Joey Chestnut wins again at July 4th hot dog eating contest

NEW YORK -- Joey Chestnut devoured the competition once again Friday, winning his eighth consecutive title at the annual Nathan's Famous hot dog eating contest at Coney Island, eating 61 hot dogs in ten minutes.

Matthew Stonie finished second with 56.

But the Black Widow has been outeaten.

Two-time defending champion Sonya Thomas lost her hot dog eating title Friday to Miki Sudo of Las Vegas, who wolfed down 34 franks and buns in 10 minutes to win the women's division.

The 47-year-old Thomas, a native of South Korea who now lives in Alexandria, Virginia, was only able to devour 27 3/4 hot dogs and buns.

The men's division will be held later Friday.

Chestnut, a 30-year-old San Jose, California, man nicknamed "Jaws," had hoped to put away his competition by downing a record 70 hot dogs in 10 minutes in the raucous event held just steps from the beach.

Last year, Chestnut won with 69 franks and buns. Matt Stonie, who was second in 2013 with 51 dogs, returned for another run at the top spot.

With Chestnut's seventh-straight victory last year, he bested his former rival, Takeru Kobayashi, with most consecutive wins. In 2010, Kobayashi refused to sign an exclusive contract with Major League Eating, the food equivalent of the NFL, and was banned from competition.

This year, the Japanese native nicknamed the "Tsunami" will compete against five other competitive eaters at a separate event on Fifth Avenue in a quest to down the most hot dogs without buns in 10 minutes.

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

All the competitors said they were fasting, but Irish contestant Colin Shirlow grabbed a free hot dog during the weigh-in to get a first taste of the Nathan's Famous dogs they'll be gobbling down.

Meanwhile, Chestnut took a timeout from the hot dog competition on Friday to propose to a fellow competitive eater.

Chestnut got down on bended knee to make it official with longtime girlfriend Neslie Ricasa.

She said yes.

The happy couple hails from San Jose, California.