Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest: Meet Chicago's only competitor

CHICAGO (WLS) -- So many Americans will chow down on burgers, hot dogs and pies, but some people will do it on a professional level. Sophia Devita is one of them.

"I am signed with the Major League Eating Federation," Devita said. "I got into it after doing food challenges for YouTube and from there I started doing competitions for Nathan's."

Devita is the only person traveling from Chicago to Coney Island to compete in the 2019 Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest.

This is her fourth year competing, so she's got her training routine down pat.

"When I first started I kind of just naturally had a larger stomach because I could eat without training," Devita said. "But now, before challenges, I'll eat a lot of vegetables to stretch out your stomach and drink a lot of water on top of it."

If you've watched the competition before, you've probably seen a lot of people dunking hot dogs buns into cups of water. This is why.

"Basically the point of dipping the bun is you don't have to stop and take a sip of water, you can use the bun as your drink," Devita said.

Even though Devita's not a Chicago native, she's ready to take on the competition and make Chicago proud.

The women's competition will air on ESPN3/ESPN App at 9:45 a.m. CT.

The men's competition will air on ESPN 2 at 11 a.m. CT.