Could you eat 60 hot dogs in 10 minutes? One Aussie is about to try
He wolfed down 41 hot dogs in 10 minutes in his first year. Then 47 hot dogs. Then 52.
On Saturday morning, Sydneysider James Webb will take to the stage in front of 50,000 people in New York, on US Independence Day, and attempt to smash through 60 hot dogs at their annual Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest.
Sydneysider James Webb will be try to eat 60 hotdogs in ten minutes this weekend in the US.Credit: ESPN
Webb has been on the Major League competitive eating circuit the past three years, where he has won more than 20 events.
He holds several records, including most glazed doughnuts (70 in eight minutes), 276 buffalo wings in 12 minutes, 224 grilled chicken wings in 10 minutes, and 350 doughnut holes in eight minutes. There’s also a Guinness World Record for eating one kilogram of mozzarella without hands in one minute, 22.59 seconds.
You can only imagine the kind of damage Webb would do at a sausage sizzle outside a Bunnings on any given weekend.
Webb, a 36-year-old former manager of a UFC Gym and long-suffering Parramatta Eels fan, said he normally weighed between 88 and 90 kilograms, “but I’m on the chubbier side at the moment”.
James Webb placed third at Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog eating competition in 2023.Credit: Getty Images
“I’m around 94 kgs right now, but I’ll be over 100 kgs by the end of the contest this weekend,” Webb said from New York.
“The weight will be embarrassing. One hot dog and bun weighs 105 grams. If I eat 50, that’s five [kilograms] right there. And I drink about a gallon of cranberry juice to wash them down, which is another four litres, so we’re talking about 10 kilos.
“The first year I competed in 2022, I finished on the podium. The only person to do that at his first attempt was Joey Chestnut, the LeBron James, the Michael Jordan, the Tom Brady of competitive eating. His record is 76 hot dogs in 10 minutes.
“My whole life changed forever after that first contest in New York. Three years later, I’m talking to you from the US as the fourth-ranked competitive eater in the world.”
James Webb’s records
52 hot dogs in 10 minutes
53 Texas sausages in 10 minutes
70 glazed doughnuts in 10 minutes
276 buffalo wings in 12 minutes
224 grilled chicken wings in eight minutes
350 doughnut holes in eight minutes
6.1kgs of fudge in eight minutes
1kg mozzarella cheese without using hands in 1minute 22.59 seconds (a Guinness world record)
Just as Australian Josh Giddey has become a household name with NBA fans, and Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl winner Jordan Mailata is a big deal, Webb, who now calls Dallas home, is recognised by the locals on a daily basis. He was interviewed by ESPN and TMZ this week.
His ability to eat quickly was only discovered after a trip to the Khartoum Hotel in Cessnock, in the NSW Hunter region, in 2021. Webb became the first person to devour the pub’s five-kilogram, $60 burger in less than 30 minutes. Word spread about his feats, especially via social media, which caught the attention of a few competitive eaters in the US.
Webb was invited to a pizza-eating contest in Blacksburg, Virginia, “which was in the middle of nowhere, a bit like Cessnock”, and finished second with 11 slices in 10 minutes. A corn-eating contest in Florida followed, where he consumed 38 corn cobs in 10 minutes, before a hot dog qualifier in Oakland, California, paved the way for his invite to New York.
This year’s competition marks the return of 16-time champion Joey Chestnut, who holds the Nathan’s record of 76 hot dogs.
Joey Chestnut at the 2021 Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest.Credit: AP
Chestnut was banned from the 2024 event after he struck up a partnership with Impossible Foods (who make vegan hot dogs), with Nathan’s not allowing competitors to support rival brands.
The 41-year-old from California has consumed 1219 hot dogs in 19 appearances at the competition.
Webb has more than 1.8 million followers on TikTok. He makes a point of getting his heart checked and cholesterol tested every year when he returns to Australia.
The only health condition from eating so quickly is a nasty dose of “heartburn”, and a shocking habit of “gripping a glass or cup of drink” every time he has a meal at a restaurant, given the importance of liquid helping flush food into the stomach.
Webb said he relied little on chewing, and more on the fluid, which could be anything the competitor chose, as long as it was not alcoholic.
“The funny thing is, I don’t even like hot dogs, I don’t even know why Americans like them – they’re foul and terrible, but sold everywhere here,” Webb said.
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