LOBSTER CAME FREE. I鈥橫 NOT SURE IF CHRIS IS GOING TO MAKE IT OVER HERE. WATCH THE CHAOS OF THE HAMPTON BEACH LOBSTER ROLL EATING COMPETITION ON SUNDAY, AND YOU MIGHT NOTICE SOMETHING ISN鈥橳 RIGHT. THE GENTLEMAN AT THE FAR END WHO I WAS KIND OF WATCHING, YOU KNOW, I GLANCED OVER. I COULD TELL VERY QUICKLY. HE TOOK TOOK A PAUSE. HE WAS HAVING TROUBLE GETTING SOMETHING DOWN. A CONTESTANT WAS CHOKING AND SIGNALING FOR HELP. I STARTED SAYING, HE鈥橲 CHOKING. HE鈥橲 CHOKING. AND I COULD TELL PEOPLE WEREN鈥橳 RESPONDING, SO I JUST MOVED FORWARD AND IMMEDIATELY STARTED TO KIND OF GIVE HIM THE HEIMLICH. BUT LOOK CLOSELY AND YOU鈥橪L SEE THAT鈥橲 NOT AN EMT JUMPING IN FIRST TO HELP. THAT鈥橲 GOVERNOR CHRIS SUNUNU. IT WAS CRAZY BECAUSE I WASN鈥橳 SO MUCH THE JUMPING IN AND DOING IT. I MEAN, THAT WAS WILD IN ITSELF, BUT THERE WAS SO MUCH COMMOTION AFTER FIVE COMPRESSIONS AND A LITTLE HELP FROM SOME FIRST RESPONDERS, THAT PIECE OF LOBSTER POPPED RIGHT OUT. SHE WENT RIGHT BACK TO THE CONTEST, WHICH I COULDN鈥橳 BELIEVE HE ATE ANOTHER SEVEN LOBSTER AFTER THAT. RIGHT DOWN THE GULLET. CHRISTIAN MORENO WAS THAT CONTESTANT. LO AND BEHOLD, THE GOVERNOR WAS THE FIRST ONE TO NOTICE WHAT WAS ACTUALLY HAPPENING. PARTICIPATING IN HIS FIRST EATING COMPETITION EVER. I鈥橫 LIKE, ALL RIGHT. LIKE, DON鈥橳 FREAK OUT. YOU鈥橰E GOING TO FINISH THIS. LIKE, YOU鈥橰E GOING TO GET THIS OUT AND YOU鈥橰E GOING TO KEEP GOING. HE SAYS HE DIDN鈥橳 KNOW IT WAS THE GOVERNOR THAT SAVED HIM UNTIL HE PUT HIS GLASSES BACK ON MY COUNTER CAME UP TO ME AND, LIKE, MADE A JOKE AND WAS LIKE, OH, LIKE, I BET NOBODY ELSE CAN SAY THAT THEY鈥橵E GOTTEN A HEIMLICH FROM THE GOVERNOR BEFORE. AND I LOOKED AT HIM AND WAS JUST LIKE, THAT WAS THAT WAS THE GOVERNOR. CHRISTIAN SAYS HE鈥橲 GRATEFUL BECAUSE HE REALIZES THIS COULD HAVE BEEN MUCH WORSE, BUT HE鈥橲 DETERMINED TO BE BACK NEXT YEAR. I WILL BE THERE FOR MY REDEMPTION 100%. HOPEFULLY THE GOVERNOR WILL NOT BE NEEDED. IF HE IS, HE鈥橲 RELIABLE AND YOU COULD SEE CHRISTIAN AND THE GOVERNOR MET UP AFTER THE COMPETITION.
New Hampshire governor saves choking contestant at lobster roll eating competition
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Updated: 12:17 PM CDT Sep 10, 2024
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu sprang into action Sunday after a contestant at the Hampton Beach Lobster Roll Eating Competition began to choke."The gentleman at the far end, who I was kind of watching 鈥� I glanced over, I could tell very quickly, he took, took a pause 鈥� he was having trouble getting something down," Sununu told sister station WMUR.The contestant, Christian Moreno, began to signal for help, tapping on his chest and looking to get the stuck piece of lobster out of his windpipe as he began to struggle to breathe."I started saying, 'He's choking, he's choking,' and I could tell people weren't responding. So I just moved forward and immediately started to kind of give him the Heimlich," Sununu said.In the midst of the chaos, Sununu jumped in, moving to give Moreno four or five compressions before first responders took over and helped free the stuck piece of lobster."It was crazy because it wasn't so much the jumping in and doing it 鈥� I mean, that was wild in itself 鈥� but there was so much commotion," Sununu said, adding that as soon as Moreno's windpipe and throat were clear, he went right back to eating."He went right back to the contest, which I couldn't believe. He ate another seven lobster rolls after that," Sununu said. "Right down the gullet."Moreno said that this was his first eating competition."Lo and behold, the governor was the first one to notice what was actually happening," Moreno said. "(I) was just kind of like, 'All right, like, don't freak out. You're gonna, like, you're gonna get this out, and you're gonna keep going.'"It was not until after he put his glasses back on following the conclusion of the competition when he said he realized it was the governor who had saved him."My counter came up to me and, like, made a joke. And was like, 'Oh, like, I bet nobody else can say that they've gotten the Heimlich from the governor before.' And I looked at him, was just like, that was, that was the governor?" Moreno said.Moreno said that he is grateful as he realizes that this situation could have been much worse. However, he said that he is determined to be back next year."I will be there for my redemption, 100%," Moreno said.
HAMPTON, N.H. — New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu sprang into action Sunday after a contestant at the Hampton Beach Lobster Roll Eating Competition began to choke.
"The gentleman at the far end, who I was kind of watching 鈥� I glanced over, I could tell very quickly, he took, took a pause 鈥� he was having trouble getting something down," Sununu told sister station .
The contestant, Christian Moreno, began to signal for help, tapping on his chest and looking to get the stuck piece of lobster out of his windpipe as he began to struggle to breathe.
"I started saying, 'He's choking, he's choking,' and I could tell people weren't responding. So I just moved forward and immediately started to kind of give him the Heimlich," Sununu said.
In the midst of the chaos, Sununu jumped in, moving to give Moreno four or five compressions before first responders took over and helped free the stuck piece of lobster.
"It was crazy because it wasn't so much the jumping in and doing it 鈥� I mean, that was wild in itself 鈥� but there was so much commotion," Sununu said, adding that as soon as Moreno's windpipe and throat were clear, he went right back to eating.
"He went right back to the contest, which I couldn't believe. He ate another seven lobster rolls after that," Sununu said. "Right down the gullet."
Moreno said that this was his first eating competition.
"Lo and behold, the governor was the first one to notice what was actually happening," Moreno said. "(I) was just kind of like, 'All right, like, don't freak out. You're gonna, like, you're gonna get this out, and you're gonna keep going.'"
It was not until after he put his glasses back on following the conclusion of the competition when he said he realized it was the governor who had saved him.
"My counter came up to me and, like, made a joke. And was like, 'Oh, like, I bet nobody else can say that they've gotten the Heimlich from the governor before.' And I looked at him, was just like, that was, that was the governor?" Moreno said.
Moreno said that he is grateful as he realizes that this situation could have been much worse. However, he said that he is determined to be back next year.
"I will be there for my redemption, 100%," Moreno said.
