Are you tired of not being able to gamble on your favorite sporting events? If so, why not drop a few bucks on the hottest new gambling-friendly sport: the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. In the UK, officials are campaigning to boycott products made by literal monkey labor. If you miss going through security at the airport, why not head over to Taiwan, where a recent contest allows 60 'lucky' participants to relive the experience of going on an international flight... to nowhere. Join Ben Bowlin for more Strange News Daily, and share your stories on Twitter: #strangedaily.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Strange News Daily. It's a production of my heart media.
In a world full of bizarre events, unsolved mysteries, and
a billion stories from all corners of the globe, some
(00:22):
news gets lost in the shuffle. This is your gateway
to the stories on the fringe of the mainstream map.
These are your dispatches in the dark. I'm Ben Bolan,
and this is the Strange News Daily, our first story today.
(00:45):
Who among us has not, at one point or another
thought competitive hot dog eating would be way more interesting
if I could put a little money on it. Well,
if you're one of those people, you're in luck. New
Jersey gamblers can now legally place bets on the classic
Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest. It's a thoroughly American tradition,
(01:11):
and this is the first time licensed bookies in any
state have been authorized to offer gambling on the fourth
of July tradition. One of the outfits that's taking bets
on the hot dog eating contest in New Jersey is
Draft Kings. This has a unique distinction. Its odds are
being made by the man who first book odds on
(01:32):
the hot dog event two decades ago. The head of
Sports book One, Johnny Avello is a longtime bookmaker who
left his position as the sports book director at Win
Las Vegas Casino to join Draft Kings in eighteen. He
says he first made odds on the Nathan's Hot Dog
Eating Contest after he did the same thing for awards
(01:54):
shows like the Academy Awards the Oscars back in the
nineteen nineties. He states, I was first ever to make
odds on the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in the
late nineties, so I'm no stranger to the competition. There
was no betting on it. It was for entertainment purposes only,
but it was good for coffee table conversation, and the
media picked up on it and we all had a
(02:14):
lot of fun with it. In the lead up to
the competition, they listed Joey Chestnut, who is the winner
of twelve of the last thirteen iterations of the contest,
as a huge favorite. Of course, the pandemic had affected
the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contests. There was a new venue,
a controlled environment with air conditioning, no fans or sun
(02:37):
or possible inclement weather issues. The competitors were all socially
distanced and separated by plexiglass. There are also fewer competitors
than usual. This time there were six instead of the
usual double digits of competitors in attendance. Now, don't go
fully hog wild, or should I say, don't go fully
(02:57):
hot dog wild. There are limitations on the kind of
bets that you can make. New Jersey authorities have stipulated
there can't be any live betting on the event, and
the odds can only be on events directly tied to
the competition, So, for example, you couldn't bet on the
color of shoes that a particular guy would be wearing. Still,
(03:19):
despite these restrictions, adding betting to the contest is a
smart move. It makes it another event to fill up
the vacuum that was left by the sudden halt of
pretty much every other major American sport over the past
four months. Avello says, surprisingly for us, things have gone
much better than anticipated during the pandemic. We struggled for
(03:40):
content early on, but we were able to find some
things that stuck that our players seem to like. We're
doing fine. Our second story today is literally monkey business.
(04:02):
That's right. Carry Simmons, the fiancee of Prime Minister Boris Johnson,
has welcomed pledges by four different British retailers to stop
selling coconuts that use get this monkey labor in their production.
Carry Simmons is also urging other retailers to do the same.
Here's what happened and investigation by Peter Asia showed the
(04:25):
use of pigtailed macaws to harvest coconuts. The products made
using this labor include some brands of coconut water and
coconut milk. Tesco, which is Britain's largest retailer, said it's
coconut products are not made using labor from monkeys. Carry
Simmons is a conservationist and she was responding to a
(04:46):
report in the UK paper The Telegraph that highlighted the
use of these monkeys taken from the wild and Thailand
and used on farms to scurry up the trees and
harvest coconuts. Simon's got her message out via social media,
tweeting quote glad Weight, Rose, co Op, Boots and Okado
have vowed not to sell products that use monkey labor,
(05:07):
while Morrison's has already removed these from its stores. She
continued to call on other supermarkets to stop selling the products,
and she named three major chains and now this tweet
no longer exists or the account has been suspended. As Though,
which is owned by parent company Walmart, said it was
(05:28):
removing two specific brands, aeroy D and Chaco, from the
sales floor while it was investigating the report along with
its suppliers. In a statement, the company said, we expect
our suppliers to hold up the highest production standards at
all times, and we will not tolerate any forms of
animal abuse in our supply chain. A spokesperson for Sainsbury
(05:49):
weighed in as well, saying the company is actively reviewing
as product ranges and also investigating the issue along with
the help of Peter UK. The spokesperson for Tesco put
a fine point on this, saying we don't tolerate these
practices and would remove any product from sale that is
known to have used monkey labor during production. Somewhere in
(06:11):
the world. This monkey business continues our third story today.
Some people hate flying. Some people love it, not just
being in the plane, but the whole experience. Believe it
(06:34):
or not, there are some people who miss going through
security and waiting in line so bad that they're willing
to go into an airport, get on a plane and
just sit there. If you're one of these people. If
your favorite part of taking any trip is actually going
through the airport process, then you may be in luck.
(06:57):
An airport based in Taiwan has recreated the experience of
traveling to an airport to check in for a flight,
go through security, and board the aircraft, just as if
you're about to hit the friendly skies the catches that
you don't I should mention the Taipei Songshan Airport began
(07:17):
offering passengers a trip to nowhere earlier this month, and
they received about seven thousand interested guests when they put
the word out. Out of these seven thousand, the airport
only chose sixty from the pool, and these sixty lucky
I guess people went on half day airplane trips. Uh.
(07:38):
These trips will continue for the next couple of weeks.
Here's what happens. If you're one of the lucky ducks
selected for this weird recreation of the flight experience, you
will receive a fake boarding pass and then you'll continue
through the actual security process you would encounter if you
were taking an international flight. Taiwan has encouraged its citizens
(08:01):
not to travel internationally at all unless there's a dire
case of emergency. Once these guests are through security, and
we can only hope that they passed security, they gather
at their gate and they wait to board an airplane
from China Airlines that's Taiwan's major carrier. Uh. Think of
it kind of like Taiwan's version of Delta. And actually
(08:24):
the island is considered renaming this company during the pandemic
because it closely resembles the Chinese airline Air China. Of course,
the people recreating this flight, we're not able to recreate
the full pre pandemic experience. They had to practice safe
social distancing, they had to wear mandated masks when they
(08:45):
talked with flight attendants, and they admired the new safety
measures the airport had installed due to the coronavirus Taiwan,
we should also mention it was one of the places
that reacted swiftly to the outbreak of COVID nineteen. They
close their borders and proactively tested people. It's a self
governed island off of mainland China, and despite its pretty
(09:09):
large population, it's only had seven confirmed coronavirus related deaths.
So let us know, would you participate in a contest
that ultimately resulted and you going in a plane and
just sitting there for a while. It sounds crazy at first,
but to be honest, I'd consider it. That's all for now.
(09:34):
We've been asking you to chime out with suggestions for
stories you think your fellow listeners should know about. To
hit us with your best or worst bad dad jokes,
as well as your personal experience with COVID nineteen, the
ongoing protests, or anything else strange happening in your neck
of the Global Woods. Let us know tag hashtag strange
daily on Twitter, or reach out to me directly. I'm
at Ben Bowling hsw on Twitter or at Ben Bolan
(09:57):
on Instagram. Thanks as always to our super producer Dylan Fagan,
our research associate Sam T. Garden, and most importantly, thanks
to you. I'm Ben Bullin. We'll see you tomorrow. Until then,
stay strange.
Strange News Daily. It's a production of my heart media.
In a world full of bizarre events, unsolved mysteries, and
a billion stories from all corners of the globe, some
(00:22):
news gets lost in the shuffle. This is your gateway
to the stories on the fringe of the mainstream map.
These are your dispatches in the dark. I'm Ben Bolan,
and this is the Strange News Daily, our first story today.
(00:45):
Who among us has not, at one point or another
thought competitive hot dog eating would be way more interesting
if I could put a little money on it. Well,
if you're one of those people, you're in luck. New
Jersey gamblers can now legally place bets on the classic
Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest. It's a thoroughly American tradition,
(01:11):
and this is the first time licensed bookies in any
state have been authorized to offer gambling on the fourth
of July tradition. One of the outfits that's taking bets
on the hot dog eating contest in New Jersey is
Draft Kings. This has a unique distinction. Its odds are
being made by the man who first book odds on
(01:32):
the hot dog event two decades ago. The head of
Sports book One, Johnny Avello is a longtime bookmaker who
left his position as the sports book director at Win
Las Vegas Casino to join Draft Kings in eighteen. He
says he first made odds on the Nathan's Hot Dog
Eating Contest after he did the same thing for awards
(01:54):
shows like the Academy Awards the Oscars back in the
nineteen nineties. He states, I was first ever to make
odds on the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in the
late nineties, so I'm no stranger to the competition. There
was no betting on it. It was for entertainment purposes only,
but it was good for coffee table conversation, and the
media picked up on it and we all had a
(02:14):
lot of fun with it. In the lead up to
the competition, they listed Joey Chestnut, who is the winner
of twelve of the last thirteen iterations of the contest,
as a huge favorite. Of course, the pandemic had affected
the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contests. There was a new venue,
a controlled environment with air conditioning, no fans or sun
(02:37):
or possible inclement weather issues. The competitors were all socially
distanced and separated by plexiglass. There are also fewer competitors
than usual. This time there were six instead of the
usual double digits of competitors in attendance. Now, don't go
fully hog wild, or should I say, don't go fully
(02:57):
hot dog wild. There are limitations on the kind of
bets that you can make. New Jersey authorities have stipulated
there can't be any live betting on the event, and
the odds can only be on events directly tied to
the competition, So, for example, you couldn't bet on the
color of shoes that a particular guy would be wearing. Still,
(03:19):
despite these restrictions, adding betting to the contest is a
smart move. It makes it another event to fill up
the vacuum that was left by the sudden halt of
pretty much every other major American sport over the past
four months. Avello says, surprisingly for us, things have gone
much better than anticipated during the pandemic. We struggled for
(03:40):
content early on, but we were able to find some
things that stuck that our players seem to like. We're
doing fine. Our second story today is literally monkey business.
(04:02):
That's right. Carry Simmons, the fiancee of Prime Minister Boris Johnson,
has welcomed pledges by four different British retailers to stop
selling coconuts that use get this monkey labor in their production.
Carry Simmons is also urging other retailers to do the same.
Here's what happened and investigation by Peter Asia showed the
(04:25):
use of pigtailed macaws to harvest coconuts. The products made
using this labor include some brands of coconut water and
coconut milk. Tesco, which is Britain's largest retailer, said it's
coconut products are not made using labor from monkeys. Carry
Simmons is a conservationist and she was responding to a
(04:46):
report in the UK paper The Telegraph that highlighted the
use of these monkeys taken from the wild and Thailand
and used on farms to scurry up the trees and
harvest coconuts. Simon's got her message out via social media,
tweeting quote glad Weight, Rose, co Op, Boots and Okado
have vowed not to sell products that use monkey labor,
(05:07):
while Morrison's has already removed these from its stores. She
continued to call on other supermarkets to stop selling the products,
and she named three major chains and now this tweet
no longer exists or the account has been suspended. As Though,
which is owned by parent company Walmart, said it was
(05:28):
removing two specific brands, aeroy D and Chaco, from the
sales floor while it was investigating the report along with
its suppliers. In a statement, the company said, we expect
our suppliers to hold up the highest production standards at
all times, and we will not tolerate any forms of
animal abuse in our supply chain. A spokesperson for Sainsbury
(05:49):
weighed in as well, saying the company is actively reviewing
as product ranges and also investigating the issue along with
the help of Peter UK. The spokesperson for Tesco put
a fine point on this, saying we don't tolerate these
practices and would remove any product from sale that is
known to have used monkey labor during production. Somewhere in
(06:11):
the world. This monkey business continues our third story today.
Some people hate flying. Some people love it, not just
being in the plane, but the whole experience. Believe it
(06:34):
or not, there are some people who miss going through
security and waiting in line so bad that they're willing
to go into an airport, get on a plane and
just sit there. If you're one of these people. If
your favorite part of taking any trip is actually going
through the airport process, then you may be in luck.
(06:57):
An airport based in Taiwan has recreated the experience of
traveling to an airport to check in for a flight,
go through security, and board the aircraft, just as if
you're about to hit the friendly skies the catches that
you don't I should mention the Taipei Songshan Airport began
(07:17):
offering passengers a trip to nowhere earlier this month, and
they received about seven thousand interested guests when they put
the word out. Out of these seven thousand, the airport
only chose sixty from the pool, and these sixty lucky
I guess people went on half day airplane trips. Uh.
(07:38):
These trips will continue for the next couple of weeks.
Here's what happens. If you're one of the lucky ducks
selected for this weird recreation of the flight experience, you
will receive a fake boarding pass and then you'll continue
through the actual security process you would encounter if you
were taking an international flight. Taiwan has encouraged its citizens
(08:01):
not to travel internationally at all unless there's a dire
case of emergency. Once these guests are through security, and
we can only hope that they passed security, they gather
at their gate and they wait to board an airplane
from China Airlines that's Taiwan's major carrier. Uh. Think of
it kind of like Taiwan's version of Delta. And actually
(08:24):
the island is considered renaming this company during the pandemic
because it closely resembles the Chinese airline Air China. Of course,
the people recreating this flight, we're not able to recreate
the full pre pandemic experience. They had to practice safe
social distancing, they had to wear mandated masks when they
(08:45):
talked with flight attendants, and they admired the new safety
measures the airport had installed due to the coronavirus Taiwan,
we should also mention it was one of the places
that reacted swiftly to the outbreak of COVID nineteen. They
close their borders and proactively tested people. It's a self
governed island off of mainland China, and despite its pretty
(09:09):
large population, it's only had seven confirmed coronavirus related deaths.
So let us know, would you participate in a contest
that ultimately resulted and you going in a plane and
just sitting there for a while. It sounds crazy at first,
but to be honest, I'd consider it. That's all for now.
(09:34):
We've been asking you to chime out with suggestions for
stories you think your fellow listeners should know about. To
hit us with your best or worst bad dad jokes,
as well as your personal experience with COVID nineteen, the
ongoing protests, or anything else strange happening in your neck
of the Global Woods. Let us know tag hashtag strange
daily on Twitter, or reach out to me directly. I'm
at Ben Bowling hsw on Twitter or at Ben Bolan
(09:57):
on Instagram. Thanks as always to our super producer Dylan Fagan,
our research associate Sam T. Garden, and most importantly, thanks
to you. I'm Ben Bullin. We'll see you tomorrow. Until then,
stay strange.
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