Men's hot dog champ retains 'mustard belt,' wins fiancee

Joey "Jaws" Chestnut keeps hot dog eating title with 61 franks

Miki Sudo, Joey Chestnut win big at Nathan's hot dog eating contest
"The Black Widow" out-eaten at this year's hot dog eating competition

The defending champion of the annual Nathan's Famous Fourth of July
International Hot Dog Eating Contest held on to his "mustard belt"
Friday in Coney Island.

Joey "Jaws" Chestnut of San Jose downed 61 hot dogs in 10 minutes. It's
been a good day for Chestnut – he also proposed to his girlfriend before
the competition Friday, and she said yes.

Last year, the mustard belt champ ate a record 69 hot dogs. This is
Chestnut’s eighth straight victory.

Matt Stonie, also of San Jose and the second-place winner from last year
and this year, ate only 56 hot dogs.

The defending women’s champion was out-eaten, though.

Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas lost her mustard belt – the first time
she’s lost since the 2011 creation of the women’s belt. She downed
27-3/4 hot dogs in 10 minutes.

But it wasn’t enough. Fourth-ranked – and new champion – Miki Sudo of
Las Vegas put away 34 hot dogs.
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According to the legend, the first contest was on July 4, 1916, when
four immigrants held a hot dog eating contest at Nathan's Famous
original stand on Coney Island to settle an argument about who was the
most patriotic.

Coney Island's top four competitors weighed in Thursday at a pre-contest
event presided over by New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.

“Now, tomorrow, rain or shine, tens of thousands of people will descend
on Coney Island to relish the great hot dog contest,” De Blasio said at
the weigh-in. “That was my first attempt at a pun – to relish it. Get
it, everyone?”

Chestnut weighed in at a solid 205 pounds, 75 more than his top
competitor, Stonie.

For the women, Thomas weighed in at a mere 100 pounds, will Sudo weighed
in at 115 pounds.

All the competitors said they were fasting, but Irish contestant Colin
Shirlow grabbed a free hot dog during the weigh-in, the Associated Press
reported.