Odor-Eaters sniffs out brand awareness in New York with stinky sneaker contest

NEW YORK — This year seven participants from across the country worked hard to stink up their shoes for a chance to win the national title at the Odor-Eaters Rotten Sneaker Contest held at Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! Times Square. The regional winners admitted to wearing no socks, stepping in slop of all sources and even claimed it was just their “sweet girly essence,” but only one pair of sneakers out-stunk them all and they belonged to 12-year old, Connor, from Eagle River, Alaska.



For more than 40 years, the Odor-Eaters Rotten Sneaker contest has celebrated kids’ active lives by giving kids from all over the U.S. an opportunity to show off their foul-smelling sneakers for a chance to win a trip to New York for the national competition. This event is the ultimate test – the worst of the worst.

This year's Odor-Eaters Rotten Sneaker contest professional judges included NASA “Master Sniffer” George Aldrich, chemical specialist for NASA space missions and Rachel Herz, an expert and author on the psychology of smell. The newest judges, Greg Mocker from WPIX 11 and Buck Wolf from the Huffington Post, were also on hand for this year's sniff test.



The grand prize winner was awarded $2,500. The champion confessed that his sneakers got dirty and smelly because he steps into a lot of animal poop on his aunt’s farm. He also loves fishing and camping which gets him into a lot of stinky situations.