Tim Janus, Competitive Eater and Amazing Race Alum, Dead at 49

So, it comes as no surprise that he was inducted into the Major League Eating Hall of Fame in 2016. 

"I tell people that I learned a lot about life by eating hot dogs, and I mean it,” he said at the event. “If you care about something and work hard at it, it makes you better."

But competitive eating wasn’t his only passion. Indeed, Janus had a reputation of trying everything life had to offer. 

“Among other adventures, he tracked crocodiles and snakes in the wild in Australia, milked a cow, and appeared as a television weatherman on an evening news broadcast,” Major League Eating continued. “He was a talented whistler, with an eclectic repertoire ranging from Neil Diamond to the Hartford Whalers fight song, in his opinion the best team song ever.”

Plus, he dominated competition shows whenever he got the chance.

In addition to finishing in eighth place on The Amazing Race, he appeared on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in 2009, where he won $100,000, before becoming the largest winner in the history of the television game show Cash Cab, raking in $1,600 in 2011. 

Before his death, Janus was also accepted into the United States Foreign Service, which he hoped would mark a new chapter in his life. However, after receiving his assignment, Major League Eating shared that “his plans to serve abroad were disrupted by his illness.”

But while he may have faced health challenges in his later years, his colleagues will always remember him for his amazing outlook on life.

“Tim followed his own passions and dreams without regard for the pressures or expectations of society,” Janus’s former roommate and fellow competitive eater Crazy Legs Conti told Major League Eating. “He was unique, brilliant and beloved by his friends. He lived his life on his own terms.”