Eating champ downs 45 slices of pizza

Joey Chestnut, 24, takes title by accomplishing feat in just 10 minutes

	"Humble" Bob Shoudt of Royersford, Pa., left, and fellow competitive eater Joey Chestnut of San Jose, Calif., devour slices of cheese pizza at the first Famous Famiglia World Pizza Eating Championship contest Sunday in New York City. Chestnut ate 45 cheese slices in 10 minutes to win the contest.
Rhonda Vanover / Getty Images

Video: Life

More video

Around the world on World AIDS Day
Dec. 1: The 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day is being observed in different ways all over the world. Msnbc.com's Keva Andersen reports.

Farmer donates trees to troops

Controversy over wild horses

Annie Leibovitz at work, live on MSNBC

Randy Jackson on weight loss

Economy in Turmoil

What should be atop Barack Obama's "to do" list when he takes office in January? Click here to share your opinion.

NBC Field Notes

NBC News correspondents and producers across the U.S. shed light on the news of the day.

Photo features

Reuters	The Week in Pictures From a community effort to put out a fire to snow-covered vineyards, a look at some of the week’s most compelling images.
Reuters	PhotoBlog View and discuss the pictures and issues that caught our eyes.

updated 10:50 p.m. ET Oct. 12, 2008

NEW YORK - Chowdown champ Joey Chestnut has done it again — this time proving he's a pizza powerhouse.

He downed 45 slices in 10 minutes Sunday to win the first Famous Famiglia World Pizza Eating Championship in New York's Times Square.

The 24-year-old from San Jose, Calif., says he fasted for more than a day to prepare. He folded and squeezed the slices to make them easier to swallow.

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

Chestnut rocketed to competitive-eating celebrity when he won Coney Island's July Fourth hot-dog eating contest in 2007. He took the title again this summer by gulping down 59 dogs in 10 minutes.

He won a contest in Tennessee last month by wolfing down 93 Krystal hamburgers in 8 minutes.