King Kobayashi Has Fallen, Long Live The Chestnut – 59 1/2 Hotdogs and counting…

Posted on June 4th, 2007 in Celebrities, In The News, Sports

With all the news about Paris Hilton reporting to jail and the continuing commentary on Lindsey Lohen’s recent drunk driving arrest, philospeak.com is here to ensure you know the REAL news! The true King of Competitive Eating — Takeru Kobayashi — has finally fallen.

Kobayashi is a true phenom. In his rookie appearance on July 4, 2001 — weighing in at a mere 110 pounds — he ate 50 hot dogs in 12 minutes at the Nathan’s Coney Island hot dog-eating contest, nearly doubling the previous record of 25⅛.

Since that astonishing feat he has been untouchable, dominating the sport with his trademark super-skills: most notably the Kobayashi Shake, which he uses to force food down his esophagus and the groundbreaking Solomon method, splitting the frankfurter in half, swallowing both parts at once, and then dipping the buns in water and stuffing it in his mouth.

See Master Kobayashi’s Record Setting Performance Last Year!

But how quickly the tide can turn.

Until last year, no other gurgitator ever came within 12 hot dogs of Kobaayashi’s total in a competition. But the recent emergence of 23-year-old Joey “Jaws” Chestnut of San Jose in 2006 had finally brought in new blood willing and able to take on the eating King.

Chestnut had been putting in a number of impressive results. But in a truly inspired performance this weekend, the man known as “Jaws” shattered the record held by Takeru Kobayashi of Japan by downing 59½ “HDBs” — hot dogs and buns — during the Southwest Regional Hot Dog Eating Championship at the Arizona Mills Mall in suburban Tempe.

The result is truly a marvel: Chestnut swallowed Kobayashi’s record whole by a fully six HDBs!

Kobayashi’s old record of 53½ was set last year at Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest, held at Coney Island in New York. In that event last year, Chestnut showed he was a threat, placing a very close second by consuming 52 hot dogs. Kobayashi has been the longest record-holding in competitive hot dog eating.

“These guys’ numbers have just been going up at a tremendous clip,” said Ryan Nerz, who works for Major League Eating, “I always thought there was a limit — a limit to the human stomach and a limit to human willpower — but I guess not.”

And the winning bounty: a free trip to New York, a year’s supply of hot dogs and a $250 gift card to the mall.

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