The winner of the annual Carnegie Deli pickle-eating contest was crowned today, and, despite the dreary weather, champion Mike Hoffman of Farmingdale, Long Island, beamed a ray of sodium-enhanced light through the afternoon fog.

Hoffman, who is nicknamed "The Skinny," consumed 20 full sours, or 1.8 lbs worth of the pickles, in five minutes. “In five minutes I got them down,” Hoffman said. “It was a very delicious five minutes, I can tell you that.” For his efforts, Hoffman received a trophy and "the pleasure" (in his words) of eating 20 pickles.

While Hoffman's 1.8 lbs is impressive, it's still nowhere close to record-holder and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Silwa's stats, which clock in at a kidney-straining 3.8 lbs. Hoffman followed his victory pickles with a pastrami sandwich from the restaurant inside, and, presumably, a very long nap.