July 4, 2016
It’s not every day a new record is set in competitive sports. But today, Joey “Jaws” Chestnut scarfed down 70 HDB’s (hot dogs with bun) in 10 MINUTES, a new record forNathan’s Famous 4th of July Hot Dog Eating Contest.
Nathan’scompetition has come a long way since 1972, when the winner ate“just”14 hot dogs(in3.5 minutes).
Hereis how the winning number of hot dogs has evolved over time.
How much is 70 hot dogs?
According to Nathan’s website, one of their hot dogsweighs 3.5 oz, and has 280 calories.That means 70 hot dogs weigh 15 pounds andhave 19,600 calories.
Someone of Chestnuts age (32 years) and weight (225 lbs) burns about 3,000 calories a day. At that rate, it will take him a about a week (6.5 days) to burn it all off.
To put 15 pounds in perspective, that’s a good-sized Thanksgiving turkey, before it’s cooked.
Think back to the last time you picked up a whole, uncooked turkey. Now, imagine getting the entire thingdown your throat and into your stomach in 10 minutes.
As far as I can tell, Nathan’s doesn’t list the length of its hot dogs on the website. But itsregular hot dog has about half the calories of its foot-long dog, so 6 inches is a reasonable guess.
If that’s right, those70 hot dogs would measure about 35 feet in length when laid end-to-end, about the height ofa 3-story building.
Human progress never ceases to amaze.
Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Competition, top finishers 2016
| Name | Hot Dogs Eaten | Prize Money |
|---|---|---|
| Joey Chestnut | 70 | $10,000 |
| Matt Stonie | 53 | $5,000 |
| Carmen Cincotti | 41 | $2,500 |
| Gideon Oji | 38 | $1,500 |
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Max Galka
I'm an NYC-based entrepreneur (my newest project: Blueshift) and adjunct instructor at UPenn. I'm fascinated by data visualization and the ways that data is transforming our understanding of the world. I spend a lot of time with my face buried in Excel, and when I find something interesting I write about it here and also as a Guardian Cities and Huffington Post contributor.
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