It was a hard decision to give up a normal job. I worked hard to get through school. You go from building a fire station to an eating contest.

I can't tell you all my secrets to how I can eat so many. Someone out there might copy it. But I will tell you this: The night before the competition, I sleep only four hours. That means when I actually do eat, my stomach will want to digest the food quicker.

Maybe in America there's more of an emphasis on food than there should be. But when I look out at the audience during a competition, some people are shocked, but most people are smiling.

I was able to get a civil engineering degree and travel around the world and eat.