When competitive eater Micky Sudo takes
the stage tomorrow at Nathan's Famous
International Hot Dog Eating Contest,
she will be the favorite
to win the title again.
Micky is the top ranked female
competitive eater in the world,
ranked number three overall.
We gave you a little preview lat
week and this time Terry Hollomn
asks her about winning strategi.
OK, Mickey, let's just jump right into it.
To the eight time World
International Eating Champion.
What are some of the secrets
to being a championship eater?
Every food's going to test a
different discipline, but hones,
I think the the biggest factors for me are
just having a really competitive spirit.
I think that's really what's ket
me at the top for all these yea.
I I hate losing even more
than I enjoy winning.
So being incredibly competitive
also doesn't hurt to love food.
You said you took one year off m
competitive eating. Why did you do that?
It was for the only acceptable
reason actually. So I'm coming k
to Coney Island for my 10th yea.
I'm super excited, but this will only be
my 9th belt because in 2021 I was actually
3637 weeks pregnant with my son.
So they allowed me to
serve as guest commentator,
which was an amazing experience.
But I did not compete that year,
so there's a little gap on my w.
I'm still undefeated at Coney Island, but.
Yeah, that was my one year off.
I guess being pregnant
is a good enough excuse.
Your barely was already full.
We'll let you slide with that o.
Honestly, my son is amazing.
Everybody's going to say that I'm biased,
but he's like better than any trophy.
He's like the best prize I've
gotten out of competitive eating
Right on. So let's talk working out and
getting ready for something like this.
Because even though it's eating,
I'm sure it's not something yout
walk into and not be prepared f.
How do you get ready for
a competition like this?
Yeah. So my practice and preparn
really has three parts to it anI
think people just assume that we
practice with food, which we do.
So I'll line up 10 minutes worth
of hot dogs and practice that
way or I'll do a speed run,
but that's really only a third.
Another portion of that would b,
you know, for me it's a lot of cardio.
People incorporate different
routines in the gym.
I like doing cardio because hony
if I can run on the treadmill
for 45 minutes in a hoodie,
I can probably withstand the
New York heat on the 4th of July
exerting all that energy and finally.
There's really the mental compo.
I go back and watch my old foot.
I find too my technique and reay
like critique what I'm doing
so that I can always improve.
So are there different techniqus
for different things that you e?
Cuz I know you do hot dogs on July the
4th and then there's even kimchd
ice cream and all different thi.
So there are different
techniques for different foods.
Absolutely some.
Foods are more technique driven,
Like for hot dogs for example,
a lot of us will grab two meats
and followed by two buns.
There's dunking involved.
I'm actually switching up my
technique a little bit this year
to hopefully hit a higher numbe.
I typically run out of time
before I run out of space,
so techniques big and hot dogs.
For something like chili,
you're really just spooning
food into your mouth.
It's more of a capacity based contest,
so different foods test
different techniques.
OK, you mentioned the dunking.
Now some of those people out hee
watching might not be familiar
with the hot dog eating contest.
You're not just grabbing hot dos
and shoving them in your mouth
with the bun and everything.
What is the dunking technique?
So to really be competitive at the high
level you really need I mean evy
movement and every split second counts.
So by dunking the bun into your
fluid I use warm flavored water.
By doing that you really save
taking a bite and taking a sip.
So it it saves time,
it's more efficient and you
actually consume less water.
It's a technique that that allows you to
eat more in it in a 10 minute duration.
It's not for flavor if anybody was wondering.
So that how I really choose my heart.
So yeah the water is not to add
enhanced flavors to make it sure that.
It goes down to consistency.
Flavor enhancement is really jut
to cut up the flavor of the hot.
I might start with regular wate,
but I'll switch to I use strawb,
orange, banana flavored water.
I mean, it's just a personal preference.
I'm used to it.
To me, that tastes like victory.
It's tricking your brain so that
flavor fatigue doesn't overwhelu
in the later parts of the conte.
We talked earlier about,
you know, the things that you
do to get prepared for this,
both physically and mentally.
I don't think people take into
consideration the mental aspect of it.
Can you speak to that?
I think you know you've eaten 48 1/2.
Have hot dogs.
What is it like when you get to
like hot dog #46 and your brain
is telling, Yeah,
I've been doing this for for 10 years now.
Even before you get to hot dog ,
you're going to hit walls and obstacles.
And this is not just for
competitive eating and hot dog,
but just in life in general.
You're going to get to moments
where you just don't want to
give on where you just going to.
You just want to want to say li,
forget this, I I throw in the t.
It's too hard, it's too difficu.
But like you have to find that
reason or that voice inside your
head saying like this is not wh.
You give up, you,
you have more in you, you keep going.
So like whether I'm eating hot s
or I'm just having a really rough day,
I'm like, this is this is not where you,
this is not where you fold,
you know, keep going, keep goin.
And at least at the table I cany
like it's all over in 10 minute.
Just put it, put through that effort.
And I also tell myself when it's difficult,
good because it's difficult for everybody.
You know,
the true champions are going to like,
keep going and that's what you .
Such inspiring words.
But I could have lived without
knowing about that flavored
water. Bet you won't thinking about that.