Shocker: 16 Year-Old Has The World’s Stinkiest Shoes

For once, being told "your shoes really stink" was what kids wanted to hear at Odor-Eater's 37th Annual Rotten Sneaker Contest where seven kids from across the country went toe-to-toe for the title of stinkiest sneaker.

Sneakers are judged on the conditions of the sole, tongue, heel, toe, laces or velcro, eyelets/grommets, overall condition and most important ODOR, by a panel that includes NASA  Chemical Specialist for NASA space missions, “Master Sniffer” George Aldrich, and Rachel Herz, Ph.D., a professor at Brown University and author of The Scent of Desire and That’s Disgusting.

Contest judge and expert smeller, Doctor Herz explained her criteria for stench champ:

"When I smell these sneakers I’m not looking for just any kind of stink. I'm looking for a smell that when I catch a whiff of it, it hits me with disgust and takes my breath away-literally!"

After a putrid whiff that couldn’t be topped, 16 year-old Mason Bennett took home The Golden Sneaker Trophy, along with $2500, an all expense paid trip to New York City, and what his family was really hoping for, a year's supply of Odor-Eaters products.

Mason said his sneakers became smelly from fishing, playing soccer and his naturally stinky feet. Congratulations to Mason… and condolences to his parents.

Mason’s sneakers will also be enshrined in the Odor-Eaters “Hall of Fumes” in Montpelier, VT.