Competitive eating turned tragic Thursday when a South Dakota man choked to death during a hotdog-eating contest.

Paramedics were unable to revive Walter Eagle Tail, 47, after he suffocated while stuffing hotdogs into his mouth at the competition in Custer, S.D., the Rapid City Journal reports.

He was transported to hospital, where he died.

Custer County Sheriff Rick Wheeler told the paper the hotdog got lodged in Eagle Tail's throat, and that the whole tragedy unfolded within minutes.

Organizers cancelled a pie-eating contest scheduled for the next day, the report said.

Competitive eating contests are a popular pastime in the U.S. over the Fourth of July weekend.

On Friday, Joey "Jaws" Chestnut won the annual Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest on Coney Island, N.Y., when he downed 61 hotdogs in 10 minutes, short of his record-setting 69 last year.

There have only been a handful of known deaths associated with competitive eating.