FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Blowfish Baseball Presents the SC State Fair Annual Celebrity Boiled Peanut Eating Contest
Thursday, October 15th at 5:30 p.m. – Academic Ave Stage (Opening Day of the Fair)
COLUMBIA, SC – Returning media celebrities include our Master of Ceremonies, 97.5 WCOS’s Jonathon Rush, to emcee this fun and hilarious event. (Jonathon was actually the 1st ever winner of the coveted “Golden Peanut” when the contest began).
Celebrity contestants include WIS-TV Sports Director Rick Henry, WVOC’s Kelly Nash, ABC Columbia’s Tyler Ryan, WLTX Sports Director Reggie Anderson, HIS Radio’s Joe Polek, and Liam Van Zant from Palmetto Championship Wrestling. We want to thank Rawl Farms of Lexington County for providing our fresh, homegrown peanuts that will be devoured by the celebrity contestants.
The rules are simple… there are no rules! Just eat as many as you can during the fastest two minutes in sports (well, next to the Kentucky Derby).
A twist in the action this year is the addition of the “Sheriffs Showdown,” which includes two of our Hall of Famers: Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott and Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon, both past winners of the coveted “Golden Peanut Award.” “Team Sheriffs” will take on “Team Media Celebrities” in a fight to the finish. Each contestant will receive a “participant” medal, win or lose and the top Media Celebrity who eats the most boiled pea will win the Golden Peanut Award!
Our celebrity judges include newly inducted Celebrity Boiled Peanut Hall of Fame member and back-to-back winner the past two years, Brian McConchie of WACH-TV, along with SC State Fair General Manager Nancy Smith. Blowie the Blowfish will also be on hand to assist in the “Official Peanut Shell Counting” to proclaim the 2026 Winner!
Will it be “Team Sheriffs” affectionately known as The Peanut Posse or “Team Media Celebs”otherwise known as the Shell-ebrities? It is always a wonderful tradition to kick off the 157th Annual SC State Fair! We would like to thank Colucci Custom Awards for the spectaculary crafted “Golden Peanut Award” that will be presented to the winner of the Media Celebrities who eats the most boiled peanuts in the 2 minutes!