Odds and ends: Hot dog champ eats 103 hamburgers at contest

By The Associated Press

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – A competitive eater who has already triumphed at a famous hot dog eating contest swallowed 103 small hamburgers in 8 minutes Sunday to take home $10,000.

Joey Chestnut, 23, of San Jose, Calif., surpassed the previous record of 97 Krystal burgers – 2 1/2 inches square – held by Japan’s Takeru Kobayashi, set at last year’s Krystal Square Off.

“We never thought we’d see someone anywhere near, let alone past, the century mark when we started the Krystal Square Off in 2004,” said Brad Wahl, vice president of marketing for The Krystal Co.

Chestnut beat 12 other contestants. Kobayashi, who won all previous Krystal Hamburger Eating Championships, didn’t compete this year because of lingering jaw pain from having a wisdom tooth extracted in June.

The 29-year-old Kobayashi received chiropractic treatment before losing his hot-dog-eating belt in the Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July tussle in New York.

Get The Daily Illini in your inbox!

  • Catch the latest on University of Illinois news, sports, and more. Delivered every weekday.
  • Stay up to date on all things Illini sports. Delivered every Monday.
Thank you for subscribing!

Couple receives hotel stay worth $1,600 for only $10

CHICAGO – It was 1947 when newlyweds Larry and Mariam Orenstein honeymooned in Chicago, paying just less than $10 a night for a room at The Palmer House.

Six decades later, the couple stayed in the hotel’s penthouse suite for the same price – part of an offer for long-ago patrons.

The Palmer House allows one-time guests who visited more than 50 years ago to stay at the historic hotel for the price of their original stay – provided guests can submit a receipt. The Orenstein’s room goes for $1,600 today.

The Milwaukee-area residents, both 81, saved their hotel bill, along with other items from their wedding.

In the end, the Orensteins did not even have to pay the $10-a-night bill. As a gift, their 12-year-old grandson, Ze Orenstein, footed the bill.

From Associated Press reports