San Jose Hot Dog Champ Does It Again
SAN JOSE (CBS SF) -- San Jose resident Joey Chestnut has done it again, downing 62 hot dogs to win Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest at New York's Coney Island for the fifth year in a row.
His mother, Vallejo resident Allecia Chestnut, is proud.
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Hot Dog Eating Champ, Joey Chestnut
She watched the 10-minute contest at home on ESPN with another of her sons this morning, and said she was nervous.
"I don't know why," she laughed.
She said second-place finisher Pat Bertoletti and third-place eater Tim Janus weren't far behind.
"Both of them were nipping at Joey's heels the whole way," she said.
But it was Chestnut, 27, who triumphed again and he plans to celebrate with a steak dinner tonight accompanied by two sisters and a brother who went with him to New York, his mother said.
Alicia Chestnut said her son has consumed little more than water, milk and hot dogs the past few weeks in preparation for the contest, and is typically exhausted after a win.
"It's like a Thanksgiving dinner times two or three," she said.
She said her son has always been a big eater, but no more so than her other children.
"I had six children and they all were contenders as far as I was concerned," she said.
Joey Chestnut is now working at a civil engineer at a construction company, studying at San Jose State University and doing promotional tours for Nathan's around the world -- most recently to China.
"He says the Chinese people love Nathan's and they treated him really well," Alicia Chestnut said.
She said that so far, there are no retirement plans in sight.
"He loves to eat and they're paying him to do it; he's going to go with it," she said.
Chestnut's eating record is 68 hot dogs in one contest.
Meanwhile, some South Bay residents have mixed opinions on the sport of competitive eating.
KCBS' Matt Bigler Reports:
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