Joey Chestnut Wins Hot Dog Eating Contest for Eighth Consecutive Year!

Joey Chestnut Wins Hot Dog Eating Contest for Eighth Consecutive Year!

1. Who was responsible for making Nathan's hot dog contest famous? How many hot dogs did he eat?

Japan's Takeru Kobayashi devoured 50 hot dogs in 12 minutes, that it gained international fame. Though Kobayashi, who won the event for six consecutive years until he was dethroned by California rookie Joey Chestnut in 2007, is long gone

2. How many years has Joey Chestnut won the contest prior to this year? What significant event occurred before the contest began?
Joey "Jaws" Chestnut, who has dominated this competition for the last seven years. The 6-foot tall competitive eater who is currently ranked first in the world by the International Federation of Competitive Eating, demolished 61 franks in the allotted ten minutes. While that was good enough to take home the official mustard-yellow winner's belt and total prize purse of $40,000 USD, it fell short of the 69 hot dogs and buns the 30-year-old had managed to devour in 2013.
Joey, who had hoped to surpass his previous record, later admitted that he had been unable to get into his normal (eating) rhythm! Though he could not pinpoint the cause we have a feeling that it may have had something to do with the fact that his longtime girlfriend and competitive eater, Nesile Ricasa, had agreed to marry him on national television, just minutes before the competition.

3. What happened in the women's contest?
In the women's contest three-time defending women's champion Sonya 'Black Widow' Thomas did not fareas well. She was defeated by Miki Sudo from Las Vegas, who inhaled 34 frankfurters, far outpacing Sonya's 27 3/4!

Critical Thinking Challenge:
What in your opinion makes food eating contests like these so popular (a) with contestants (b) with viewers?

I think that it is because they want to see if they can beat the scores of other contestants and to get a chance to be on T.V. 

I think that it is because of people are amazed by the amount people can eat and they want to know if they can eat more or if they eat less than their previous scores.