- I'm Sam O'Brien,
I'm the Foods Editor at Atlas Obscura,
and I'm here at the World Grits Festival in South Carolina
to participate in Rolling in the Grits.
(intense music)
For the Rolling in the Grits competition,
the contestants each have 10 seconds
to trap as many grits on their body as possible.
Should I mention the pool and stuff?
(intense music)
So the way the Rolling in the Grits competition works
is they fill a giant kiddie pool with grits,
it's about 550 pounds of dry grits
and over 300 gallons of water,
and each contestant dives right into the pool,
has 10 seconds to trap as much grits
on their body as possible,
and then they're weighed before and after
to determine who trapped the most grits.
- Our first place winner,
coming in with 27 pounds of grits...
(intense music)
(clapping beat)
- The World Grits Festival
is a celebration of all things grits.
There are grits you can eat,
there are grits arts and crafts,
and there are even grits you can jump right into.
It all started in 1986,
when the owner of a local Piggly Wiggly
was ordering a massive amount of grits from his supplier,
and the supplier said something along the lines of
"You order more grits than anybody else."
So he'd asked around to his other suppliers
and they said the same thing.
So, according to the lore,
he determined that St. George consumed more grits per capita
than other town in the world.
They wanted something flashy and fun
to attract people to the festival
so they started the Rolling in the Grits Competition
the very first year the festival kicked off in '86.
I first learned about the contest last year,
and since then I've been a little obsessed.
I'm really just the kind of person
who likes to prepare for something before doing it.
My first step was contacting the world record holder,
Tiffany McGirr,
she trapped 66 pounds of grits on her body,
so I talked to her about her strategies,
and asked her if she had any tips for me.
She was super helpful.
So, last week, before the competition,
I went to my sister's house
to try out a few of those techniques.
(orchestral music)
(air pump whirring)
(grits sloshing)
(tape peeling)
- At first it felt a little weird,
the consistency is definitely something
you're not used to swimming through,
but you get used to it really quickly
and now I'm quite comfortable in here.
It's not so bad.
It's a little unnerving at first,
but you get used to it.
I feel more ready than I did previously,
because I had never dove into a pool of grits before,
but I am a little nervous
at how quickly the 10 seconds went by.
I think I'm definitely gonna need
to act faster than I thought,
but I definitely feel more prepared now.
- So that's why we give you the rules,
to let you know at the beginning
that no type of jewelry,
and nothing sharp on you,
any kinda things that would cut the pool,
anything like that.
Make sure when you come up,
pants that come down,
you got something under that ain't going to
- [Contestant] Show everything.
(contestant laughs)
We don't want to see no moonies or nothing,
so you know, make sure everything's covered.
- [Lady] One year before, I had did it here or whatever
and my pants fell down,
I didn't have nothing.
- So the grits are just about ready,
and now we're eagerly awaiting round one
of Rolling in the Grits,
which is the children's round.
- Everybody down here with the front row seats,
it's the best seats in the house.
(laughter)
You ever been to a Gallagher concert?
- [Audience] Yeah.
- [Announcer] You're about to find out what that means.
(synth pop)
- [Announcer] Let's not prolong this.
Are you ready?
Go!
- [Crowd] One!
Two!
Three!
Four!
Five!
Six!
Seven!
Eight!
Nine!
10!
- [Announcer] Stop!
- [Announcer] Take your time, easy!
Oh, your body got some grits in there.
(laughter)
You full of grits, girl?
(laughter)
Or were you just raised in the south?
- [Contestant] I was raised in the south.
- Trying to psych myself up.
Get in the right mindset, you know?
- [Announcer] All right, all the way from New York City...
(crowd cheers)
Samantha O'Brien!
- [Announcer] From New York City.
Samantha where are you from exactly?
- Brooklyn.
- [Announcer] Brooklyn?
- Yeah.
- [Announcer] Ah, okay, you parked the car in the yard?
(laughter)
- That's Boston!
- [Announcer] And what do you do in New York?
- I'm an editor, I'm actually doing this for work.
- [Announcer] You're an editor?
- Yeah - Oh, for which magazine?
- It's a website called Atlas Obscura.
- [Announcer] Atlas Obscura.
Everybody, make sure you go on that site.
She'll have something on there about this.
She'll probably be on there herself.
(intense music)
- [Announcer] All right. You ready?
- Mm-hmm.
- [Announcer] Let's go!
- [Crowd And Announcer] One!
Two!
Three!
Four!
Five!
- [Announcer] Looks like she's fighting somebody.
(laughing)
- [Announcer] Nine, boogie down brawl.
Ten!
All right, stop.
You'd think she was gonna fight somebody
in the Bronx there, huh?
She said Brooklyn.
Boogie down.
Oh my goodness. Oh my!
(laughing)
Samantha, is that still you?
Is anybody getting this?
Let's be an editor for her.
(laughing)
All right, Samantha!
Give her a hand ladies and gentlemen,
Give her a hand!
You're a star!
(applause)
- It was much thicker than I imagined.
The grits are much heavier.
I thought that I would be swimming in them more
but instead it was more like raking it into my pants.
I think I did pretty good.
Hard to say because they're not announcing the weights,
so it's kind of all a mystery,
but I'm proud of the way I did.
- [Announcer] Come on! Come on! Ohhh.
(suspenseful music)
- [Woman With Hose] You did good! You did good!
- If you'll come around to the back of the stage
when I call your name,
we've got some money for you.
Our first place winner...
coming in with 27 pounds of grits...
27, we're gonna have to refill the pool now with her.
Samantha O'Brien from New York City!
(hip-hop music)
- [Announcer] All of these first timers winning,
isn't it something?
All right lets give her a big hand.
Lets give all our contestants a big hand and our winners!
(dramatic music)
- [Announcer] All right, thank you.
This concludes the Rolling in the Grits.
Now we will be selling the grits.
- Thanks so much for watching.
If you're concerned about food waste, don't worry about it.
A local farmer goes to the festival,
picks up the pool of grits,
takes it home, cuts it open,
and allows his hogs to climb in and chow down.
If you liked this video and would like to see others,
feel free to click 'like' and 'subscribe',
and if you know of any non-eating related food competitions,
we'd love to hear about them.
Comment down below.