This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

Please enable Javascript to watch this video

ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI) - The Nathan's female hotdog eating champ shows challenges Tim Ezell on live TV.

Marlene Wigginton, a software engineer from Troy, Ill., bested the other women in the contest with nine and a half hot dogs. As the top female eater, she earned the right to go to the finals in Coney Island.

She wanted to participate in a hot dog-eating contest since she was in high school, and she trained for the event by eating large meals over the last couple of weeks.