By: Tiffany Han

On July 4, 2023, James Webb came in third place at a hot dog eating contest on Coney Island, in which he ate 47 hot dogs in 10 minutes. This is an amazing feat for what Webb went through, previously suffering from child obesity and later from Guillain-Barre syndrome, or GBS. He remembers spending18 months in the hospital at age 27: “Basically, I went to sleep one night as a professional soccer player and woke up paralyzed.”

Over this period of time, Webb also developed cataracts, which caused him to become blind, giving up his dream of becoming a professional soccer player for good. However, thanks to a new treatment and eye surgery, Webb went on to lead a normal life again.

Webb’s eating career started when he once ate a 5kg hamburger, wedges, fries, onion rings, three cans of soft drink, and a piece of cheesecake at a Cessnock restaurant. The burger was so big that 55 people had tried to eat it and failed. Luckily, someone nearby recorded the event and sent it to the local newspaper. The next morning when Webb woke up, his mother wanted to know why he was featured on TV.

During the pandemic, Webb posted his meals on social media. Eventually, a lot of restaurants and cafes started paying him to eat their food. In early 2022, America’s Major-league Eating (MLE) invited Webb to compete in the US. He completed 26 food challenges and contests in 10 days and became a professional eater for a living.