Top 9 Reasons Why Joey Chestnut Is A World Champion Eating Machine!

Top 9 Reasons Why Joey Chestnut Is A World Champion Eating Machine!

You know the name, but how well do you know his story? Just how did competitive eater Joey “Jaws” Chestnut go from a college kid with a big appetite to the world’s top dog in hot dogs? Here’s everything you need to know.

Long before he earned the nickname “Jaws” from fellow competitive eater Sonya “Black Widow” Thomas, a woman capable of putting away 11 pounds of cheesecake in nine minutes, Joey Chestnut was just a hungry kid who loved his food.

During an interview with GQ in which he described his parents as “super hippies,” Chestnut recalled fond memories of his mother’s home cooking. Chestnut told the magazine,

“She would make a ton of pasta, and I would just eat so much of her pasta when I got home on Friday, and then we would go out to eat.”

After that, the future competitive eating champion said he would usually head to a burger restaurant right next to his parents’ house with his little brother for another course or two. Chestnut’s supportive younger brother, Willy, was the first to notice that Joey had a talent for finishing his food at an astonishing pace. In 2005, Willy took it upon himself to enter his older brother into a lobster eating contest, and the rest is history.

Chestnut’s breakout performance came later that year when he blew away the competition at California’s World Deep-Fried Asparagus Eating Championship, a prestigious event in the world of competitive eating. According to ESPN, he put away a whopping six pounds of asparagus in just 11 minutes to claim the title.

Watch the video for more about the untold truth of Joey Chestnut!