Who Is Matt Stonie? 'The Megatoad' Beats Eight-Time Winner, Joey Chestnut, At Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest

The famous Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest officially has a new champion. Competitive eater Matt Stonie beat eight-time winner Joey Chestnut at the competition on Saturday by two hot dogs. Stonie chowed down on 62 hot dogs and buns in comparison to Chestnut’s 60, making him the winner of Nathan’s 99th annual Hot Dog Eating Contest. Stonie consumed the 62 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes, which included 17,360 calories, 1,116 grams of fat and 48,360 mg of sodium, according to a tweet from Darren Rovell, a reporter for ESPN.

Former champion Chestnut, nicknamed “Jaws,” is a San Jose, California product ranked the No. 1 Competitive Eater in the most recent International Federation of Competitive Eating. He currently holds 38 International Federation of Competitive Eating records and had won Nathan’s contest in 2008 with 59 hot dogs and buns. In 2013 he consumed 69 hot dogs, but in 2014 slipped down to 61, ESPN reported.

Stonie, nicknamed “The Megatoad,” is also from San Jose, and is ranked No. 2 internationally. ESPN reported that Stonie had never finished more than 56 hot dogs and buns in the past. Third place winner this year was Tim “Eater X” Janus who downed 35 hot dogs and buns.

"I trained hard for this, and I came prepared," Stonie said, according to ESPN.

Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, which kicked off at 1 p.m. EDT from Coney Island, New York, has become a Fourth of July tradition. The women’s competition took place at 11 a.m. when Miki Sudo secured her title as winner for the second year in a row by consuming 38 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes, ESPN reported.

The hot dog eating competition is said to have begun in 1916 shortly after Nathan Handwerker opened his first hot dog stand near Surf and Stillwell avenues. The contest pays out $40,000 in prize money and also donates 100,000 hot dogs to the Food Bank for New York City.