Takeru Kobayashi

Takeru Kobayashi 小林 尊
Kobayashi at the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in 2009
Born	小林 尊 (Kobayashi Takeru?) (1978-03-15) March 15, 1978 (age 38) Nagano, Japan
Other names	"The Tsunami", "Kobi", "The Prince" (in Japan)
Height	5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Weight	128 lb (58 kg)
Website	Takeru-Kobayashi.com

Takeru Kobayashi (小林 尊, Kobayashi Takeru^?, born March 15, 1978) is a Japanese competitive eater. He holds many records, including eight Guinness Records, for eating hot dogs, meatballs, Twinkies, tacos, hamburgers, pizza, ice cream and pasta.

Born in Nagano, Japan, Kobayashi set his first record at his rookie appearance on July 4, 2001, when he ate 50 hot dogs in 12 minutes at the Nathan's Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contest, doubling the previous record of 25. The record was so unexpected that when Kobayashi got to the later numbers, the organizers ran out of signs indicating how many dogs Kobayashi had eaten and had to resort to handwritten signs. Kobayashi would go on to break his own record three times in winning the contest six consecutive times (2001–2006).

In the 2006 Krystal Square Off, Kobayashi's mark of 97 hamburgers was 30 better than his winning total in 2005 and 28 better than the World Record he set in 2004. At a speed-eating contest in Hong Kong on August 13, 2005, Kobayashi consumed 83 vegetarian jiaozi dumplings in 8 minutes. The next day, he ate 100 roasted pork buns in 12 minutes. Kobayashi also won the 2005 Alka-Seltzer US Open of Competitive Eating, a three-hour IFOCE elimination tournament on ESPN, as well as the Glutton Bowl, a two-hour IFOCE eating special that aired on the Fox Network in 2002. However, on Fox's 2003 show Man vs. Beast, Kobayashi lost in an eating competition against a 1089-pound Kodiak bear, when he ate 31 bunless hot dogs in 2 minutes and 36 seconds to the bear's 50. In a 2014 interview, Kobayashi claims to have beaten the bear in the rehearsal. (In October 2012, Kobayashi broke the record held by the bear at the Texas state fair.)