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Hot Dog Eating Competitions

category: Food

Hot Dog Eating ContestNathan's Famous Hotdog Eating Contest is held in Coney Island, New York on July 4th each year. The aim of the competition is to eat the most number of hot dogs in 12 minutes. The lenght of the competition was reduced to 10 minutes in 2008.

In recent years, the competition has been dominated by Japanese competitors. Here is a list of past winners and their hot dog totals:


Year Winner Hot Dogs
1984 Birgit Felden 9 ½
1985 Oscar Rodriguez 11 ¾
1986 Don Wolfman 12
1987 Don Wolfman 12
1988 Jay Green 14
1989 Jay Green 13
1990 Michael DeVito 16
1991 Frank Dellarosa 21
1992 Frank Dellarosa 19
1993 Michael DeVito 17
1994 Michael DeVito 20
1995 Edward Krachie 19 ½
1996 Edward Krachie 22
1997 Hirofumi Nakajima 24
1998 Hirofumi Nakajima 19
1999 Steve Keiner 21 ½
2000 Kazutoyo Arai 25 1/8
2001 Takeru Kobayashi 50
2002 Takeru Kobayashi 50 ½
2003 Takeru Kobayashi 44 ½
2004 Takeru Kobayashi 53 ½
2005 Takeru Kobayashi 49
2006 Takeru Kobayashi 53 ¾
2007 Joey Chestnut 66
2008 Joey Chestnut 59
2009 Joey Chestnut 68
2010 Joey Chestnut 54

Takeru KobayashiHot Dog eating Champion

At the 2004 World Hotdog Eating Championships on July 4th, Takeru Kobayashi, also known as "Food Fighter", or "Tsunami", gulped down 53½ hotdogs in just 12 minutes to set a new world record! That works out to more than one dog every 15 seconds. Again in 2006, Takeru broke his own World Record, with a fraction more shoved in, 53¾. He won the event every year between 2001-2006.Australian Hot Dog eating contest In 2007, Kobayashi lost the title in a tight competition to American Joey Chestnut. That ended Kobayashi's 6 year winning streak. Chestnut broke the world record in 2009 when he ate 68 hot dogs (and buns).

What is more impressive, is that Takeru weighs only 131 pounds. The prize for being the world champion, he is awarded a trophy, the championship belt and most importantly a year's supply of hotdogs.

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