At promptly 10:00 on Saturday 10 contestants gathered outside Eskort Mbombela in the hopes of being crowned the city’s first hot dog eating champion.

“Messy eating was not allowed and competitors could not pour water on the hot dog buns to make them softer,” Eskort owner, André McDonald said.

He called in the help of judge Cornu Gouws, from Radio Laeveld, to ensure that all the rules were followed and that every hot dog that was eaten, was accounted for.

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In the first heat, it was Basie Cremer and Lucas Khoza, who tied for first place. They both ate five hot dogs in the allocated time.

It was, however, Johan Liddle, who walked away as the winner of the competition. He managed to eat six hot dogs in five minutes when he competed in the second heat.

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He was awarded the floating trophy as well as a R1 500 gift voucher to use in the store.

“I travelled all the way from Barberton to compete. I am going to use the money to buy meat for the household and I will probably be making use of the specials they have in store,” Liddle said.

He added that even after eating the six hot dogs, he was not full and that he was ready to eat some more. Each one of the other contestants went home with a gift basket filled with Eskort products and, by all accounts except for Liddle, a full belly.