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CHICAGO — Thousands of Chicagoans scarfed down hot dogs in hopes of being named Vienna Beef’s Top Dog — but no one was quite as passionate as Stephanie Esposito. Esposito, of the Southwest Side, visited 367 hot dog stands in just five weeks to win Vienna Beef’s Hot Dog Stand Challenge.(snip) Esposito doesn’t know how many hot dogs she ate during the challenge — but, at 367 stands in just 35 days, she visited an average of more than 10 stands per day. She said she racked up an extra 9,000 miles on her car.(snip) By becoming Vienna Beef Top...

The family of a California man who died in a taco-eating contest is taking legal action against the event’s organizers — claiming their negligence led him to choke to death. Marshall Hutchings, 18, alleges in a suit filed Monday that his father, Dana Hutchings, 41, was not made aware of the risks and danger associated with the competition at a Fresno Grizzlies game, the Fresno Bee reported The elder Hutchings had not participated in any similar events before he entered the amateur competition on Aug. 13, 2019, at Chukchansi Park, the suit argues.

NEW YORK -- There's just no stopping "Jaws." Joey Chestnut scarfed down 61 hot dogs in 10 minutes to win his eighth consecutive championship, barely beating Matt Stonie at the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island on Friday. The main course? That came just before the contest, when the 30-year-old Chestnut proposed on the event stage, just steps from the beach, to longtime girlfriend Neslie Ricasa, who said yes. Stonie, who was second in 2013 with 51 dogs, again was the runner-up with 56. Tim "Eater X" Janus was third with 44. While it...

NEW ORLEANS - Patrick "Deep Dish" Bertoletti looked down at the litter of empty oyster shells in front of him and savored the sweet taste of victory. For Crazy Legs Conti, the bitter taste of defeat could be washed away only by beer. The Acme World Oyster Eating championship belt _ leather, with a silver dish featuring an oyster on the half-shell _ hung on Bertoletti's skinny hips. The 22-year-old Chicago resident took the title Saturday...

He'll never want breakfast again. Pat Bertoletti, a mohawk-sporting chef from Chicago, gulped down 21 pounds of buttery, goopy grits in 10 minutes to win $4,000 in the first World Grits Eating Championship at Louisiana Downs on Saturday...

NEW YORK - The defending champ has won again at the international hot-dog eating contest at New York's Coney Island. Takeru Kobayashi of Japan downed 44 1/2 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes, good enough to win, but still six dogs short of his own record last year. It was the 88th annual Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest. The winner takes home the "Coveted International Mustard Yellow Belt" and a year's supply of hot dogs. Last year, Kobayashi consumed a record 50 1/2 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes to win. At one...

W NEW YORK - For the fifth straight year, it was a victory Takeru Kobayashi could truly relish. Kobayashi, 27, captured the Nathan's Famous hot dog eating contest Monday, gobbling a nauseating 49 dogs in 12 minutes — but missing his own world record of 53 1/2, set at last year's July Fourth competition. The win means the coveted Mustard Yellow Belt will return to Japan for the ninth year out of the past 10. New Jersey's Steve Keiner, who won in 1999, is the only American to capture the title in the past decade. Kobayashi, of Nagano, stands 5...

Two Western Pennsylvania men will belly up to the World Series of eating today. They will try to become the best of the wurst in the dog-eat-dog world of competitive eating, wolfing down wieners at Coney Island in Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest. Brian Subich, of Johnstown, Cambria County, and Chip Simpson, 24, of Harrisville, Butler County, are two of 16 contestants who qualified to compete in the contest that's been won the past five years by a 5-foot-7, 150-pound Japanese man, Takeru Kobayashi. He once put down 50 hot dogs in 12 minutes. The contest, which has...

For the fifth straight year, it was a victory Takeru Kobayashi could truly relish. Kobayashi, 27, captured the Nathan's Famous hot dog eating contest Monday, gobbling a nauseating 49 dogs in 12 minutes - but missing his own world record of 53 1/2, set at last year's July Fourth competition. The win means the coveted Mustard Yellow Belt will return to Japan for the ninth year out of the past 10. New Jersey's Steve Keiner, who won in 1999, is the only American to capture the title in the past decade. Kobayashi, of Nagano, stands 5 feet 7 inches and...

(AP) SHEBOYGAN, Wis. -- Takeru Kobayashi downed 58 bratwursts in ten minutes today to set a new record at the Johnsonville World Brat Eating Championship. The Japanese man, considered one of the world's greatest eaters, won eight-thousand dollars at the contest in Sheboygan. Last year's winner, Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas, was unable to defend her title, eating only 34 brats. That's half a brat less than last year. At the time, her performance set a new world record. Joey Chestnut came in second with 45 brats. Thousands of people attending the annual Brat Days witnessed the contest. Kobayashi, of...

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. — Sonya Thomas, at 99 pounds, gobbled her way to another speed-eating title over the weekend by attacking a Wisconsin staple — the bratwurst. The woman known as The Black Widow on the competitive-eating circuit downed 35 brats in 10 minutes to win the first Johnsonville Brat-Eating World Championship. She edged out her nearest competitor by half a brat to win. "I don't know where she puts it," spectator Sue Van De Kreeke said. "I got sick watching her." The previous bratwurst-eating record was 19 1/2 brats in 10 minutes. Thomas, a Burger King manager from Alexandria, Va.,...