Competitive eater, Sonya Thomas is a big deal in Major League Eating, demolishing opponents thrice her size. Her penchant for competitive eating started after she started working at Burger King as a manager, where she would eat enormous amounts of Burger King items to train her stomach to expand.

Speculations have arisen that Thomas suffers from an eating disorder, with Mark Kantor, associate professor at the University of Maryland, opining in 2005, “It wouldn't surprise me if she was bulimic.” Thomas, however, insists that it’s all in her technique, explaining, “They don't understand [...] how you can train.”

Thomas approaches competitive eating with the viewpoint that you have to see it as a challenge, and when she’s off duty, she eats only healthy food. She tries to maintain a healthy lifestyle, and says that the constant movement involved in her job “helps keep [her] metabolism 'revved up.”

Thomas took up competitive eating when she saw legend Takeru Kobayashi “eat 50 Hot Dogs in 2002.” She competed against her idol Kobayashi at the 2004 Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest and secured third place after eating 32 hot dogs, breaking the women’s record.

Thomas would largely compete against men before Nathan’s Famous Championship was divided into Women’s and Men’s divisions in 2011. Since then, Thomas has racked up 21 records from various eating contests, eating quesadillas, hamburgers, crawfish and even deep-fried okra.