It is to competitive eating what Wimbledon is to tennis but yesterday a radical change to America’s biggest speed-eating tournament deprived spectators of a grudge match billed as the “ultimate gluttony smack-down”.
For the first time, Nathan’s Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Competition in New York held a separate event for females. It meant that the world champion, Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, did not face his nemesis, Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas.
“Serena Williams didn’t have to beat Roger Federer to win Wimbledon and we don’t think Sonya Thomas should have to beat Joey Chestnut,” said George Shea, the master of ceremonies.
Two years ago Mr Chestnut, 27, devoured 68 hot dogs with buns in ten minutes — about 20,000 calories — and last year he made $225,000 (£140,000) through speed-eating. Ms Thomas has a personal best of 41 hot dogs, but she beat Mr Chestnut last September at the Buffalo Wing Festival, when she ate 181 chicken wings to his 169. Ms Thomas, 42, a rake-thin Burger King manager, won the women’s event yesterday by eating 40 hot dogs, earning her a $10,000 prize.
“This excitement is similar to when women were given the right to vote,” said Larell Marie Mele, another competitor. ESPN, the television broadcaster that aired the event live, promised a spectacle “as emotional as the last episode of Oprah”.
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Mr Chestnut won the men’s event with 62 hot dogsThe Coney Island dog-off is “our Super Bow, our Masters,” explained a representative for Major League Eating, the organising body.
“The eyes of the world are watching,” he added. “Putting on the Mustard Belt [the men’s trophy] is like putting on the green jacket at the Masters.”
Hunger for success
• The world champion Takeru Kobayashi once ate hot dogs so quickly that they started coming out of his nose. In 2002 he ate 57 cow brains in 10 minutes
• The Frenchman Michel Lotito (Monsieur Mange-Tout) died in 2007 after eating metal and glass for 48 years. He could eat up to 900g of metal every day. He once ate a Cessna 150 aircraft but hard-boiled eggs and bananas made him feel sick
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• Oleg Zhornitskiy, from New York, set a record by consuming eight pints of mayonnaise in eight minutes
Sources: kidzworld.com; NBC Sports; Guinness World Records; oddee.com; International Federation of Competitive Eating