Sonya Thomas Biography
Sonya Thomas is a competitive eater from Alexandria, Virginia who was born in South Korea. In 2003, Thomas joined the International Federation of Competitive Eating and quickly rose to the top of the ranks, defeating competitors like Eric Booker.
How old is Sonya Thomas? – Age
He is 55 years old as of 26 July 2022. He was born in 1967 in Gunsan-si, South Korea.
Sonya Thomas Hot Dog
On July 4, 2005, she set a record for American competitors by eating 37 hot dogs in 12 minutes at Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest (which was also the female record). On August 8, 2005, she consumed 35 bratwursts in 10 minutes, breaking the previous 10-minute record of 19.5 bratwursts set by Takeru Kobayashi in 2006.
On July 4, 2011, Thomas became the first woman to win Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. Thomas earned the inaugural pink Pepto Bismol Belt and $10,000 by eating 40 hot dogs in 10 minutes. The following year, she defended and retained her title by eating 46 hot dogs. On July 4, 2013, she successfully defended her title by eating 363 hot dogs, narrowly defeating Juliet Lee, who ate 36 hot dogs.
Sonya Thomas Net Worth
He has an estimated net worth of $5 Million.
Sonya Thomas Eating Records – Competition
Thomas’s first major victory, which propelled her to the forefront of competitive eating, came in the 2004 Wing Bowl, where she became the first woman to win a Wing Bowl. Her 32 hot dogs consumed in the 2004 Nathan’s Hot Dog contest were the most ever consumed by an American competitor, male or female. Other than Kobayashi, the only eaters to beat Thomas between the 2004 and 2005 Nathan’s contests were Bill “El Wingador” Simmons in the 2005 Wing Bowl and Dale Boone, who won an eating contest by cooling overheated baked beans.
On July 4, 2011, Thomas became the first woman to win Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. Thomas won the inaugural Pink Belt and $10,000 by eating 40 hot dogs in 10 minutes.
From 2007 to 2011, Thomas won first place in the National Buffalo Wing Festival US chicken wing eating championship five years in a row. She won the United States Chicken Wing Eating Championship in Buffalo, New York on September 4, 2011, after eating 183 chicken wings in 12 minutes. Joey Chestnut consumed 191 wings (7.61 pounds) in 12 minutes on September 2, 2012, to dethrone five-year champion, Sonya Thomas.
Sonya Thomas Challenge
On Labor Day weekend 2005, Thomas embarked on a demanding schedule of three contests in three cities, having not lost a contest to anyone other than Kobayashi since the Wing Bowl in early February. Several last-second victories foreshadowed the end of her unbroken streak. Ms. Thomas lost a chicken wing contest to Eric “Badlands” Booker at the Buffalo Wing Festival in Buffalo, NY, and then lost a waffle eating contest the next day in Atlanta to fast-rising rookie Joey Chestnut, giving her a two-event losing streak to replace her winning streak. On Labor Day, Thomas avenged her waffle defeat by out-eating Chestnut in the Chattanooga, TN Krystal Square Off qualifier. To Chestnut’s 56, Thomas ate 57 Krystal Burgers.
Thomas had gone three months without winning a non-qualifying contest before the GoldenPalace.com turkey eating contest in New York City on Thanksgiving Eve, though she had two impressive qualifier victories during that time. It appeared that Chestnut would soon dethrone Thomas as the leading American eater. The San Jose State civil engineering student had beaten Thomas in three of their previous four meetings and was the first eater to lead Kobayashi for the majority of a match at the Krystal Square Off in Chattanooga the week before. Although Thomas finished third, the silver lining was her pound for pound victory over Kobayashi: Thomas 56 burgers / 100 lb. = 0.56, Kobayashi 67 burgers / 170 lb. = 0.39.
At the turkey contest, Thomas was able to break her recent slump and defeat Chestnut without any last-second heroics, something she hadn’t done since Nathan’s hot dog contest on July 4. Thomas’ momentum continued the following week at an Atlantic City meatball competition. Her 10 lb. 3 oz. total beat Chestnut’s by two pounds and nearly doubled her total from the previous year’s meatball contest. Thomas’ continued improvement, combined with Chestnut’s rapid rise, gave Kobayashi more to be concerned about in 2006 than at any other point in his dominant career. Thomas won her Asian debut competition in Hong Kong on August 13, 2006, while setting her 28th eating record by consuming 17 Chinese-style lotus seed buns in 12 minutes.