Takeru Kobayashi

Takeru Kobayashi (小林 尊), also known as Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi, is a Japanese competitive eater.

Described as "the godfather of competitive eating", Kobayashi is a six-time champion of Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest and is widely credited with popularizing the sport of competitive eating.

Born in Nagano, Japan, he won the 2000 Japanese variety show "TV Champion" Gluttony Championship by eating 16 bowls of ramen for one hour in the final.

Kobayashi set his first record at his rookie appearance on July 4, 2001, when he ate 50 hot dogs in 12 minutes at the Nathan's Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contest, almost doubling the previous record of 25⅛.

The record was so unexpected that when Kobayashi got to the later numbers, the organizers ran out of signs indicating how many dogs Kobayashi had eaten and had to resort to handwritten signs.

Kobayashi would go on to break his own record three times in winning the contest six consecutive times (2001–2006).

However, on Fox's 2003 show Man vs. Beast, Kobayashi lost in an eating competition against a 1089-pound (494 kg) Kodiak bear, when he ate 31 bunless hot dogs in 2 minutes and 36 seconds to the bear's 50.

At a speed-eating contest in Hong Kong on August 13, 2005, Kobayashi consumed 83 vegetarian jiaozi dumplings in 8 minutes.

The next day, he ate 100 roasted pork buns in 12 minutes.

Kobayashi also won the 2005 Alka-Seltzer US Open of Competitive Eating, a three-hour International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE), elimination tournament on ESPN, as well as the Glutton Bowl, a two-hour IFOCE eating special that aired on the Fox Network in 2002.

In the 2006 Krystal Square Off, Kobayashi's mark of 97 hamburgers was 30 better than his winning total in 2005 and 28 better than the World Record he set in 2004.

However, this number has been called into question.

Many of the 97 burgers dissolved when dunked, and Kobayashi (unlike his fellow competitors) let significant chunks of burger detritus fall from his mouth, instead of eating the complete burger.

This led to the "No Dunking" rule in future competitions.

(In October 2012, Kobayashi broke the record held by the bear at the Texas state fair.) On August 5, 2006, Kobayashi set yet another world record at the Johnsonville World Bratwurst Eating Championship in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, by downing 58 bratwurst sausages in 10 minutes, shattering the previous record of 35 set the previous year by Sonya Thomas.

On September 23, 2006, Takeru Kobayashi set the world record at the Phantom Food Festival in Boston, for eating 41 Summer Shack lobster rolls in 10 minutes, replacing the previous record of 22 rolls.

Other world-eating records held by Kobayashi include 17.7 lb of cow brains in 15 minutes and 20 lb of rice balls in 30 minutes.

On June 25, 2007, Kobayashi announced on his blog that he seriously injured his jaw during training.

He stated that he could only open his jaw about the width of a fingertip.

Kobayashi's participation in the July 4, 2007, Nathan's contest continued as scheduled.

He was able to eat a personal record 63 hot dogs, though his mark was bettered by Joey Chestnut's 66.

On July 4, 2008, Kobayashi once again competed in the Nathan's contest.

He ate 59 hot dogs, tying Chestnut, but lost a sudden death five dog eat off to finish second.

Kobayashi went on to defeat Joey Chestnut, on May 31, 2009, in a Pizza Hut P'Zone competition at Sony Studios in Culver City, California.

The competition aired on Spike TV on June 21.

In July 2009, Kobayashi visited Puerto Rico in a special appearance for Taco Bell's Why Pay More Challenge, eating 64 tacos in 15 minutes for a local charity.

On July 4, 2009, he competed again in the Nathan's contest.

He ate 64.5 hot dogs to Joey Chestnut's 68.

On September 27, 2009, Kobayashi defeated Chestnut with a score of 93 (68 Krystals, 5 Big Angus Burgers), earning the $20,000 top prize.

Chestnut was second, with 81, and Pat "Deep Dish" Bertoletti finished third, with 76.

On July 4, 2011, Kobayashi competed on the rooftop of a Manhattan bar simultaneously with the Nathan's Contest at Coney Island via a live video simulcast of the event.

Kobayashi finished 69 hot dogs, one more than the officially recognized world record at the time.

On January 23, 2012.

Kobayashi went on The Wendy Williams Show to set the record for eating the most Twinkies in one minute, for the "Save The Twinkie" campaign, and set a new world record of 14 Twinkies.

On February 3, 2012, Kobayashi set the new Wing Bowl record for eating chicken wings at Wing Bowl XX, held at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.

His total was 337 wings in his first competition in that event.

On August 26, 2012, Kobayashi set the new world record at the New York State Fair in Syracuse for eating 110 hot dogs in 10 minutes.

In October 2012, Kobayashi set the new world record at the State Fair of Texas for eating 60 hot dogs in 2 minutes 35 seconds.

On June 30, 2012, Kobayashi revealed the terms of the Major League Eating (MLE) contract he was required to sign in order to compete in Nathan's Fourth of July hot dog eating competition.

In a 2014 interview, Kobayashi claims to have beaten the bear in the rehearsal.