Entertainment
Untold Truths of Matt Stonie (Part 2)
Prior to 2015 Matt Stonie was just another professional eater trying to make a name for himself in the mouth stuffing sport. But on July 4th, 2015 Matt Stonie went from professional eater to giant killer, when he won the famous Nathan’s International Hot Dog Eating Contest, defeating the reigning, and 8-time, champion Joey Chestnut (Joey would go on to win 5 more in a row, including the most recent event in 2020). This single victory catapulted Stonie onto the lips of anyone even vaguely familiar with the world of competitive eating. So much so, that one list of untold truths about the man wasn’t enough. So, like Stonie with hot dogs, get ready to consume even more Untold Truths of Matt Stonie (but unlike Stonie with hot dogs, please don’t dip your device in water first).
10. Matt is Also a Musician
Matt Stonie isn’t just a professional eater. This guy is a jack of all trades. Or at least a jack of a couple trades which include competitive eating and playing music. Stonie has been playing the guitar for most of his life (longer than he has been eating competitively) and really does love performing for people. In an interview back in 2015 he said he’s been playing guitar ever since he was walking. He went on to say how his grandparents bought him a little miniature guitar when he was a kid, and signed him and his brother up for lessons. Music has always been a big part of his professional eating as well. He uses music as a motivational tool when he practices. He has a mix of songs on his iPod that he listens to when practicing at home or gearing up for a contest. Stonie says it just reminds him to get through this and push hard. Stonie doesn’t plan on ending his professional, competitive eating career any time soon. But he already has plans for his second act when this face-stuffing first act is over. When the eating is done Stonie wants to make music his full-time gig. He has said that being a musician would be a dream job.
9. Guess What He Majored in at College
Matt Stonie pushes his body to its limits just as any professional athlete does (although, in different ways than most other athletes). But for a guy whose job is to consume, what would appear to be, an unhealthy amount of food, calories, fat, etc, you might find it ironic to learn that Stonie actually studies Nutrition at College. Matt dropped out of college before graduating, to pursue competitive eating full time, but he was majoring in nutrition at Mission College in Santa Clara, California. And before diving into competitive eating his plans were to become a dietitian. And Stonie knows that people find this fact kind of ironic since nutrition and competitive eating do not go hand in hand. However, he has said that having an interest in food science helps a lot, when it comes to all that eating and what to know. And Stonie does know. He uses his knowledge to give him an an edge in his sport. Helping him figure out how to be competitive while also staying healthy. It took a lot of trial and error to figure out what worked best for him and his body. But as he said in an interview a few years back, what he’s learned in his various classes has drastically helped his understanding of the human body. Well if the music thing doesn’t work out maybe he can be a dietitian for the rich and famous.
8. What is Matt Stonie’s Favorite Food
They say it’s good to love what you do. So, you might think that a competitive eater, with all of the generally fatty foods they have to consume would love said foods. But Matt Stonie’s favorite food isn’t hot dogs, or pizza or chicken wings. This food eating champion’s favorite eats are sushi and curry with rice. In fact, Matt isn’t a huge fan of greasy and salty foods (generally what competitive eating is all about). But that might actually work in his favor. While he has said that when the food is more enjoyable he can eat more, Stonie has also said that you can’t focus on the enjoyment of the food when you’re up on stage since there are a lot of good sponsors out there with great contest food. He went to say that sometimes it’s hard not to enjoy the food when up on stage, and that becomes a problem in a speed eating contest. If you enjoy the food, you’ll slow down and lose. These aren’t foodie competitions he competes in. These are competitive, speed eating contests and even a split-second wasted appreciating the different flavors and the use of spices and ingredients of what you are swallowing could cost you the championship! Although, let’s be honest. We all knew that taste didn’t matter once we saw hot dog competitors soaking the buns in water before stuffing that wet, gross bread down their throats.
7. His Grocery Bills are a Tax Write-Off
Every year when tax season rolls around we all play the same game. The write off game. What can we deduct and get away with. Some of us do it ourselves using online software and others have professional help in trying to find every little tax deduction. One thing that most of us can’t get away with, is writing off our groceries. You could try claiming that you need the food in order to survive and that you have to be alive to do your job (whatever that may be), but we are pretty sure that the government isn’t going to buy that reasoning and you might find an audit notice coming your way. But, if your job is a competitive eater, then you could totally write off your grocery bills, just like Matt Stonie does. And if you were wondering just how worth it writing off his groceries could actually be… Well, when he is in training for a competition Stonie can be consuming upwards of 10,000-20,000 calories a day! While we don’t know the current numbers, but back in 2015 he did an interview in which he said that he spent about $10,000 on training food. And that’s just food for training. So, how much do you spend on groceries?
6. He Donates to Charities
Matt Stonie is currently the third ranked competitive eater in the world and has been able to make a living doing what he loves to do. He has even been able to grow his fan base with a very successful YouTube channel that has millions of subscribers. But he also appreciates his success and has said how lucky he is to have been able to make a living from basically, eating. His earnings for 2015 were in the six figure category. He also acknowledged the fact that people sometimes take issue with his sport – when hunger and starvation are a real issue, not only around the world but right at home in the United States as well. But, he said, not only does Major League Eating do a lot for charity, but Stonie himself seems to care about his community and giving back is something he does. He’s generated thousand dollars for charity from his YouTube videos as well. Matt Stonie iswalking the walk, not just talking the talk.
5. His Family Supports Him 100%
It probably isn’t any parents dream for their kid to grow up and become someone who overstuffs their body with food for sport. And while it probably wasn’t what Matt Stonie’s parents envisioned for their son when he was just a little boy, they now completely support their champion eater. His father, Dorian, is a procurement manager for a computer company. In an interview in 2012, when Matt was still pretty new to the sport and still a few years away from claiming a career-defining victory over Joey Chestnut in Coney Island, Dorian Stonie said how it wasn’t just about the Fourth of July. He was amazed at how many events they put on. He also said that over time he and Matt’s mother have really gotten into the sport and are just as into it as Matt. They frequently go to his competitions to cheer him on. Matt also has a brother who plays an important role as the cameraman for his YouTube channel. Stonie gives his brother credit as being the biggest help to him. Matt has said that he’s not just a cameraman who helps out, but he makes ridiculously funny and stupid comments that are just out there, which make the videos entertaining. No matter what you do, it is always great to have your family’s help and support!
4. What’s Matt Stonie’s Least Favorite Competition Food
Matt Stonie has stuffed a whole lott food down his throat over his years as a Major League Eater and some of that food he has liked, and some of it he hasn’t. But his least favorite food to chow down on in competition is any food of the spicy variety. In fact, Stonie did a Reddit ‘Ask me Anything’ back about six years ago during which he answered a question by replying he won’t eat anything super spicy. No Jalapeno or Habanero contests thank you very much. But in another interview, he jokingly acknowledged that everything has its price, but you’d need to pay him a lot to do any sort of super spicy eating contest. And speaking with a news outlet just a couple years ago he talked about one such competition that he did actually partake in. This contest involved tamales and they put jalapeno oil in the masa. This left Matt with a one word adjective – painful. While spicy competitions are his least favorite, he obviously seems to enjoy sweet ones, as he currently holds records in competitions involving peeps, frozen yogurt, birthday cake, moon pies and pumpkin pie.
3. How Fast Can Matt Stonie Eat A McDonald’s Happy Meal?
The answer is really, really, really fast! You want exact numbers? Okay, well, in December of 2014 Matt “Megatoad” Stonie stuffed down a cheeseburger Happy Meal from McDonald’s in just 15.22 seconds! And we thought saving 15% on car insurance in just 15 minutes was fast. Stonie vacuumed up the cheeseburger, the fries and the soda in record time on his YouTube channel. Matt definitely agreed with his cameraman brother afterwards, when he said he looked all “proud and accomplished.” As well he should be. A really good typist can type up to 90 words per minute. Which means that Matt Stonie would have already finished an entire Happy Meal before a high-end typist could finish typing out just this one little sentence. This isn’t something we want to encourage our kids to try (or even adults for that matter). Matt is a professional eater and has trained his body to be able to accomplish feats such as this. But there is no doubt that it will have us looking at Happy Meals just a little differently from now on. One question though – what happened to the toy?
2. Insane Things Matt Stonie Has Actually Eaten
Where to begin on this one? On their surface, hot dogs aren’t anything insane (unless you actually know what’s in them – but that’s a whole other story). However, eating 62 of them in 10 minutes like Stonie did when he won the Nathan’s Hot Dog eating championship – now that sounds insane. Now to quote every single infomercial, “But wait, there’s more!” How does three pounds of honey sound? Well, unless you’re Winnie the Pooh, it probably sounds like too much honey. Or at least enough honey to last you months. Not if you’re Matt Stonie who downed two 1.5 pound bottles of the stuff in just minutes. It took him a lot longer than a few minutes to accomplish another insane food feat, but in just one hour Stonie made his way through an utterly amazing amount of food known as the Super Bowl Challenge. We’re talking three burgers, a whole large pizza, a massive bowl of Doritos, three bowls of refried beans and 75 chicken wings. The poor guy could barely move after that 20,000 calorie extravaganza – so there were no end zone dances after that glutinous touchdown. It isn’t all fatty and unhealthy foods for Stonie though. In another challenge he performed on his YouTube channel, Matt was able to down a whole pound of raw broccoli in 6 minutes. You think a pound doesn’t sound like a lot. Well, when it comes to raw broccoli it definitely is. Don’t believe us? Try it yourself… Actually, don’t!
1. Here’s How Many World Records Matt Stonie Really Holds
In 2009 when Matt Stonie was 18 years old he won $1000 in a lobster roll eating contest. And while the contest probably gave him a bit of a stomach ache, it also gave him the desire to make food eating his job. Since turning pro in 2011, he has gone on to win numerous competitions, beat the great Joey Chestnut in the biggest hot dog eating contest in the world and has climbed the ranks to currently sit in third spot on the federations list of food competitors. All that in just his first decade in the sport. But that’s not all! This diminutive dude (he only weighs in at about 120-130 pounds) has also broken a number of world food eating-related records. Over the last 10 years Stonie has held over 20 world records at one time or another. But in the world of food eating records, someone is always out to best you. In 2019 Matt held 14 world records and most recently Major League Eating lists 13 records held by Stonie, including among others:
eating 10 pounds spaghetti and red sauce in 8 minutes
182 Strips Smithfield Bacon in 5 minutes
255 Peeps in 5 minutes
15 8oz Pork Roll Sandwiches in 10 Minutes
and 43 Slugburgers in 10 Minutes (no, Slugburgers do not contain any actual slugs)
Matt has held some of his records going on five years now. Which means he has set some pretty impressive marks. How many more will he set? Only time, and his stomach, will tell.