Joey Chestnut has shocked the world of competitive eating.
The civil engineering student from San Jose ate an astonishing 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes in the annual Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating competition at Coney Island. (That’s one hot dog every 10.91 seconds, if you’re counting at home.) It’s a new world record, by 6.5 dogs.
Chestnut dethroned six-time defending champ Takeru Kobayashi, nicknamed ‘The Tsunami.’ Kobayashi is the superstar of speed eating: he won the same contest every year since 2001, and in the process brought competitive eating into the big time by sheer force of digestion and charisma. Kobayashi managed a personal best of 63 dogs but couldn’t keep up with Chestnut, who now sports the nickname ‘Jaws.’
The San Francisco Chronicle has the full story.