The 2,350lb tiger striped pumpkin was a couple hundred lbs shy of the world record.
Travis Gienger, of Minnesota, grew the monster pumpkin that scored him just over $16 grand in the nations biggest pumpkin weigh-in in the nation. Gienger named the giant gourd "The Tiger King" (after the Netflix smash series) when it was just a small sprouting pumpkin and it looked striped. He told CNN, "I noticed that it might be orange and white stripes and my brother goes. 'Oh it's 2020. We should name him Tiger King.' And I thought that's great!"
No word on how Carol Baskin feels about the win, but I'd guess she ain't happy.
The Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off officials shared the congrats and pictures on their Facebook page saying, "The Tiger King and proud papa Travis Gienger, this year’s Pumpkin King of Half Moon Bay!#giantpumpkins#bigpumpkins#halfmoonbay#HMBPumpkinFest#miramarevents#gpc#safeway#LongBranchFarms"
The current world record for pumpkins is still held by a Belgium man from the 2016 Giant Pumpkin European Championship in Ludwigsburg, Germany. Mathias Wilemijns pumpkin weighed in at 2,624 pounds. Gienger was just under 300lbs shy.