October 6th, 2012, there was a roach eating contest at the Ben Siegel Reptile Store, in Deerfield Beach, Florida. For beating the other contestants in eating more bugs (worms and roaches and other insects) the most, the prize winner would win one of four female Ball pythons, of which was valued at 850 dollars.
The winner of the contest was Edward Archbold, of West Palm Beach. Once Edward won the contest, he started throwing up, and then collapsed. Edward was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. None of the other contestants fell ill though.
According to his autopsy, he was not on any drugs. Edward died of "asphyxia due to choking and aspiration of gastric contents". His airway was blocked by roach body parts, which prevented him from breathing. The medical examiner stated, "There is a flap called the epiglottis that is supposed to stop objects from going into the lungs, Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work. In the video you could see him trying to swallow and breathe at the same time. We can’t do both simultaneously.".
In an article by the miami herald, it was stated that he had eaten 2 ounces of meal worms, 35 horn worms, and a bucketful of discoid roaches. A Floridian entomologist stated that the discoid roaches were a large insect to eat. "When you bite into it, you're going to get a gush of fat bodies, the gut content and the hemolymph-essentially insect blood. As you bite down, that's going to put pressure on the exoskeleton, so when it's ruptured, it's going to squirt.".
The bugs were the same sterile food given to the reptiles. The autopsy also concluded that Edward did not have an allergic reaction to the bugs. This was also the store's first bug eating contest.
Edward worked at Busch Canvas & Interiors for four years prior to his death. He was described as a "Smart good guy who was really good friends to people."
The store owner, Ben Siegel, stated, "We feel terribly awful. He looked like he just wanted to show off and was very nice. [Edward] was the life of the party.". Despite the accidental death, all the contestants signed a waiver accepting responsibility for their participation in the contest.
Edward's funeral was at St. Maurice Catholic Church, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He was later cremated.
As for the reptile store, it appears to have closed sometime in 2015. The last review on yelp was from 2015, and most were not very good overall. The store had an instagram account with pictures dating before the accident, and there are still photos that advertise the event that Archbold died at. Their last post was from August of 2018, where they were selling their reptiles.
In 2015, Ben Siegel was arrested for abusing a reptile on January 2nd. Apparently, he had put the bearded dragon in his mouth, then tossed it into the air and swung it around several times. He then hit people inside the store with the animal, before squirting them with Gatorade. He was held on bond for 4500 dollars, and faced two charges of, "touch or strike battery and one count of causing death, pain, and suffering to an animal". It is unknown if the reptile died. Siegel had been arrested before, with three other battery charges from 2014, and a possession of coke from Christmas 2014. It is unknown what the ultimate result of these charges were.
But it doesn't stop there. Sometime around 2017 (according to the first Yelp Review), they opened up a new shop in Palmetto Bay, Florida, calling themselves the Miami Reptile Company. They have a facebook page where they post reptiles every day that they are holding for auction. The auctions are held on the website BSRAuctions.com
[SOURCES]
https://www.usatoday.com/story/ondeadline/2012/10/08/roach-eating-contest-death/1621507/
https://www.jacksonville.com/article/20121127/NEWS/801242825
https://www.jacksonville.com/news/crime/2012-10-09/story/florida-man-dies-after-winning-roach-eating-contest
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/98524588/edward-archbold
https://www.miamiherald.com/latest-news/article1944869.html
https://www.yelp.com/biz/ben-siegel-reptiles-deerfield-beach-2?sort_by=date_desc
https://www.instagram.com/bensiegelreptiles/?hl=en
https://www.yelp.com/biz/miami-reptile-company-palmetto-bay?sort_by=date_asc
https://www.facebook.com/miareptiles/?ref=page_internal
https://bsrauctions.com/
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