Ten-time champion Joey "Jaws" Chestnut successfully defended his title in the Nathan's Famous July Fourth Hot Dog Eating contest in New York.

It also marked the third consecutive win for Chestnut who ate a personal record of 74 hot dogs in 10 minutes. Prior to this year's competition, Chestnut completed 72 frankfurters in 10 minutes last year.

In a stats released by ESPN reporter Darren Rovell, Chestnut's 74 hot dogs contain 22,200 calories to go along with 814g of protein, 2664 grams of cholesterol, 54242 grams of sodium and 1850 grams of carbohydrates.

Strong Finish For Chestnut

Chestnut started off the competition on a high note as he managed to snuff out his 18th hot dog and bun in the opening quarter. However, his opponents were not as far behind as 2015 winner Matt Stonie tried to make every effort to tighten the gap.

Eager to continue his dominance in the competition, Chestnut displayed a jaw-breaking eating endurance as he quickened the tempo by eating seven hot dogs in a minute. Chestnut pushed the pedal to the metal as he broke the game wide open by instilling a massive double-digit lead that eventually sealed the victory.

The competition initially counted 64 hot dogs for Chestnut but after further review, it was determined that the counters failed to count an entire plate. Carmen Cincotti finished in second in men's play with 63 hot dogs.

Heading into the tournament, Chestnut who is ranked first in the world by the Major League Eating came in as the odds-on favorite to win the title. According to sources close to the competition, bookmakers have estimated that over $1 million was bet on the eating tournament in the offshore sportsbook industry.

Over a decade ago, Chestnut sent shockwaves into the competition as he dethroned erstwhile six-time defending champion Takeru Kobayashi of Japan by eating a then world record of 66 hot dogs. It was also Chestnut's 11th win in 12 years with his only loss coming in the 2015 edition.

Sudo Retains Women's Title

In the distaff side, Miki Sudo outlasted 19 other competitors that included record-setter Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas to win her fifth consecutive women's title. Sudo completed 37 hot dogs in 10 minutes to walk away with the victory.

In last year's competition, Sudo ate 41 franks and buns which is four short of Thomas' record of 45. Thomas completed just 30 hot dogs last year. The contest which is shown live on ESPN is an annual competition that takes place on July 4th.

Photo: Flickr

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