Cheese Friday: She's back...

The Times
February 03, 2006

Men surrender to the cheese-eating titan of fast food
From James Bone in New York

THINK twice before inviting Sonya Thomas to dinner. She’s a professional “gurgitator”.

On Wednesday she won the World Grilled Cheese Eating Championship, eating 26 grilled cheese sandwiches in ten minutes at the Planet Hollywood restaurant in Times Square.

She won $8,000 but said: “I could have done better.” She was aiming for 30 sandwiches, she said. It was a close win. Her nearest competitor, Joey Chestnut, ate 25½ sandwiches.

It was not her first victory.The tiny Korean-American woman can wolf down 37 hot dogs in 12 minutes, 56 hamburgers in eight minutes, and 65 hard-boiled eggs in six minutes, 40 seconds.

Although she weighs only 7½ stone, it takes her 12 minutes to devour a whole roasted turkey.She can eat almost 5lb of fruitcake in ten minutes, 11lb of cheesecake in nine minutes, and 8.4lb of baked beans in two minutes, 47 seconds.

Ms Thomas, 38, the manager of a Burger King on Andrews Air Force base in Virginia, has taken the world of competitive eating by storm. She won almost $50,000 in prizes last year and currently holds 23 world records, including the extraordinary feat of downing 9lb of New Orleans crawfish jambalaya in ten minutes flat. Sometimes after feasting, her normal body weight increases by 10lb.

Her success in defeating men three or four times her size has gained her a reputation on the circuit as The Black Widow.

“Like the female Black Widow spider, it is my desire to eliminate the males. In competitive eating I want to eat more or faster than my male counterparts,” she says. “It’s difficult for some male egos to accept defeat by a member of the opposite sex, especially a little one like me.”

Born in South Korea, the carpenter’s daughter was raised on a traditional diet of rice and vegetables. But when she emigrated to America in 1997 she developed a taste for french fries and drums of Diet Coke. She became interested in competitive eating when she saw the Japanese sensation Takeru Kobayashi win New York’s annual hot dog-eating contest on TV.

At a qualifying round, Ms Thomas struggled through her first hot dog, before noticing that other contestants were dunking their buns in water and breaking the sausages in half. She copied them and won with 18 hot dogs in 12 minutes.

Ms Thomas says her talent is due to a large stomach capacity, able to handle up to 16lb of food and liquids. Her ambition is to topple Mr Kobayashi as the No 1 competitive eater in the world — and then buy a fast-food restaurant of her own.

SHE HOLDS AT LEAST 23 RECORDS INCLUDING:

37 hot dogs in 12 minutes

65 hard-boiled eggs in 6 minutes, 40 seconds

5.75lb of deep fried asparagus spears in 10 minutes

11lb of cheesecake in nine minutes

80 chicken nuggets in five minutes

167 BBQ chicken wings in 32 minutes

40 crab cakes in 12 minutes

A 9lb cheeseburger in 27 minutes

44 lobsters (11lb 5oz of meat) from the shell in 12 minutes

10lb 3oz of meatballs in 12 minutes

46 dozen oysters (552) in 10 minutes

48 soft chicken tacos in 11 minutes

-Mr. DNA (is hungry)