By Michelle Woo
Photographs by Eric Sueyoshi
The roar of the crowd echoes through a ballroom on the Queen Mary ocean liner in Long Beach, Calif. Moments before the contest, the competitors prepare themselves, loosening their jaws and gazing at their prey.
Today, it’s warm and greasy chili fries, sprinkled with globs of shredded cheese.
Bon appétit.
The timer begins and the contenders dive in. It’s on. Ten minutes of all-you-can-eat glory. Aligned behind an extended table on a platform, these self-proclaimed “gurgitators” shovel forkfuls of smothered fries into their mouths as fast as humanly possible, paying no attention to the tiny chunks of meat that have landed on their bulging cheeks. Whisking across the stage, the announcer gives the play-by-play. More than 200 spectators watch in shock, in amusement, in disgust.
Going for the tackle are mostly former frat-boy types, those who’d likely have the pizza delivery number on speed dial. Among the 12 competitors, there’s former jalapeno-eating champion Jed Donahue, big and burly “Humble Bob” Shoudt, and Timothy “Eater X” Janus, who sports a painted-on WWF-style mask.
And then there is Sonya Thomas. A slip of a woman at about 105 pounds, she hardly looks like she could finish more than a chopped salad, let alone out-scarf men three or four times her weight. Yet the dainty devourer has been doing just that for the past four years, currently ranked as the No. 4 eater in the world. Chili cheese fries? No problem. Last year, she set the world record in that category, packing down 8 pounds and 2 ounces of the artery-clogging snack.
Competitive eating (eating as much as possible within the given time limits) has gained worldwide popularity, propelled by its most recognized event, Nathan’s Famous July Fourth International Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island, N.Y. Much more than a county fair spectacle, it is a sport, participants declare, and one that should be treated as such.
Exactly two minutes into the competition, Thomas, a 39-year-old Korean immigrant, may very well be on her way to a repeat win. Wearing a T-shirt, a Wienerschnitzel apron, loose-fitting jeans and baseball cap embroidered with her competition alias “Black Widow” (a moniker she gave herself since female black widow spiders will sometimes kill and eat a male after mating), Thomas attacks her first plate of fries with ease.
“Sonya Thomas is on her second plate,” the announcer declares. “This is physical poetry, ladies and gentlemen.”
The audience cheers.
“Oh my gosh, she’s so cute,” one woman says.
“I love you, Sonya!” another fan screams.
With her head down and eyes focused, Thomas keeps on chomping.
First Bites
Thomas was born and raised in Gunsan, Korea. Her dad was a carpenter; her mom was a housekeeper. Money was always tight. As a child with an active metabolism, there never seemed to be enough food.
“I’ve always eaten a little more than normal people,” she says excitedly, with a slight accent. “I loved to eat rice. I always ate more than my dad.”
With three siblings, Thomas has always had a competitive spirit. It’s a Korean thing, she believes.
“I want to be the best at everything — volleyball, Ping-Pong, tennis,” she says. “If I can’t be at the top, then I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to be average. I hate to lose.”
In college, Thomas decided to major in hotel management, as food is an important part of its industry. Then, in 1997, she moved to the United States in hopes of greater opportunities, settled in Alexandria, Va., and got a job as a manager of a local Burger King.
Adjusting to a new country was rough. Feeling isolated, Thomas felt she needed a hobby.
It wasn’t until 2002 that she discovered her true craving. On the news one day, they were showing a recap of the Nathan’s Championship. Takeru Kobayashi of Japan, who weighed only 145 pounds at the time, had just won the competition by eating 50-1/2 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes.
“I was in my living room and my eyes lit up,” she says. “I wanted to try it. Kobayashi beat hundreds of people. I thought I could do that, too.”
So she did some research, practiced at home (which experts advise against), and then entered herself in a Nathan’s regional qualifying contest in New Jersey, more than 200 miles from her home.
Richard Shea, president of the International Federation of Competitive Eating, remembers that day well.
The event was on schedule to begin on time, but the organizers asked Shea if they could stall a bit longer. A woman coming all the way from Virginia to compete called to say she was running late.
“I said, ‘No, we can’t do that,’” he recalls. “But at the last second, she got there.”
Thomas ended up winning the contest by eating 18 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes.
“I thought, ‘Holy cow,’” Shea says. “There’s this woman who just beat all these veteran men. And afterward, she didn’t even look uncomfortable. Most of the guys she beat were all sweaty and having a tough time. I was amazed at her lack of stress.”
With that win, Thomas secured a spot in the 2003 world championship, the same one she had seen on TV just a year before. She ended up eating 25 hot dogs and buns, placing fourth in the competition and setting a new female record.
Main Course
Thomas began traveling the world to win contest after contest, shocking the eating world with her quick fingers, pacing skills and massive stomach capacity. (She believes her tiny-looking tummy can pack in up to 18 pounds of food and liquid in a single sitting.)
Thomas now holds a list of records that would leave the strongest stomachs churning. She devoured 65 hard-boiled eggs in 6 minutes, 40 seconds (they actually ran out of eggs); 4 pounds, 14-1/4 ounces of fruitcake in 10 minutes; 9 pounds of crawfish jambalaya in 10 minutes; 80 chicken nuggets in 5 minutes; 162 buffalo wings in 12 minutes, 176 steamed Chinese vegetable dumplings in 12 minutes; and 46 mince pies in 10 minutes. She currently holds 29 world titles.
Photos of the thin champion holding up giant checks have been splashed across newspapers around the country. In 2004, when she was ranked the No. 1 eater in the U.S., Thomas won about $50,000 in cash and prizes, including a Suzuki Verona. For a few, competitive eating can be a lucrative pastime. Kobayashi once ate 17.7 lbs of pan-seared cow brains to earn $25,000.
Ask her how she feels about entering a sport that has been dominated by white males, and she’ll spurt out her answer eagerly.
“I love it,” she says. “The more men I beat, the better.”
“When I first started winning, people thought, ‘Oh it’s just luck,’” she adds. “Some men couldn’t take it. Then they saw my ability.”
Today, she’s made fans out of them. Just before the chili cheese fries competition, Thomas gets caught in a hurricane of autograph-seekers, TV reporters and fellow contestants awaiting her arrival. She’s used to the fanfare, having made multiple media appearances, including “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and “The Today Show.”
“Sonya’s amazing,” says contestant Todd Yeates, 34, of Mesa, Ariz. “At Nathan’s, you see all these big guys and she’s this small female just dominating. She’s brought attention to the competition. She’s one of the reasons why I’m here.”
But Thomas has her own hero. In the middle of a pre-contest interview with KoreAm, Thomas squeals.
“Look! It’s Kobayashi!,” she says, clapping her hands and jumping up and down. “He is my idol. Oh, this is really, really good. I need to take a picture with Kobayashi.”
The Japanese sensation, who is, oddly enough, about 160 pounds of pure muscle, happened to be in the Los Angeles area to shoot a commercial and decided to make a surprise appearance at the competition.
After posing in a few pictures, Kobayashi takes a moment to speak about Thomas.
“She’s great in any contest,” he says via a translator. “She’s very strong. She’s better in longer contests. That’s where she really shows her power. She never drops her pace. Being a woman of that size, she is one of the greatest eaters.”
Thomas is giddy.
Heartburn
Six minutes into the competition and fries are dangling from the contestants’ mouths. They reach for the cups of liquids in front of them. A few lugged in their own jugs of iced tea, a popular beverage on the eating circuit.
“Eat! Eat! Eat!” the crowd chants in unison.
Thomas is falling behind. To help things move along faster, she lifts a hand to her mouth, squints her eyes and starts bouncing up and down. Two emergency medical technicians are standing by.
She tries to burp to get some air out, one of her many contest strategies. Then, she keeps on chomping.
“Sonya is on her fifth plate,” the announcer says. “Joey is on his sixth. Oh, this is going to be close.”
And finally, “Ten, nine, eight, seven … ”
The race is over.
The results are revealed. Joey Chestnut ate 5.44 pounds of chili cheese fries for the first place slot. Eater X came in second with 5.31 pounds. Thomas placed third with 5.29 pounds, taking home $1,500 and a shattered ego.
People applaud as she walks down the steps. She flashes them a half smile. As she exits the ballroom, she looks defeated, like a little girl who wants to crawl into her bed and pout.
“I feel so bad,” she says. “I feel really, really bad. I wish I had more time. It’s all mental. I start to think, ‘I’m going down.’ And then I lose focus. Oh God! I should’ve done better. I’m so sad.”
Thomas says she gets depressed when she doesn’t win. Once, during a cheesecake competition, she suffered a, well, “reversal of fortune,” and had to bow out.
Her parents, now retired in Korea, were concerned.
“They worried about my health,” Thomas says. “They tell me to be careful. If I find out that it’s not good for me, then I’ll stop.”
According to health experts, repeatedly stretching the stomach can hinder its ability to function. In the ‘90s, competitive eating shows in Japan were pulled from the air following a few choking deaths.
Thomas claims that aside from her eating competitions, which usually happen once or twice a month, with fewer events in the winter, her food intake is not excessive.
Each day, she eats one meal spread out over several hours, which includes two king size fries, 12 pieces of chicken tenders, one chicken sandwich and two or three 42-ounce cups of Diet Coke — all from Burger King, of course.
After work at about 7 p.m., she speed walks on the treadmill for an hour.
In the past couple years, competition has become fierce, with people of all shapes and colors chomping their way onto the scene. While Thomas was once the only Asian on the American eating circuit, there are now several. In the chili cheese fries contest alone, petite chomper Juliet Lee took fifth place, and Justin Mih took eighth. Both are Chinese American.
While competitive eating will likely never become an Olympic sport or gain acceptance by everyone, Thomas is somewhat of a pioneer, proving that you don’t have to look the part to succeed. Today, her goals are to become the No. 1 eater in the world and open her own restaurant.
She says she’ll stop eating competitively when it’s no longer fun. Luckily for her fans, that hasn’t yet happened.
Is there anything Thomas won’t eat?
“Cow tongue, beef tongue, frog legs and cow brain,” she says.
We’ll take that as a no.
***
The Top 3 Competitive Eaters
No. 1
Takeru Kobayashi
Age: 29
Weight: 160
Hometown: Nagano, Japan
Chomping highlight: The six-time consecutive champion of Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, this legendary eater once ate 97 hamburgers in eight minutes.
No. 2
Joey Chestnut
Age: 23
Weight: 230
Hometown: San Jose, Calif.
Chomping highlight: As an eating novice in 2005, Chestnut showed his hunger to win by devouring 6.3 pounds of deep-fried asparagus in 11.5 minutes, beating veteran eater Rich LeFevre.
No. 3
Patrick Bertoletti
Age: 22
Weight: 190
Hometown: Chicago
Chomping highlight: A fresh jaw in the eating world, Bertoletti has already established an impressive list of records, including the time he ate 177 pickled jalapeno peppers in 15 minutes.
