Every year, professional eaters and hot dog enthusiasts alike gather on Coney Island, New York for the chain’s annual Fourth of July hot dog eating contest, in which participants eat as many hot dogs as they can in ten minutes, Bleacher Report shares.
This year, the male winner was Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, who ate a record-breaking 70 hot dogs in ten minutes, finishing his last bite right in the nick of time. Coming in second place was Matt “The Megatoad” Stonie with 53 hot dogs. If you can’t even begin to imagine how much food that actually is, this tweet helpfully breaks it down.
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Joey Chestnut took in this in 10 minutes at Hot Dog Eating Contest: 19,600 calories, 1,260 g of fat, 54,600 mg of sodium & 700 g of protein
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) July 4, 2016
Chestnut had won the contest eight years running until he was beaten by Stonie last year, but he came back with a vengeance this year to reclaim his title and break his own record, which he previously set in 2013 with 69 hot dogs.
“No excuses,” Stonie said after his loss. “Joey came out and brought his A-game, so I can’t take that away from him.”
“It’s his fault,” said Chestnut, who credited Stonie’s win last year for his own success this year. “He beat me last year and awoke the sleeping giant. He made me go back to the drawing board and relearn my body. And I did it, and I’m happy.”
The women’s winner this year was defending champion Miki Sudo, who scarfed down 38.5 hot dogs to retain her title. Following her was Sonya “Black Widow” Thomas, who managed 34 hot dogs.
Both Chestnut and Sudo will receive $10,000 for their efforts, and Stonie and Thomas will take home $5,000. The third and fourth place finishers in both the men’s and women’s divisions will receive $2,500 and $1,500, respectively.
This first appeared at Womanista.
