Help really
impartial journalism
Our mission is to ship unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds energy to account and exposes the reality.
Whether or not $5 or $50, each contribution counts.
Help us to ship journalism with out an agenda.
Joey Chestnut has competed in a scorching canine consuming contest once more after being barred from competing within the annual Fourth of July Nathan’s Well-known Worldwide Sizzling Canine Consuming Competitors.
On Monday, September 2, Netflix aired a particular titled Unfinished Beef co-hosted by Rob Riggle and Nikki Garcia that featured Chestnut competing towards earlier rival Takeru Kobayashi. Much like the principles within the Nathan’s contest, the 2 needed to eat as many scorching canine and buns in 10 minutes utilizing solely their arms to win $100,000.
Chestnut and Kobayashi have been competing towards one another for years. Chestnut’s first consuming contest was in 2005, the place the winner was Kobayashi. He didn’t go on to beat him till two years later, in 2007. In whole, Chestnut has received Nathan’s scorching canine consuming contest 16 occasions, whereas his competitor has solely received six occasions whereas being banned from competing in 2020 over a contract dispute.
Earlier this yr it was introduced that Chestnut, who has received the standard Coney Island boardwalk contest yearly since 2016, couldn’t compete in 2024 on account of a current model deal made with Unattainable Meals, which launched a plant-based scorching canine possibility.
A consultant for Main League Consuming (MLE), which Nathan’s sanctions to run the occasion, informed The Impartial on the time that it beforehand made changes to the competition particularly for Chestnut, however the final straw was his selecting to symbolize a scorching canine model that isn’t Nathan’s.
Nevertheless, it did conform to let him compete in a Labor Day scorching canine consuming contest that might be taped by Netflix, so long as no scorching canine manufacturers had been talked about.
“We’re devastated to be taught that Joey Chestnut has chosen to symbolize a rival model that sells plant-based scorching canine slightly than competing within the 2024 Nathan’s Well-known Fourth of July Sizzling Canine Consuming Contest,” a statement from MLE mentioned.
“MLE and Nathan’s went to nice lengths to accommodate Joey and his administration group, agreeing to the looks payment and permitting Joey to compete in a rival, unbranded scorching canine consuming contest on Labor Day.”
The assertion ended: “For almost 20 years, we’ve labored underneath the identical primary scorching canine exclusivity provisions. Nevertheless, plainly Joey and his managers have prioritized a brand new partnership with a distinct model over our long-term relationship. Joey Chestnut is an American hero. We’d love nothing greater than to have him on the Nathan’s Well-known Worldwide Sizzling Canine Consuming Contest. We hope he returns when he isn’t representing a rival model.”
The competition continued as regular, with Patrick Bertoletti successful the lads’s contest and Miki Sudo successful the ladies’s competitors – and breaking a file within the course of.
Throughout the Labor Day contest, Chestnut was capable of break his personal private file and end 83 scorching canine in 10 minutes in comparison with Kobayashi’s 66 scorching canine, which additionally beat his private file.
After being topped the winner Chestnut admitted that he had at all times wished to efficiently eat not less than 80 scorching canine and credited his rival for serving to him accomplish that purpose.
“That is wonderful. I’ve been attempting to hit 80 scorching canine for years, and with out Kobayashi, I used to be by no means capable of do it,” he mentioned. “He drives me. We weren’t at all times good to one another, however I really like that we push one another to be our greatest.”
