If Miki Sudo looks protective of her space during the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4 at Coney Island, chalk it up to the hazards of the profession.
Sudo, who seeks her ninth women’s title, was asked about the grossest thing that has happened to her in competitive eating.
Unfortunately, she answered.
“Somebody, while eating chili, burped up some of the chili that they were consuming, and I got some debris on my shoulder,” she told HuffPost recently. “So that was fun.”
She added, “I’ve learned to really tighten up and kinda [mark] my station with my water cups so people don’t come too close.”
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Sudo has also learned how her body can adapt. Even childbirth didn’t stop the Port Richey, Florida, resident, who’s the top-ranked woman in Major League Eating.
About two months after welcoming her son Max with husband and fellow pro eater Nick Wehry in 2021, Sudo competed in a chicken-wing eating contest. She downed 246 wings in 12 minutes to beat the legendary Joey Chestnut.
“I was more scared than anything because I had a C-section,” she said. “It’s uncharted territory.”
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But her greatest act of gluttony, she said, was devouring 16 1/2 pints of ice cream in 6 minutes at the Indiana State Fair in 2017. The cherry on top is that it was a world record.
Sudo, who turns 38 this month, holds the women’s record of 48.5 hot dogs in 10 minutes for the Nathan’s contest. She told HuffPost she has eaten 50 in practice. “I feel like I’m letting myself down if I don’t hit that” in the competition on Tuesday, she said.
Good luck, Miki, and watch out for that “debris.”
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