Joey Chestnut ‘Jaws’, a 26-year-old man consumed 54 hot dogs in 10 minutes, to win a popular annual eating competition and took home the mustard yellow belt. For the fourth consecutive time, the world’s greatest professional eater, Joey Chestnut ‘Jaws’ won the 95th annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest on New York’s Coney Island on Sunday.

The Coney Island event is sponsored by its original sausage company Nathan’s since 1916 and has become a staple part of the star-spangled excess with which America celebrates its independence from Great Britain. Crowds of 30,000 were drawn by the contest. It was broadcast live on ESPN, and consortium to more than a dozen countries. Coney Island is said to be the birthplace of fast food. The first hot dog was sold here around 1870 by German butcher Charles Feltman. His competitive, Polish-born employee, Nathan Handwerker, opened his own business in 1916 – Nathan’s Famous, still the backdrop to the contest started here that year.

The New York Daily News reported on Sunday, he finished nine hot dogs ahead of his closest competitor. “Let him eat! Let him eat!” the crowd chanted as police handcuffed the world’s No. 3 professional eater, dubbed “The Tsunami.” Before Chestnut bested Kobayashi in 2007, the 32-year-old eater won the competition six years in a row. He said that he wanted to be free to compete in contests sanctioned by other groups on his Japanese-language blog.

But a few days ago, he told Japan’s Kyodo News: “I really want to compete in the event.” Kobayashi combined with the crowd, standing inside a police-barricaded pen just under the stage, wearing a black T-shirt that said “Free Kobi“. A metal police barricade was clutched by him with both hands, holding on tightly as the officers pulled at him. Finally, he slipped up the stage stairs, when the eating ended.

The champion was nevertheless mildly disappointed at the result, having expected to break his previous personal best of 68 and aver a new world record. He said, “To be honest, the heat affected me“, “I stopped drinking water to relax my stomach several hours before the event, so I was a little bit dehydrated.”

Despite winning the ornamented, mustard-yellow belt and a $20,000 purse, Chestnut was disappointed with his performance. The 26-year-old from San Jose, California wants to beat his own record of 68 last year and was aiming for a record 70 dogs in 10 minutes. Chestnut admitted this year’s 54-dog finish didn’t quite cut the mustard. He said, “If somebody there was a little bit closer pushing me, I would have definitely given blood to win“. He hoped this wouldn’t be the last he sees of his archnemesis. Chestnut said, “It’s kind of sad, but I have a lot of respect for him. He’s a great eater“.

The Californian is one of dozens of men and women who now make a living on the competitive eating circuit. He holds several records, including the largest amounts of pork (4.4kg) and deep-fried asparagus (3.9kg) in 12 minutes.

Video of Joey Chestnut wins fourth straight Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest from youtube:

Video of Ex-champ crashes NYC Eating Contest from youtube: