To paraphrase George Thorogood and Hank Williams, move over old dog, a new hot dog is movin’ in: Patrick Bertoletti has won the this year’s Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island, succeeding the 16-time champ Joey Chestnut who was spit out of the competition after signing an endorsement deal with Nathan’s rival Impossible Foods.
Bertoletti, a 26-year-old Chicagoan, took the Nathan’s men’s title – aka the Mustard Belt – today by eating 58 hot dogs in 10 minutes. See video below.
Last year, Chestnut won with 62 hot dogs; his record was 76 in 2021. Earlier this month he tweeted that he was “gutted” by the the decision from Nathan’s and governing body Major League Eating ban him. “To set the record straight, I do not have a contract with MLE or Nathans and they are looking to change the rules from past years as it relates to other partners I can work with,” he wrote.
Going into today’s contest, the favorite to take Chestnut’s place at the top was James Webb, an Australian ex-pro soccer player. Thirteen competitors from around the world tried for the title including eaters from Brazil and the Czech Republic, with Geoffrey Esper of Massachusetts coming in second today with 53 and Webb at third with 52.
An hour ago, Miki Sudo won the women’s competition with a record-setting 51 hot dogs in 10 minutes, taking the title for the 10th time. She bested her win last year by 11 and a half dogs (and this year’s second place competitor Mayoi Ebihara of Japan by 14). Sudo is studying to be a dental hygienist in Tampa, and after her win today thanked her dental school as well as her family.
The face-stuffing competition – this year was the 108th – is a Fourth of July tradition in New York perhaps second only to Macy’s annual fireworks display, and Chestnut’s forced absence after endorsing the vegan dogs seemed to increase the contest’s national profile this year. Even CNN has been watching the frankfurter developments today.
Chestnut, despite his recent endorsement deal with the plant-based Impossible Foods, apparently is not vegan himself – he competed in a bologna-eating contest in May. Later this afternoon, he’ll be competing against four Army soldiers at Ft. Bliss in what’s billed as an all-beef hot dog eating competition to raise money for military families.
The Nathan’s hot dog contest was shown live in the United States on ESPN2 and ESPN3. It will re-air on ESPN twice tonight. The Chestnut-less men’s competition was scheduled to start around noon ET outside Nathan’s, yes, famous, Coney Island hot dog stand. The women’s competition began at 11 a.m. ET.