Neslie Ricasa

Let's get it out of the way: "Sweet" Neslie Ricasa dates Joey Chestnut. And MLE is firmly aware that there are those in the greater eating community who will say, anonymously for they are cowards, that Neslie Ricasa can only eat more than 10 HDBs because Joey Chestnut gives her the inside tips she needs. True, Chestnut—the greatest eater who has ever lived—imparts the knowledge gleaned at the table to his beloved. How to bite. When to use the water. And Neslie Ricasa listens. She listens well. But it's the lady doing the eating, people, not Chestnut's advice. For anyone who has ever seen Gisele Bundchen throw a deep post will know that emotional proximity to sporting greatness has zero to do with being able to play the game. (Seriously, Bundchen's mechanics are a joke and the subject of much backstage teasing at the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.) Ricasa ate 14 hot dogs and buns on the main stage at Coney in 2013, a personal best. In August 2013, Ricasa ate in a non-HDB discipline for the first time, eating 59 dumplings in 10 minutes at the Day-Lee Foods World Gyoza Eating Championship.