A Guy in Florida Died After Winning a Cockroach and Worm Eating Contest

On Friday night, the Ben Siegel Reptile store in Deerfield Beach, Florida held a contest that sounds HORRIBLE.

About 30 people competed to see who could eat the most LIVE COCKROACHES and LIVE WORMS.  The grand prize winner took home a python.

32-year-old Edward Archbold of West Palm Beach, Florida won the contest after eating a reported 30 cockroaches, 100 millipedes, and 30 worms.  But after he won, he started feeling sick . . . then he started VOMITING UP the bugs, and collapsed.

He was rushed to the hospital and declared DEAD.

His official cause of death hasn't been named.  And yes, we're pretty sure it was, ya know, eating tons of bugs.  But experts say that's rare, since all those insects ARE safe to eat unless he had an allergy.  No other contestants got sick.

The store says they feel terrible about what happened.  All of the participants in the contest signed a waiver accepting responsibility for whatever happened in the contest.

(The Smoking Gun / Gawker / AP)