Now the Wimbledon final and the David Haye fight are out of the way, it’s time to get on with some proper sporting action. Yes, we’re talking about Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, taking place this afternoon, live online for the first time.
To celebrate this momentous occasion, we caught up with Pete Davekos, one of the competitors, to see how his training was going. Click through to find out how he prepares, what it takes to be a champion eater, and why being fat is a disadvantage.
Nathan’s Famous is the world’s most renowned hotdog eating competition. Held every July 4th since 1916, it’s where the world’s best eaters come to chow down. If you just want a salad, you’ve come to the wrong place.
For the first time ever, there’s a women’s competition, which you can watch live on ESPN3.com this afternoon, half a hour before the men’s.
So how does a champion eater prepare? We caught up with Pete Davekos, who’s in his fourth consecutive year of competing, to find out…
“I’m heavily in training right now, I’m only 72 hours away from greatness. I’ve been eating nothing but fruit and vegetables the last 12 days, with tons and tons of water with each meal, but that’s about it. I’m hitting the gym, I’m doing a five mile jog every single day, I’m out in the heat, wearing sweatshirts and sweatpants, almost like a boxer preparing for a fight. Except I don’t punch, I bite.
“I like to stay healthy. I’m a professional eater, I just don’t want to look like a professional eater. They call me Pretty Boy, that’s my stage name, so hopefully I want to live up to my reputation. But it’s not that difficult to be a pretty boy in the world of competitive eating. Not with these 400 pound-plus behemoths around.
“I’m six feet one, 215 pounds, and I’m probably slightly bigger than the average eater now, but there’s a philosophy behind being in shape. First of all it’s a professional sport. And when you’re eating eight, nine, 10 pounds of food at once, the less fat you have on your stomach, the less resistance the body will have when it’s expanding. Because your stomach will push out, and your fat almost acts as a blocker, so the less fat, the further your stomach will be able to push.
“Growing up, I’d always been able to eat a lot, then I got into competitive body building. And with the intense workouts, and the dieting and everything, you develop these massive cravings. So when I get to the table I just think it’s natural for me to tap into those cravings and that mindset where I’ve been starving for so many weeks and this my only opportunity to eat, and I just go after it like a savage animal.
“Nathan’s Famous is the Superbowl of competitive eating. This is my fourth consecutive year. I qualified in my hometown on Boston to get to the final in Coney Island, New York. I travel all over the world, Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Guantanemo Bay, I’ve been to entertain the United States military… we do all types of food, but Nathan’s Famous is really our Superbowl, it’s our Masters, it’s the World Cup, you know, however you want to look at it. There are 14 contestants in the final, the top 14 eaters in the world will be on stage. There are 12 qualifiers all over the country, you have to take first place in one of the 12 to get to Nathan’s Famous. Second place gets you nothing.
“How it works is simple: you have 10 minutes to eat as many hotdogs with buns as possible. My personal best is 29 in 10 minutes. The world record right now is 68, by Joey Chestnut. I think this year he’s hoping to break 70. It’d be a lot easier if they were bangers and mash, let me tell you.”
You can watch the women’s final live today at 4.30pm BST on ESPN3.com. The men’s final will follow live at 5pm on ESPN.
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