Sonya Thomas

Who is Sonya Thomas?

Sonya Thomas, also known by her nickname The Black Widow, and "The Leader of the Four Horsemen of the Esophagus", is a top-ranked Korean-born American competitive eater from Alexandria, Virginia. Thomas joined the International Federation of Competitive Eating in 2003 and quickly rose to the top of the ranks, beating competitive eaters such as Ed "Cookie" Jarvis and Eric Booker. The 98-pound Thomas is the number four competitive eater in the United States. Her nickname "The Black Widow" refers to her ability to regularly defeat men four to five times her size. 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 dogs in 12 minutes at Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, setting a then-record for American competitors. On August 8, 2005, she consumed 35 bratwursts in 10 minutes, beating the previous 10-minute record of 19.5 bratwursts, although her record was beaten in 2006 by Takeru Kobayashi.³