Joey “Jaws” Chestnut has devoured the competition once again.
Chestnut, the defending champion of Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog-Eating Contest in Coney Island, guzzled 61 franks and buns in 10 minutes to win the competition on Friday.
Matt Stonie, hoping to take a bite out of Chestnut’s championship run, came in second having gobbled 56 hot dogs.
After being proclaimed by the announcer “the once and future champion of the world,” Chestnut told an ESPN interviewer that this year’s tournament was unusually difficult.
“It was just a dog fight the entire time,” he said.
It was Chestnut’s eighth-straight victory at the hot dog eating contest, but didn’t come close to last year’s record number of 69 hot dogs ingested. Chestnut had hoped to best that number by swallowing 70 this time around.
In the women’s competition, two-time defending champion Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas lost to Miko Sudo. Thomas wolfed down 27 and ¾ hot dog buns and franks; Sudo won with 34 dogs.
The tournament was held before an audience of tens of thousands of people and TV cameras, in a carnival-like atmosphere along the seaside.
