I just don't get the problem. He's in trouble for his mates betting on him eating a pie? The bookies shouldn't have offered such a ridiculous bet taking the [oops] out of him in the first place, they deserved to be screwed over. If they offered odds on me doing something like that then I'd do the same.
Yeah, if he hadn't eaten the pie the bookies would have happily taken the stake money and we wouldn't have heard anything about it, if local people are putting money on it, the bookies are stupid and deserve to lose.