Making Money Munching Meatballs

Joey Chestnut, a competitive eater from San Jose, Calif., eats a meatball on his way to taking first place in the first Martorano?s Masters Meatball Eating Championship at Martorano?s inside the Rio, 3700 W. Flamingo Road, Nov. 8. Chestnut consumed 50 meatballs (6.25 pounds) in 10 minutes to set a new world record in the meatball discipline of Major League Eating. Besides the title of Martorano?s Meatball Champion, Chestnut also received $1,500. Henderson native Rich LeFevre came out of competitive eating retirement to consume 33 meatballs for a sixth-place finish. To honor Steve Martorano?s gourmet meatballs, Major League Eating strayed from its conventional competition standards to issue a utensils-only rule for the meatball-eating contest.Jacob Andrzejczak/Special to View Advertisement