Competitive Eating
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46 free Competitive Eating trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
50 free competitive eating trivia questions with answers. Think you know everything about competitive eating? From Nathan's Hot Dog Contest to the world's fastest eaters, this 46-question trivia quiz covers the most exciting eating competitions, record holders, and fascinating facts about competitive eating culture. Put your knowledge to the test and see how many questions you can answer correctly!
30 of 46 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the traditional location of the annual Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest?
Coney Island, New York
The Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest is held annually on July 4th at Nathan's Famous' original restaurant on Surf and Stillwell Avenues in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City.
Q 02Joey Chestnut stretches his stomach with water, protein supplements, and what other liquid?
Milk
Chestnut pairs fasting with stretching sessions using milk, water, and protein supplements ahead of contests.
Q 03Since about which year has the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest been held at the original restaurant?
1972
Nathan's long-repeated 1916 origin story was invented decades later; the contest as a regular event dates to the early 1970s.
Q 04Who set the women's Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest record of 51 hot dogs in 2024?
Miki Sudo
Miki Sudo ate 51 Nathan's Famous hot dogs in 10 minutes in 2024, the women's record for the contest.
Q 05Which technique breaks each hot dog in half and dunks the bun in water?
The Solomon Method
Takeru Kobayashi's 'Solomon Method' breaks each hot dog in half, eats the halves, then dunks the bun in water; the name nods to King Solomon's offer to split a disputed baby.
Q 06In competitive eating slang, what one-word term means bringing food back up during a contest?
Reversal
A 'reversal', short for 'reversal of fortune', is Major League Eating's slang for vomiting mid-contest; it means instant disqualification, as do the euphemisms 'Roman incident' and 'urges contrary to swallowing'.
Q 07How many hot dogs and buns did Joey Chestnut eat at Nathan's in 2021?
76
Joey Chestnut set the world record for hot dogs eaten at Nathan's Famous with an incredible 76 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes in 2021.
Q 08How many hot dogs did the women's winner eat at the 2025 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest?
33
The 2025 women's total was well short of the division record of 51 set the previous year.
Q 09What total prize purse did Major League Eating list for the 2025 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest?
$40,000
Major League Eating listed a $40,000 total purse for 2025: $20,000 per division, with $10,000 to each winner. Cash prizes were only introduced in 2007.
Q 10The Krystal Square Off was a competitive eating contest primarily focused on what food item?
Hamburgers
The Krystal Square Off was a well-known competitive eating championship that focused on hamburger consumption.
Q 11The first recorded pie-eating contest took place in 1878 in which Canadian city?
Toronto
Toronto hosted the first recorded pie-eating contest in 1878; such contests then spread across Canada and the United States over the following decades.
Q 12What is stuffing the mouth in the final seconds of an eating contest called?
Chipmunking
The practice of putting as much food as possible in the mouth during the last seconds of a contest is known as 'chipmunking' by professionals.
Q 13Which health risk of competitive eating comes from drinking large quantities of liquid in training?
Water intoxication
Physicians warn about potential risks in competitive eating, including water intoxication from drinking large quantities during training.
Q 21Wing Bowl, the eating contest founded in 1993 by two talk-radio hosts, was held in which US city?
Philadelphia
Wing Bowl was a Philadelphia event created by WIP sports-radio hosts Angelo Cataldi and Al Morganti; it grew from a hotel-lobby stunt into a sellout at the Wells Fargo Center.
Q 22The 'belt of fat theory' in competitive eating says what body fat percentage is helpful?
Low
The 'belt of fat theory' holds that a low body fat percentage helps, because abdominal fat restricts how far the stomach can expand; it is often cited to explain slim champions like Takeru Kobayashi.
Q 23The 1916 origin story of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest turned out to be what?
A publicity stunt
Q 14Which competitive eater is known by the nickname 'The Black Widow'?
Sonya Thomas
Sonya Thomas, an influential female competitive eater, is known by the nickname 'The Black Widow'.
Q 15Which competitive eater ended Joey Chestnut's eight-year Nathan's Hot Dog winning streak in 2015?
Matt Stonie
Matt Stonie defeated Joey Chestnut at the 2015 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, ending Chestnut's eight-year winning streak.
Q 16In what year was the IFOCE, later Major League Eating, founded?
1997
The International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE) was founded in 1997 by brothers George and Richard Shea, later rebranding as Major League Eating (MLE).
Q 17Before its length was fixed in 2008, the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest was sometimes as short as what?
Three and a half minutes
Early Nathan's contests varied in length, some lasting only three and a half minutes and others 12 minutes; the 10-minute format has been standard since 2008.
Q 18Before his international fame, Takeru Kobayashi won a Japanese TV show by eating 16 bowls of what in an hour?
Ramen
Takeru Kobayashi won the 2000 Japanese variety show TV Champion Gluttony Championship by eating 16 bowls of ramen in one hour.
Q 19Joey Chestnut set a world record by eating 16.75 pounds of what pie in eight minutes?
Pumpkin pie
In 2021, Joey Chestnut won the Destination Outlets World Pumpkin Pie Eating Championship, consuming 16.75 lbs of pumpkin pie in eight minutes.
Q 20In which Texas city is the Big Texan Steak Ranch, home of the 72-ounce steak challenge?
Amarillo
One eater finished the 72-ounce steak dinner there in under five minutes in 2014, then came back and ate a second one.
The official origin story of the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, claiming it started in 1916, was later admitted by a promoter to have been fabricated in the early 1970s as a publicity stunt.
Q 24Takeru Kobayashi set a world record by eating 110 hot dogs without buns in 10 minutes at what event?
New York State Fair
Takeru Kobayashi set a world record by eating 110 bunless hot dogs in 10 minutes at the New York State Fair.
Q 25Joey Chestnut set a world record by eating 141 of what food in eight minutes?
Hard-boiled eggs
Joey Chestnut holds multiple world records, including eating 141 hard-boiled eggs in 8 minutes.
Q 26At what kind of venue did eating contests traditionally become popular in Canada and the US after the 1870s?
County fairs
Pie was the classic contest food long before hot dogs, and fair-ground contests remain common today.
Q 27Competitive eaters chew huge amounts of gum in training to build up what?
Jaw strength
Jaw strength is the goal: some eaters chew large amounts of gum, or on silicone tubes, to build it up.
Q 28Why do many competitive eaters dunk their food in water or other liquids during a contest?
To soften it and ease swallowing
Dunking softens the food and eases swallowing, saving seconds on every bite; it works so well that some contests ban it and keep separate 'no dunking' records.
Q 29Which antacid brand sponsored the IFOCE's three-hour U.S. Open of Competitive Eating tournament in 2005?
Alka-Seltzer
The Alka-Seltzer U.S. Open of Competitive Eating, a three-hour IFOCE tournament, aired on ESPN in 2005; the federation followed with a fuller slate of ESPN programming in 2006.
Q 30Who won the 2024 Nathan's men's contest in Joey Chestnut's absence?
Patrick Bertoletti
With Joey Chestnut barred from the 2024 contest, Patrick 'Deep Dish' Bertoletti won his first Nathan's men's title with 58 hot dogs and buns.