Hot Dog Eating Contest - Follow Up

Well, 7-train conductor Eric Booker fell short of taking the Mustard Yellow Belt away from the Japanese, as the 144-pound Takeru Kobayashi won for the fifth consecutive year, eating 49 hot dogs in 12 minutes. His own record of 53-and-a-half dogs in 12 minutes stands.

The runner-up was an even smaller competitor, a woman from Virginia known on the competitive eating circuit as "The Black Widow," who set an American record by eating 37 hot dogs, also in 12 minutes. She's weighs 105 pounds and is best known for eating 89 meatballs (about 6 pounds of meat) in 12 minutes in Atlantic City, and 38 lobsters in 12 minutes in Maine.

Twelve minutes is very significant in the world of competitive eating, sort of like how the number three is important in Christianity.