South Florida Man Wins Live Cockroach-Eating Contest, Then Suddenly Dies

MIAMI (AP) — A contestant in a roach-eating contest who downed dozens of live bugs and worms collapsed and died shortly after winning the contest in South Florida, authorities say.

About 30 contestants ingested the insects during Friday night's contest at Ben Siegel Reptile Store in Deerfield Beach about 40 miles north of Miami. The grand prize was a python.

Edward Archbold, 32, of West Palm Beach became ill shortly after the contest ended and collapsed outside the store, according to a Broward Sheriff's Office statement released Monday. He was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. Authorities were awaiting results of an autopsy to determine a cause of death.

"Unless the roaches were contaminated with some bacteria or other pathogens, I don't think that cockroaches would be unsafe to eat," said Michael Adams, professor of entomology at the University of California at Riverside. He said he has never heard of someone dying after consuming roaches.

"Some people do have allergies to roaches," he added, "but there are no toxins in roaches or related insects."

"We feel terribly awful," said store owner Ben Siegel, who added that Archbold did not appear to be sick before the contest.

"He looked like he just wanted to show off and was very nice," Siegel said, adding that Archbold was "the life of the party."

A statement from Siegel's attorney said all the participants signed waivers "accepting responsibility for their participation in this unique and unorthodox contest."

Yes, the hissing cockroaches really do hiss, mainly when disturbed. It's definitely audible, about as loud as you can imaging a 3-inch hisser hissing.

As far as leaving the roaches outside, I had put them outside just because I was getting tired of having them in the house. I figured the kids would notice and drag the bin back inside at some point. A week or more passed, however, and then we had a cold snap. By then, I guess, everyone had had enough of the vermin.

A few years later, after moving to another house, we found an ex-cockroach inside an old sofa. This was Bertha (as big as her name), who had gone missing before her siblings met their demise.

You buy the propaganda that animals can not be bad and that humnans are the problem .This is from the same scientists that brought us the hoax of global warming. guess you belive global warming, Peta, greenpeace. don’t make me laugh. roaches are filthy, bacteria is ALL around us , EVERYWHERE.

Lol no I don't buy the propaganda . Did you know that the UN wants us to give up producing beef and replace it with insects ? People all over the world eat insects (I'm not one of them . I happen to like my steak )

Did you happen to look at the roaches ? Have you ever seen a roach like that running around anyone's house or garbage cans ? NOPE cause they are NOT native to the United States . The roach he ate is native to South America . That means it was raised in a lab and fed on fruits and grains . A roach eating garbage and running through filth is going to carry all kinds of bacteria ... one lab raised isn't going to be carrying the same thing .

If you take cows and feed them grain they are safe to eat . If you take cows and feed them sheep parts you get meat that can give you mad cow disease .
Pigs raised on slop have trichinosis , pigs raised in clean pens and fed grain do not .

Ever see a soldier with a Jungle Expert patch ? They had to eat some pretty gross stuff to earn it out in the jungles of Panama .
Ever eat anything with red dye in it ? It's produced in a lab and it comes from a BUG . So if you have ever eaten anything with artificial red coloring you have eaten a bug.

The guy who ate the roach did not die from any bacteria he got from that roach . He died to quickly .
He could have had an allergic reaction to it just as some have reactions to eating a peanut . If he swallowed it whole without killing it there is even the possibility that it could have perforated something on the way down as this genus of roach does burrow (that's his stupidity). Doesn't mean the roach was infected with anything. Is he dumb to eat such things for a contest ? Yes .

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