Sonya Thomas (born Lee Sun-kyung on July 26, 1967), also known by her nickname The Black Widow, and "The Leader of the Four Horsemen of the Esophagus", is a South Korean-born American

competitive eater Competitive eating, or speed eating, is an activity in which participants compete against each other to eat large quantities of food, usually in a short time period. Contests are typically eight to ten minutes long, although some competitions c ...

from

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of downtown Washington, D.C. In 2020, the population was 159,467. ...

. Thomas joined the International Federation of Competitive Eating in 2003 and quickly rose to the top of the ranks, beating competitive eaters such as Eric Booker. Her nickname "The Black Widow" refers to her ability to regularly defeat men four to five times her size.Moon, Amy.
ASIAN POP: Superchomp Korean-born Sonya Thomas is the No. 1 ranked female competitive eater in the USA
"
SFGate.com
'' May 26, 2005. Retrieved on June 25, 2006. 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. She holds records in over 25 eating competitions, and in December 2008, she set the world record for fruit-cake eaten in 10 minutes. On July 4, 2005, she ate 37

hot dog A hot dog (uncommonly spelled hotdog) is a food consisting of a grilled or steamed sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced bun. The term hot dog can refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener ( Vienna sausage) or a f ...

s in 12 minutes at

Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest The Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest is an annual American hot dog competitive eating competition. It is held each year on July 4th at Nathan's Famous Corporation's original, and best-known restaurant at the corner of Surf a ...

, setting a then-record for American competitors (which was also the female record). On August 8, 2005, she consumed 35

bratwurst Bratwurst () is a type of German sausage made from pork or, less commonly, beef or veal. The name is derived from the Old High German ''Brätwurst'', from ''brät-'', finely chopped meat, and ''Wurst'', sausage, although in modern German it is o ...

s in 10 minutes, beating the previous 10-minute record of 19.5 bratwursts, although her record was beaten in 2006 by

Takeru Kobayashi , 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 spor ...

. On July 4, 2011, Thomas became the first champion of Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest for Women. Eating 40 hot dogs in 10 minutes, Thomas earned the inaugural pink Pepto Bismol Belt and won $10,000. She defended and held on to that title the following year eating 46 hot dogs. On July 4, 2013, she again defended her title by eating 36 hot dogs, just beating out Juliet Lee who ate 36 hot dogs.

Competition

Champion

Thomas's first major victory that put her on the competitive eating map was in the 2004 Wing Bowl, where she became the first woman to win a Wing Bowl. Her tally of 32 hot dogs in the 2004 Nathan's Hot Dog contest was the most ever eaten by a male or female American competitor at the time. The only eaters besides Kobayashi to defeat Thomas between the 2004 and 2005 Nathan's contests were Bill "El Wingador" Simmons in the 2005 Wing Bowl, and Dale Boone, who cooled overheated baked beans in order to win an eating contest. On July 4, 2011, Thomas became the first champion of Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest for Women. Eating 40 hot dogs in 10 minutes, Thomas earned the inaugural Pink Belt and won $10,000. Thomas had won 1st place in the

National Buffalo Wing Festival National Buffalo Wing Festival or Wing Fest is a weekend festival held on Labor Day weekend at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York, United States, celebrating the Buffalo style chicken wing. The festival culminates with the IFOCE san ...

US chicken wing eating championship five-years straight from 2007–2011. On September 4, 2011, she attained the United States Chicken Wing Eating Championship in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

by eating 183 chicken wings in 12 minutes. On September 2, 2012

Joey Chestnut Joseph Christian Chestnut (born November 25, 1983) is an American competitive eater. As of 2022, he is ranked first in the world by Major League Eating. He is a California native and resides in Westfield, Indiana. Chestnut's height is ; his weigh ...

consumed 191 wings (7.61 pounds) in 12 minutes to take competitive-eating trophy from the five-year champion Sonya Thomas.

Challenge and response

When Thomas undertook a challenging schedule of three contests in three cities on Labor Day weekend 2005, she had not lost a contest to anyone besides Kobayashi since the Wing Bowl in early February. Several last-minute victories foreshadowed that her streak would not last forever. At the Buffalo Wing Festival in

Buffalo, NY Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, Ms. Thomas lost to Eric "Badlands" Booker in a chicken wing contest and then lost a waffle eating contest in Atlanta the next day to the fast-rising rookie

, giving her a two event losing streak to replace her winning streak. Thomas' waffle defeat was avenged on Labor Day, however, when she out-ate Chestnut in the

Chattanooga, TN Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

Krystal Square Off qualifier. Thomas ate 57 Krystal Burgers to Chestnut's 56. Before the GoldenPalace.com turkey eating contest in New York City Thanksgiving Eve, Thomas had gone three months without winning a non-qualifying contest, although she did have two impressive victories in qualifiers during that span. It appeared that Chestnut would soon claim the title of the leading American eater from Thomas. The civil engineering student from

San Jose State San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sy ...

had defeated Thomas in three of their last four match-ups and was the first eater to lead Kobayashi for the majority of a contest at the Krystal Square Off in Chattanooga the previous week. Although Thomas came in third, the silver lining was her domination of Kobayashi on a pound for pound basis: Thomas 56 burgers / 100 lb. = 0.56, Kobayashi 67 burgers / 170 lb. = 0.39. At the turkey contest, Thomas was able to dramatically reverse her recent slump and defeat Chestnut without last second heroics, which she had not been able to do since Nathan's hot dog contest on July 4. Thomas' momentum continued the following week at a meatball contest in Atlantic City. Her total of 10 lb. 3 oz. beat Chestnut by two pounds and almost doubled her total from the previous year's meatball contest. Thomas' continued improvement, along with Chestnut's rapid ascent, gave Kobayashi more to worry about in 2006 than at any previous time in his dominant career. On August 13, 2006, Thomas won her Asian debut competition in Hong Kong while setting her 28th eating record, by consuming 17 Chinese-style lotus seed buns in 12 minutes.

In the media

She was featured in a MasterCard Paypass commercial. By accident, she meets

, a male competitor, in a convenience store. Their eyes flash, and they begin a hot dog eating duel, which they pay for using the Paypass card.

Future

In 2005, Thomas earned more than $50,000 in prize money and made extensive media appearances. She is unsure how long she will continue eating competitively, but she hopes to own a fast-food franchise one day. She would like to compete in Japanese eating contests, which pay more but last longer than she prefers. She intends to continue eating competitively until she either loses her desire, or falls out of the ranks of the elite eaters.

Training and competition notes

* She exercises by walking on an inclined treadmill for two hours, five times per week. * She regularly visits all-you-can-eat buffets at restaurants. * The night before a contest, she fasts all night in order to put an edge on her appetite. * Thomas exercises up to two hours a day on an incline treadmill, and has maintained her weight since she started competing in 2003, down from 135 pounds when she worked as a typist in Korea. Her lowest weight has been 99 lb. at Wing Bowl XII in 2004. * She only eats one very large meal a day, which takes several hours for her to complete. This meal includes green vegetables and fresh fruit. A typical post-work meal for her would be three large orders of fries, a chicken

Whopper The Whopper is the signature hamburger and an associated product line sold by international fast food restaurant chain Burger King and its Australian franchise Hungry Jack's. Introduced in 1957, the hamburger has undergone several reformulatio ...

, 20 chicken tenders, and two 32-ounce diet soft drinks. * She does not practice eating at speed for more than a two-minute period. * Her favorite foods to eat at competitions are hard-boiled eggs, oysters and chicken wings. * She claims to have had remaining stomach capacity after all her contests, except after eating the eight pound Barrick burger, which took her 48 minutes to finish. She ate enough oysters to set the untimed record for oyster eating after the 2005 oyster competition was officially over. * She had difficulty eating a hot dog in less than a minute when she first started training for her first contest, the 2003 Nathan's qualifier. After practicing, she was able to consume 18 hot dogs in 12 minutes. * She out-ate Randy Thomas, a pro football player noted for his appetite, consuming 6.5 pounds of shrimp in 10 minutes to his 1.5 pounds.

Records

Asparagus Asparagus, or garden asparagus, folk name sparrow grass, scientific name ''Asparagus officinalis'', is a perennial flowering plant species in the genus '' Asparagus''. Its young shoots are used as a spring vegetable. It was once classified in ...

** 5.75 pounds of

tempura is a typical Japanese dish usually consisting of seafood, meat and vegetables that have been battered and deep fried. The dish was introduced by the Portuguese in Nagasaki through fritter-cooking techniques in the 16th century. The word ...

deep fried asparagus spears in 10 minutes * Cheesecakes ** 11 pounds of Downtown Atlantic cheesecake in 9 minutes *

Chicken nugget A chicken nugget is a food product consisting of a small piece of deboned chicken meat that is breaded or battered, then deep-fried or baked. Invented in the 1950s, chicken nuggets have become a very popular fast food restaurant item, as ...

s ** 80 chicken nuggets in 5 minutes *

Chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adu ...

wings ** 183 chicken wings in 12 minutes (2011 record) * Chili ** 1.125 Gallons of Chili in 6 minutes *

Crabcake A crab cake is a variety of fishcake that is popular in the United States. It is composed of crab meat and various other ingredients, such as bread crumbs, mayonnaise, mustard (typically prepared mustard, but sometimes mustard powder), eggs, a ...

s ** 46 three ounce crabcakes in 10 minutes *

Egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

s ** 65 hard boiled eggs in 6 minutes and 40 seconds * Fruitcakes ** 4 pounds, 14 ounces of Wegman's Fruitcake in 10 minutes *

Gyoza ''Jiaozi'' (; ; pinyin: jiǎozi) are Chinese dumplings commonly eaten in China and other parts of East Asia. ''Jiaozi'' are folded to resemble Chinese sycee and have great cultural significance attached to them within China. ''Jiaozi'' ...

** 206 gyoza in 10 minutes *

Hamburger A hamburger, or simply burger, is a food consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. Hamburgers are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, ...

s ** 7 burgers ( pound "Thickburgers") in 10 minutes *

Jambalaya Jambalaya ( , ) is an American Creole and Cajun rice dish of French (especially Provençal cuisine), African, and Spanish influence, consisting mainly of meat and vegetables mixed with rice. Ingredients Traditionally, the meat includes sa ...

** 9 pounds of crawfish jambalaya in 10 minutes * Lobster ** 44 lobsters totaling 11.3 pounds of lobster meat in 12 minutes * MoonPies ** 38 Moonpies in 8 minutes *

Oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not ...

s ** 46 dozen Acme Oysters in 10 minutes(2005) ** 29 dozen Acme Oysters in 8 minutes (2009)-Louisiana oyster season produced much larger oysters in 2009 explaining the slower pace -reclaimed the World Oyster Eating title * Pizza ** 6 extra large Bocce pizza slices in 15 minutes * Pulled

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...

** 23 pulled pork

sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

es in 10 minutes *

Taco A taco (, , ) is a traditional Mexican food consisting of a small hand-sized corn- or wheat-based tortilla topped with a filling. The tortilla is then folded around the filling and eaten by hand. A taco can be made with a variety of fillin ...

s ** 43 soft tacos in 11 minutes *

Tater tot Tater tots are grated potatoes formed into small cylinders and deep-fried, often served as a side dish. The name "tater tot" is a registered trademark of the American frozen food company Ore-Ida, but is often used as a generic term. "Tater" is s ...

s ** 250 tater tots in 5 minutes *

Turducken Turducken is a dish consisting of a deboned chicken stuffed into a deboned duck, further stuffed into a deboned turkey. Outside of the United States and Canada, it is known as a three-bird roast. Gooducken is an English variant, replacing turkey ...

** 7 pounds Turducken.com

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden ...

Dinner in 12 minutesGillen, Eric.
The Road to Turducken, Part 1
"
The Black Table
'' December 17, 2003. Retrieved on June 25, 2006.

Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest results

National Buffalo Wing Festival competition wins

References

External links

Official website

International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE) profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Sonya 1967 births Living people South Korean emigrants to the United States American competitive eaters American sportswomen American sportspeople of Korean descent Sportspeople from North Jeolla Province 21st-century American women