San Jose-born Joey Chestnut celebrated his victory in Coney Island for the eleventh time in twelve years
. San Jose resident and competitive eater extraordinaire Joey Chestnut won the win on Wednesday at Nathan's famous Hot Dog Food Contest in New York, 74 francs in 10 minutes for a new world record
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For the eleventh time in 12 years, Chestnuts ate more hot dogs and their rolls than any other competitor and beat runner-up Carmen Cincotti, who was 26 on the day of the Fourth of July competition, by 10 francs
"I was not bothered by the heat or by the humidity," Chestnut said Wednesday afternoon after the competition from his hotel room, where he had just taken a cool shower
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"I expected to be right here," he said, eating 74 francs, admitting he was "a bit lazy in the end."
But the victory did not come easily. At one point, chestnut said a dog got stuck in his throat.
"I stayed calm," he said. "I just continued"
And originally, the counters wrongly said that Chestnut ate 64 hot dogs, apparently unaware from the start that he was pulling from two plates at the same time. But a review finally showed that the final balance was 74.
The mess distracted Chestnut while he was chewing, he said, but "in the end, everything worked out
"I'm sure they'll make changes next year to make sure it does not happen again," he said.
The 34-year-old former site manager became a full-time eater, saying he was preparing for fasting in the days leading up to the competition - on Tuesday he was out on the water with lemon, amino acids and a few caramel
A few weeks ago, Chestnut used a heat wave in San Jose to eat at the hot temperatures, which are equivalent to the summers on the East Coast, though he could not reproduce the stickiness
He had been in New York since last Thursday, he said, adjusting to the oppressive humidity.
That seemed to pay off on Wednesday, when Chestnut left his 20 challengers in the 102nd year of the competition.
While people populated Coney Island with hot dog hats, Chestnut alternately changed two hot dogs and two buns, which were dipped in water for the duration of the competition, to get into a steady rhythm during the 10-minute endurance test
"When I go on stage to eat hot dogs," Chestnut said to ESPN, who broadcast the contest, "I will not do it to be third or fourth." Hot dogs are not the only food the professional eater is known to eat in large quantities. According to Major League Food, the body that oversees professional food contests, Chestnut once ate nearly 13 pounds of fried asparagus in 10 minutes and 55 glazed donuts in the same amount of time. In 2013, he inhaled 141 hard-boiled eggs in eight minutes
After defeating Takeru Kobayashi in 2007 for the title of top dog and winning the coveted Mustard Yellow Belt, Chestnut remained unbeaten for eight years. His only loss came in 2015 in the hands of his compatriot Matt Stonie from San Jose, but Chestnut won the 2016 victory and has since maintained champion status
Stonie placed outside the top three on Wednesday, but promised in a tweet that he should do better next year
For the women, Miki Sudo defended her title and became the third competitor who won five titles in ten minutes and lost 37 francs. Both Chestnut and Sudo will take home a prize of $ 10,000 for first place.
But first, Chestnut said, he plans to rest a bit before returning to San Jose.
"I'll take a nap," he said shortly after 5pm. His time. "I should be good by 23 clock."