When it comes to competitive eaters, names like Joey Chestnut and Matt Stonie often come to mind. Both have won the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest more than once. It might surprise you to learn that the No. 1 competitive eater in the Unites States is actually a woman. At 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighing just 99 pounds, Korean-born Sonya Thomas holds that title. The 37-year-old ranks second in the world, with 22 world titles. She regularly outeats men four to five times her size in contests held throughout the year, earning the self-appointed moniker “Black Widow.” Thomas’s record speaks for itself:
46 dozen (552) oysters in 10 minutes
25 grilled cheese sandwiches in 10 minutes
1 9-pound cheeseburger in 48 minutes
52 hard-boiled eggs in 5 minutes
48 soft-shell chicken tacos in 11 minutes
162 chicken wings in 12 minutes
32 Nathan’s hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes
Tipping the scales at just 99 pounds means she doesn’t really have to watch what she eats. Believe it or not, Thomas’s goal in life is to own her own Burger King, which means half a million dollars in cash and a million more for the property to buy a franchise. Needless to say, there are a lot of competitions in her future.
