Hit it?
Sonya Thomas (née Lee Sun-kyung, Hangul: 이선경 ; born July 26, 1967), also known by her nickname The Black Widow, is a top-ranked Korean-born American competitive eater from Alexandria, Virginia.[1] Thomas joined the International Federation of Competitive Eating in 2003 and quickly rose to the top of the ranks, beating competitive eaters such as Ed "Cookie" Jarvis and Eric Booker. At the 2009 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, the emcee called her the "leader of the Four Horsemen of the Esophagus" during her introduction.[2]
The 98-pound Thomas is the number five competitive eater in the United States, and ranked sixth in the world, with 29 world titles.[3] Her nickname "The Black Widow" refers to her ability to regularly defeat men four to five times her size.[3] While the size of her stomach is only slightly larger than normal, her skinny build is perhaps her biggest advantage, allowing her stomach to expand more readily since it is not surrounded by the ring of fat common in other heavy eaters.[4] She holds records in over 25 eating competitions,[5] and in December 2008, she defeated top-ranked eater Takeru Kobayashi in a fruit-cake eating contest.
Her most famous result is 37 hot dogs in 12 minutes (July 4, 2005 at Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest), setting a then-record for American competitors (which was also the female record). On August 8, 2005, she consumed 35 bratwursts in 10 minutes, beating the previous 10-minute record of 19.5 bratwursts, although her record was beaten in 2006 by Takeru Kobayashi.
On Sunday September 5, 2010 Thomas ate 181 chicken wings in 12 minutes setting a new world record during the National Buffalo Wing Festival in Buffalo, New York. Joey Chestnut, America's No. 1 professional eater, was favored to win the competition. He came in second after eating 169 chicken wings.
