Have you ever thought about eating loads of food for a living? Apparently, most people eat food to nourish their bodies and keep being alive but for some others, eating is not just about keeping healthy and being alive; it is also a sport! One of those people is Matt Stonie, an American competitive eater who also operates as a YouTube page. He gained so much fame when he emerged the winner of the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest in 2015, stunning the defending champion and becoming a force to reckon with in the food eating business.
Matt Stonie is highly likable and funny and this one of the things that attract people to him. As a YouTube star, Stonie also constantly keeps his followers up to date on his YouTube channel where he uploads many eating challenges however many fans have wondered if he still eats competitively and if he still ranks high in the sport. Let’s take a look at his life.
Matt Stonie’s Biography
Matt Stonie, whose real name is actually Matthew Kai Stonie, was born on the 24th day of May 1992. The food eating competitor was born in San Jose, a city in California, the USA. It is noteworthy that even though he is clearly an American, he also has Lithuanian, Japanese, and Czechoslovakian roots.
Stonie was born to a father identified as Dorian Stonie and a mother called Cathy Stonie. He grew up with a younger brother called Morgan Stonie. The siblings are very fond of each other and Morgan is often seen helping Matt Stonie in producing some of the YouTube videos showing his eating challenges.
Growing up, Matt Stonie studied at Evergreen Valley High School and proceeded to attend the Mission College in Santa Clara, California where he majored in nutrition. However, at some point, he left school so that he could focus on his career as a competitive food eater.
Stonie did not grow up thinking of making a career out of competitive eating. It just happened by chance. According to him, he started out as a competitive eater while still in college. At the time, he was low on cash, so he joined the sport as a way of getting some free food and, of course, the chance to win some prizes while eating for free. What started as a fun way of finding free food soon became more serious for him and he decided to properly become a competitive eater, preparing for contests and going in with the mindset to win.
Does Matt Stonie Still Competitively Eat?
Matt Stonie is still a competitive eater at the moment. We know this because he has not announced his retirement from the sport as a competitive eater so, he is apparently still in the game.
Stonie started competing as a speed eater in 2011 when he made his debut in the Major League Eating, an organization that organizes professional competitive eating events. That year, he took part in the Stockton Deep Fried Asparagus Championship which held in Stockton, California. He didn’t do quite well at the championship but he never gave up.
Matt Stonie finally broke into the limelight in 2015 when he shocked the world of competitive eating by beating Joey Chestnut, the then 8-time champion of the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest to emerge winner of that year’s contest. He won after he ate 62 hot dogs while Chestnut ate 60, however, Stonie was dethroned by Chestnut the following year when he came second at the Nathan’s Hot Dogs Eating contest by eating 53 hot dogs while Chestnut ate 70.
Stonie continued competing. In 2017, he finished in third place after consuming only 48 hot dogs. The winner was still Chestnut who ate 72. In 2018, Matt Stonie finished fifth place after he ate 40 hot dogs. That year, Chestnut won again after eating 74 hot dogs. In 2019, Stonie finished in fourth place in his 9th appearance as a competitive eater. Continuing his winning streak, Chestnut emerged the winner yet again in 2019.
Matt Stonie continues to eat competitively and is hoping he can emerge winner again in the near future.
Read Also: Man Vs Food Casey Webb, The Competitive Eater That Succeeded Adam Richman
What Is His Rank?
Matt Stonie ranks quite high in Major League Eating at Number 3. It is noteworthy that over the years, his ranking has been up and down; in 2016, he rose to Rank Number 2 before falling to Rank Number 3 in 2017. Stonie further fell to Rank Number 4 in 2018 before eventually rising to Rank Number 3 position in 2019.
Matt Stonie has amassed many fans over the years and he continues to thrill them with the many videos he makes about eating challenges. He has now attracted millions of subscribers on his YouTube channel and his videos have been viewed for more than 1.3 billion times in total.
