Order Eaters Rotten Sneakers Contest 2018

Do you have bad smelling feet? I bet they don’t smell as bad as Hunter Hamm’s feet. He is this year’s Order Eaters Rotten Sneakers contest winner. If anyone knows how to pinpoint the stinkiest, smelliest scents, it’s Dr. Rachel Herz. She is a neuroscientist and leading world expert on the psychological science of smell. That is why The Hype magazine took a moment to talk to her about this year context winner and how she sniffs out different smells in the annual contest. Dr Herz has been conducting research on the sense of smell, emotion, perception, motivated behavior and cognition since 1990. She has several books including “The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell,” which was selected as a finalist for the 2009 AAAS Prize for Excellence in Science Books and “That’s Disgusting: Unraveling the Mysteries of Repulsion.” Her latest book “Why You Eat What You Eat: The Science Behind Our Relationship with Food,” explores how our senses and psychology govern our perception of food, and the experiences and consequences of eating. Now she tackles the world of stinky feet and shares with us how Hunter Hamm has created a foul pair of sneakers, earning him the stankiest contest winner of the year.

How sensitive are our noses when it comes to foul smells?

Well they’re pretty sensitive! They’re sensitive to every kind of odor good and bad

What are some of the ingredients for a disgusting smelling sneaker?

In my opinion, there are certain smells. So, everyone has sort of different smells that really are unpleasant to them and also knowing where the smell is coming from. So, in this case, knowing it’s coming from a rotten stinky sneaker makes whatever I’m smelling even worse and for me Hunter had what I like to call the trifecta of terrible, which is the fact that he had the funky kids sweaty smell. He also had a rotted fish smell from all the fishing that he did in them and a chicken poop smell, because they had a chicken coop. He really maxed out on the disgusting for me.

Tell us more about the contest.

This is the 43rd year of the contest and this year, we only had six contestants a little bit less than normal, but that’s okay by me. The kids come from around the country. They’ve won their regional rotten sneaker contest and then they come to New York City. They have usually done this contest earlier in the year or sometimes in the year before at state fairs often in the summer and the stinkiest sneakers and the stinkiest kids come to New York in March for the smell off and Hunter is this year’s winner.

Hunter, how did your sneakers get dirty and smelly?

Well I love to go fishing and I work with slimy fish eggs. I mowed the lawn and I went bowling in them and I went in the chicken coop. I played around in my yard and that’s how I got so dirty.

Do your feet usually stink?

Yeah, they stink!

Where can people find more information?

People can find more information by going to odor-eaters.com to find everything they want to know about the contest and also about making your feet smell better after they’ve been smelling really rotten. People can also go to my website Rachelherz.com to find out more about me.

SHARE ON FACEBOOK SHARE ON TWITTER

Tags: DCypher Studios

About the Author

David Morales is the Executive Editor of The Hype magazine. A graduate of Eastern Michigan University, David has a background as an artist manager, writer, blogger, drummer, and in the human services industry. He is passionate about helping others, learning and has a deep empathy for the creative process. You can follow his social media @dcypherstudios