SKIRMISHER

The lanky Chinese emigree Juliet Lee beat two humongous hotdog-eating human balls at the 5th Annual Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest.

Lee, the only woman in Saturday’s field of 13, ate 26 hot dogs in 12 minutes. That was more than the combined efforts of the 360-pound man on Lee’s right and the 359-pound man on her left.

“Seven hundred-nineteen pounds of man, and they are losing to a 107-pound woman!” announcer George Shea yelled in a microphone five minutes into the event.

The crowd cheered. People stood several lines deep to watch.

By the end, some of the competitors had even stopped to stare.

Mike Cotterell, the large Chesapeake man on Lee’s right, stood and shook his head in wonder as the crowd counted down the last 10 seconds. Lee kept stuffing her cheeks.

“I was kind of thinking I could probably outeat her, but she was incredible,” said Joe Tursi, a 359-pound contractor from Virginia Beach who took second with 15 1/2 dogs.

Major League Eating, which sanctions events and promotes professional eaters, is pushing Lee as a breakout star this year, her rookie season.

Juliet says the secret to her success is having grown up in China where there wasn’t always anything to eat.

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