You don’t know Prudence DiBenedetto, but you’ve likely seen her before.
The 32-year-old mother of one is a two-time contestant in the Nathan’s Hot Dog Contest, including the 2018 edition. The Astoria native is one of the most anonymous figures in the history of the spectacle.
On the same stage that Joey Chestnut scarfed down 74 franks in 2018, DiBenedetto stumbled to a measly tally of just four, good enough for last place. She also finished last in 2013 with six hot dogs.
So, how does your average person earn the right to sit alongside competitive eating’s elite class? It starts with an appetite and a flair for the spectacular.
“I like food,” DiBenedetto told The Post. “I like to cook, I like to take pictures of my food… I’m not a fan of hot dogs. But there’s a thrill of telling people, ‘Look what I did.’”
DiBenedetto, an actress, began her hot dog journey in 2013 when she first qualified for the Nathan’s contest.
She was thrilled to qualify that year, but soon saw first-hand the work (and jaw) required to consistently compete at the highest level. DiBenedetto failed to qualify for the next four years’ competitions.
“I’m gonna go to this qualifier, and if I don’t win, I’m either gonna try harder or give up,” she recalls saying ahead of the 2018 qualification process.
Without training at all beforehand, DiBenedetto did in fact win that qualifier — which was held at Citi Field — to secure the last spot in the 2018 competition on July 4.
She had achieved her goal again, but this spectacle was far more daunting. Coney Island wasn’t the same as the Citi Field qualifiers, where a passersby may catch a glance of the eaters before a Mets game. Nor was it similar to her Coney Island experience five years prior.
“In 2013 I don’t remember it being that being that big, that crowded, that noisy, so it’s just a whole shock,” DiBenedetto said of the event that has exploded in popularity.
DiBenedetto was never going to match the numbers of female champion Miki Sudo last year, who ate 37 dogs for her fifth straight belt, but she still underperformed by her standards.
Despite qualifying with seven hot dogs eaten, DiBenedetto finished just four last summer.
She said she normally eats the hot dogs whole — rather than separating the meat and the bun — but switched up her strategy at the halfway point and failed to eat another hot dog from then on.
DiBenedetto first entered the sport with skepticism, casting aside her knack for eating as something trivial.
“When I first did it, I was kinda embarrassed,” she said. “It was kinda something you did at a state fair, and then you put it aside and that’s it.”
That mindset changed last summer, when she made it back to Coney Island for a second time. DiBenedetto saw herself as a legitimate competitor, and is now itching to get back to Coney Island.
DiBenedetto did not qualify for the contest this year, as she was topped at the Citi Field qualifier after not beginning to practice until May.
DiBenedetto said those habits will change moving forward, as she’s committed to becoming an eater ranked in the top 50 and qualifying for Coney Island in 2020.
That will require more practice and even branching out to competitions featuring different foods.
“Not many people can say that they’ve been on that stage,” she said. “And to be on that stage twice — even if I came in last both times — to me, that was amazing.”