"joey chestnut" news and stories

A new competitive eating world record was set over the weekend when eater Joey Chestnut out-ate the competition by eating 49 grilled cheese sandwiches in 10 minutes. Sonya Thomas and Pat Bertoletti tied for second place with 37 sandwiches each. All three passed the former record of 36.5 sandwiches.

There is a video available here of the event, which was held at the Arena Football Fan Fest in Las Vegas. It is a fascinating sight - if mildly disgusting - for anyone who has never witnessed a professional eating competition. The crown cheers on the eaters while they battle the sandwiches, which an announcer describes as being glue-like. Sonya, who weighs 105 pounds, really has her technique down to a science and Chestnut, in a post match interview, describes how much concentration is needed to compete, given that your body doesn't really want to eat all that grilled cheese.

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Those of you with an interest in competitive eating (you know who you are) might already know of Joey Chestnut's recent record-setting win at this year's Wing Bowl in Philadelphia. I think I might be getting a bit desensitized to the figures that accompany these sorts of competitions, however. Chestnut took down 173 wings in 30 minutes and I'm not trying to downplay that. What truly amazes me, though, is the footage of Chestnut taking down a gallon of milk (looks to be whole milk) in 41 seconds. I'd long thought that to be a physical impossibility. I believe this was some sort of qualifying measure for the Wing Bowl, but I'm not positive on that detail. The Philadelphia Inquirer has more on the entire gristly event.