No hot dog is safe from Joey Chestnut.
On July 4, the Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest went forward as planned — but without Chestnut’s familiar face and trademark gorging that secured him last year’s win and made him a 16-time Coney Island champion.
Instead, Chesnut attended a meet-and-greet event at Texas military base Fort Bliss and competed against four soldiers for charity. The professional eater won, downing 57 franks in five minutes — the soldiers collectively ate 49 hot dogs in the same amount of time.
This time, in Brooklyn, Patrick Bertoletti took home the mustard yellow belt, eating 58 hot dogs in the standard competition time of 10 minutes. (Miki Sudo broke the women’s record by eating 51 hot dogs this year.)
In June, Chestnut said on social media that he would not be participating in the Nathan’s Famous event this year, but he never said he was going to spend Independence Day glizzy free. The day before the Fort Bliss event, Chestnut told USA Today he hoped to beat this year’s Nathan’s winner in half the time — he nearly did it more than 2,000 miles away.
“I think the most I’ve ever done in five minutes, even in practice, is 55 and so they were pushing me and I wasn’t holding back,” Chestnut said on stage after his July 4 win.
Chestnut also says he was grateful to have been invited by Fort Bliss, and to be able to do what he loves on the Fourth of July.
“The crowd was awesome and really pushed us,” Chestnut tells TODAY.com in an e-mailed statement. “The team of soldiers was amazing and made sure I was at my best and kept pushing. It was a really fun environment and a fun competition, and that just helped me get in a groove. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten that many hot dogs in five minutes and I was in a great rhythm. I felt like that was my best performance in years.”
Still, some don’t think Chestnut’s feat of feasting is as impressive as it may sound.
“Comparing the results from a five-minute contest and 10-minute contest would be like comparing the fastest times for running the mile and the marathon, and then concluding that the marathoners are slow because the miler could—if you extrapolate with no sense of reality—run the marathon in half the time,” George Shea, announcer for the annual Nathan’s contest and commissioner of Major League Eating (MLE), tells TODAY.com over email.
“It makes a good story, but it is absurd,” Shea continues. He adds that although Chestnut ate 57 hot dogs in five minutes, “that does not mean he could eat 114 all-beef hot dogs in 10.” Chestnut’s 2023 Nathan’s count totaled 62 hot dogs.
While Shea thought Chestnut was eating plant-based hot dogs down in Texas, a representative for Impossible Foods confirmed to TODAY.com they were, in fact, all-beef franks. The company also says the Fort Bliss competition raised $106,000 for Operation Homefront.
“Joey’s fallout with Nathan’s happened quickly, and it was frankly pretty surprising,” Impossible Foods CEO Peter McGuinness tells TODAY.com via email. “We were expecting Joey to compete at Nathan’s event on the 4th, and we would have supported him unconditionally.”
“It was never about Impossible Foods versus Nathan’s,” he continues. “Giving consumers delicious, nutritious options is what we’re all about. It was an honor and a lot of fun to be at Fort Bliss for the 4th watching Joey eat 57 hot dogs in 5 minutes alongside our military.”
Why was Chestnut not at the Nathan’s Famous competition this year?
Chestnut’s June 11 Instagram post stated that he learned he wouldn’t be able to participate in the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest from the media rather than from its hosts, MLE and Nathan’s.
“I was very disappointed to learn from the media today that after nearly 20 years I am banned from the Nathan’s 4th of July Hot Dog Eating Contest,” Chestnut wrote. “I love competing in that event, I love celebrating America with my fans all over this great country on the 4th and I have been training to defend my title.”
At the time, MLE sent a statement to TODAY.com disputing claims that Chestnut was “banned.”
“There is no ban,” MLE co-founder Richard Shea told TODAY.com. “Major League Eating wants him there. The fans want him there. Nathan’s wants him there.”
While Chestnut wrote that he didn’t have a contract with MLE or Nathan’s, the competitive eating league told TODAY.com that they’ve been operating under “the same basic hot dog exclusivity provisions” for nearly 20 years.
“We are devastated to learn that Joey Chestnut has chosen to represent a rival brand that sells plant-based hot dogs rather than competing in the 2024 Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest,” MLE said in a statement to TODAY.com.
The statement also claimed that MLE and Nathan’s “went to great lengths” to accommodate Chestnut and his management, allowing him to compete in a rival unbranded hot dog eating contest on Labor Day in addition to other concessions.
Fans of the champion, who goes by the nickname Jaws, can watch him go bun-to-bun with the only person who’s ever beaten him on Coney Island: Takeru Kobayashi. The two will face off on September 2 for “Unfinished Beef” streaming on Netflix.
