Fifteen-year-old Orion "The Kid" Krauss shocked the world Friday night, slamming down 4.9 boxes of spicy Russian meat dumplings in 4 minutes, 50 seconds, to defeat 12 much older competitors in the first-ever Pel'Meni Smackdown during Hooligan's "Night of Legends" charity gala at Marlintini's Lounge.

Krauss, a senior at Juneau-Douglas High School, had never eaten Pel'Meni before Friday.

You couldn't tell.

Standing 5-4, weighing 145 pounds and accompanied by his mother in the over-21 establishment, Krauss seemed poised beyond his years as he began the final round - a three-minute, all-you-can-eat blitz. He was the first to finish two boxes and held off a late rally by John "John-John" White, noted MC of Tlingit rappers Northkut Wolf Pack.

Krauss had eaten every dumpling in his third box but two, as time expired. White left several more.

"I felt like I could keep going," Krauss said. "I hadn't eaten that much that day."

"Eating that quickly you don't really notice the (spiciness)," he said. "Afterward, I took a box home and was kind of surprised at how spicy it was."

At $5 a head, "A Night of Legends" raised a little more than $700 to rebuild the dock and swimming float at Cedar Lake in Point Bridget State Park. The smackdown was the marquee event on a night that included performances by Wolf Pack, Phonetic, AstronoMAR, Jake Good and smAcK, and the celebrity judging of Cocktail Challenge II.

The Pel'Meni dumplings were cooked on a single gas burner in the Jovany's kitchen, downstairs from Marlintini's, and at a confidential off-site location near Valley Paint. The dumplings were brought into the bar, parceled into containers, coated in curry and special sauce, then placed in the bar's walk-in-freezer to cool.

The end result was a solid-but-still-spicy dumpling.

"It was like eating gravel," said Garold "Glory Bound" Larue, who despite weighing an impressive 250 pounds was one of three pre-smackdown favorites who was unable to complete two boxes in a timely fashion during the opening round. Jesse "Bad" Guy (260 pounds) and Mark "The Cackus" Rackley (195) were the other two.

That first round was all about speed. The 13 competitors - in groups of four, four and five - were timed on how fast they could down two boxes of Pel'Meni.

Eating in the first group of four, Krauss quickly established the precedent. He was done in 1:55.0. Micah "Mohawk" Sommers was next-fastest at 2:54.9.

"I tried to chew as little as possible before swallowing just to save time," Krauss said.

He was left to wait. Tim Mason turned in a stunning 1:40.83 in the second group of four, and four of the five in the last group finished under 2:23. Mike Carrero (1:55.02) and White (2:00.88) joined Krauss and Mason in the finals.

"I wasn't sure," said Krauss, when asked whether he knew he had qualified. "That last table went down pretty quickly."

During the hour between rounds, Mason drank a giant martini and waited. Krauss watched television on one of the wide-screen TVs on the east wall of the lounge. White performed with Wolf Pack.

The 23-year-old Mason had prepared well. He chowed on Pel'Meni the previous night, contemplating its texture and chewability. The day of the smackdown, he ate scrambled eggs and drank a big pink lemonade with Everclear.

"I had heard a radio article on competitive eating," Mason said. "A reporter tried his hand at it and went up against Kobayashi. He was all proud of himself for eating six hot dogs in a minute or two. And Kobayashi was on 36.

"(The reporter) went over the basics of what it takes to eat competitively: jaw strength; being able to force swallow."

But the hour-long wait didn't sit well with Mason.

"I kind of lost steam," he said.

"It was kind of disgusting," he said, of the cooled meat dumplings. "If you're trying to eat fast, it doesn't go down easy. You have to pull it down with your throat."

In the finals, Krauss was steady from the get-go. With the crowd screaming just a few feet away, he maintained a sizable lead until White's rally in the final 30 seconds. Mason and Carrero were miles behind.

"I finished two," Mason said. "The time was just about up and I tried to put a bunch of the third in my mouth. But it seemed to me like all the other guys were so much further ahead."

When the bell rang at the 3-minute mark, and it became clear that Krauss had the most Pel'Meni in his mouth, all that was left was to see whether he would hurl. That would have been an automatic disqualification.

Krauss faltered briefly and squatted as if he was angling for the trash-bucket, but he held on. As the crowd roared, he hoisted the belt in the air.

"I was pretty confident," he said. "I just kind of crammed it all in my mouth and tried to make sure it didn't fall out."

Best of all, Krauss suffered no ill-effects afterward. The same could not be said for much of the field, though no one heaved during the event.

"It wasn't too bad," Krauss said. "It wasn't too painful."

• Korry Keeker can be reached at 523-2268 or korry.keeker@juneauempire.com