| Revision as of 04:45, 9 July 2004 edit68.237.0.109 (talk)No edit summary← Previous edit | Revision as of 08:17, 9 July 2004 edit undoToytoy (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers8,392 editsm →A partial list of contestants (and their personal bests)Next edit → | ||
| Line 35: | Line 35: | ||
| * ] - 38 (2004) | * ] - 38 (2004) | ||
| * ] - 32 (2004) | * ] - 32 (2004) | ||
| ⚫ | * ] - 31 (2001) | ||
| * ] - 27.75 (2004) | * ] - 27.75 (2004) | ||
| ⚫ | * "Cookie" Jarvis - 27 (2004) | ||
| ⚫ | * "Crazy Legs" Conti | ||
| * Eric "Badlands" Booker - 27 (2004) | * Eric "Badlands" Booker - 27 (2004) | ||
| ⚫ | * "Cookie" Jarvis - 27 (2004) | ||
| * Carlene LeFevre - 22 (2004) | * Carlene LeFevre - 22 (2004) | ||
| * Jim Reeves - 21 (2004) | * Jim Reeves - 21 (2004) | ||
| Line 44: | Line 44: | ||
| * Allan Goldstein - 19 (2004) | * Allan Goldstein - 19 (2004) | ||
| * Kevin Lipsitz - 16.5 (200?) | * Kevin Lipsitz - 16.5 (200?) | ||
| ⚫ | * "Crazy Legs" Conti | ||
| ⚫ | * ] - 31 (2001) | ||
| ==External links== | ==External links== | ||
Revision as of 08:17, 9 July 2004
Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs hosts an annual hot dog eating contest at the site of their first restaurant in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York. According to oral history, the contest has been held every year since 1916 except for 1941 (as a protest to the war) and 1971 (as a protest to civil unrest). The contest is usually held at noon on July 4, Independence Day, and lasts 12 minutes. In 2004 the contest began at 12:40pm presumably because ESPN was covering the event live for the first time. The competition draws many spectators and worldwide press coverage.
The rules
20 contestants stand behind a 30-ft-long table with hotdogs and drinks. Condiments are optional. Whoever eats (and keeps down) the most hot dogs (and buns) in 12 minutes is the winner. Partially eaten hot dogs count and the granularity of measurement is eighths of a hot dog. Winners receive a trophy, a mustard-colored belt (of "unknown age and value" according to George Shea), and a "year's supply of Nathan's hotdogs" (actually, two cases). There is no cash award. Contestants must qualify at preliminary contests held around the United States. A noted exception is William "The Refrigerator" Perry, who competed in 2003 as a celebrity contestant and did not prequalify. He ate 4 hot dogs and buns. George Shea stated on Jult 1st, 2004 at a ceremony following a showing of Crazy Legs Conti's documentary that the celebrity contestant experiment will likely not be repeated.
The Japanese domination
This eating contest had been a national favorite since its beginning. However, starting in 1996, Japanese eaters took away the prize every year except for 1999. In comparison with most contestants of the U.S. who are tall and fat, Japanese contestants are usually very thin and not that tall. But they are breaking the records almost on a yearly basis. Despite of their collective will to take back the prize, most U.S. contestants could not even come close to Japanese records. The world's second place holder, Sonya K. Thomas, is 21.5 hot dogs behind the #1 record holder Takeru Kobayashi.
These Japanese contestants are sponsored by TV Tokyo's (テレビ東京) TV Champion (TVチャンピオン), a competition show started from 1992. TV Champion is a weekly TV program whose subjects has been mostly food-related (sushi championship, fast-eating championship, kids' cooking championship ...).
The Japanese dominance was sometimes overwhelming, for example, in 2000, the first, second and third places were all taken by Japanese contestants (Kazutoyo Arai, 新井和響, 25; Misao "Beast" Fujita, 藤田操, 24; Takako Akasaka, 赤阪尊子, (female), 22).
A partial list of winners
- Mike Devito
- -
- Ed Krachie
- Hirofumi Nakajima (中嶋広文) (23 1/4 hot dogs) (World Record)
- Hirofumi Nakajima (24 1/2 hot dogs) (World Record)
- Hirofumi Nakajima (19 hot dogs)
- Steve Keiner (20 1/4 hot dogs)
- Kazutoyo "Rabbit" Arai (新井和響) (25 1/8 hot dogs) (World Record)
- Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi (小林尊) (50 hot dogs) (World Record)
- Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi (50 1/2 hot dogs) (World Record)
- Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi (44 1/2 hot dogs)
- Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi (53 1/2 hot dogs) (New World Record)
A partial list of contestants (and their personal bests)
- Takeru Kobayashi - 53.5 (2004)
- Nobuyuki Shirota - 38 (2004)
- Sonya Thomas - 32 (2004)
- Kazutoyo Arai - 31 (2001)
- Richard LeFevre - 27.75 (2004)
- Eric "Badlands" Booker - 27 (2004)
- "Cookie" Jarvis - 27 (2004)
- Carlene LeFevre - 22 (2004)
- Jim Reeves - 21 (2004)
- Joe LaRue - 20 (2004)
- Allan Goldstein - 19 (2004)
- Kevin Lipsitz - 16.5 (200?)
- "Crazy Legs" Conti
External links
- Nathan's
- TV Champion (in Japanese)
- An overview of Japanese eaters (in Japanese)
- Start of Japanese Domination (in Japanese)