often hear about in society which I think is great!
AB - You take us into the weird world of competitive eating with its in-fighting, the rivalries, and showmanship. Did you think it was odd?
GT - Look, let's be honest, eating competitions are absurd. The whole idea that someone is going to eat a ridiculous amount of food in a short amount of time doesn't make a lot of sense. Having said that, I have a tremendous amount of respect for those eaters who can do it. Can you eat a 72 ounce steak in 7 minutes and 12 seconds? How about 17 bananas in 45 seconds? One of the questions I raised in the film was 'is competitive eating a sport'? I would have to say yes because it's certainly not something that most normal people can do.
AB – Was he resistant to the process at all?
GT - Maybe at first he was cautious or maybe it was that he didn't know what my intentions were going to be but I think he realized pretty quickly that my only goal was to tell a great story and to make a documentary that was entertaining, quirky, gross, heartwarming, strange, and inspiring. He also realized that to tell the story properly we would have to head into some areas that might be uncomfortable, but he was great...very open and honest, so in that sense I would have to say he was easy to direct.
AB - The Story of Furious Pete has been called one of the top five films to watch at Hot Docs. Wow!
GT - Wow indeed! It's really crazy and surreal to watch something that you've been so closely involved with take on a life of its own. Hot Docs is one of the biggest documentary film festivals in the world so to have my film premiere there, I mean there's no greater thrill. The film has also been accepted into The Okanagan International Film Festival and the International Film Festival South Africa. I also wanted to mention that the doc will air on OMNI TV in the fall so stay tuned for those details.
Anne Brodie - I review films each week on Corus and Rogers TV and for Metro News Canada, AskMen.com and Monsters and Critics. I profile celebrities for ...
Join the Conversation