Another Fourth of July has passed and with it, so has another Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest from Coney Island. Joey Chestnut once again walked away the champion, downing 61 hot dogs in ten minutes to win his eighth title.
In fact, not much was different this year than last year. Chestnut won, Matt Stonie placed second with 56, and exiled champ Kobayashi was off eating elsewhere. Of course, It was the one big difference that will mark this year’s event down as very special. From ESPN:
The main course? That came just before the contest, when the 30-year-old Chestnut dropped to his knee on the event stage, just steps from the beach, and proposed to longtime girlfriend and fellow competitive eater Neslie Ricasa, who said yes.
Elsewhere at the event, there was a bit of a shakeup in the women’s division when Sonia “The Black Widow” Thomas fell to Miki Sudo:
While it was more of the same for the men, there was a new women’s champion as Miki Sudo shocked three-time defending champion Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas by wolfing down 34 franks and buns in 10 minutes.
The 46-year-old Thomas, a native of South Korea who now lives in Alexandria, Virginia, was able to devour only 27 3/4 hot dogs and buns. She scarfed down a record 45 dogs and buns last year. (via)
That’s a lot of hot dogs. And watching them go down is now even more disgusting thanks to the Sports Science folks over at ESPN. Using a special hot dog stuffer and replica of the human body, John Brenkus proceeds to show us what 69 hot dogs looks like when stuffed inside of a human body all at once. The results are not pretty.
The video is on page two because it likes to keep auto-playing, but you’re going to want to check it out. It’s probably the most entertaining portion from what I saw of the contest yesterday.
(Via ESPN / Huffington Post)
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(Via ESPN)