Sixteen-time Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest champion Joey Chestnut will not participate in the July 4 competition this year, according to Major League Eating, after the U.S. frankfurter connoisseur reportedly opted to be represented by a rival brand that sells a vegan hot dog.
Joey Chestnut will not participate in the 2024 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest over a contract ... [+]
Chestnut, who has taken the title in Coney Island, New York for eight-straight years, chose to represent plant-based food giant Impossible Foods, multiple outlets reported.
Major League Eating, the organization that runs the annual contest, issued a statement saying Chestnut “has chosen to represent a rival brand that sells plant-based hot dogs rather than competing in” Nathan’s hot dog contest.
The group said it “went to great lengths in recent months,” along with Nathan’s Famous, to “accommodate Joey and his management team,” including by allowing him to compete in a rival eating contest on Labor Day.
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Chestnut, who unseated Japanese phenom Takeru Kobayashi with a then-record 66 hot dogs in 2007, has been dominant in the July 4 contest ever since. After that first win, Chestnut went on to take first place in seven consecutive annual contests, breaking his own record in 2009, stomaching 68 hot dogs, and outdoing himself again in 2013 by eating a record 69 hot dogs. Chestnut has only lost in the men’s contest one year since 2007, when he was defeated 65-62 by Matt Stone in 2015. In 2016, Chestnut set a new record at 70 hot dogs, then set a new record in 2017 with 72, another record in 2018 with 74, another in 2020 with 75, and yet another in 2021 with 76.
-4,000. That was the moneyline for Chestnut to win the 2023 contest—which he did—according to DraftKings Sportsbook (a winning $10 bet on Chestnut would net a cautious better 25 cents. Those odds put Chestnut well ahead of the next favored competitor, Geoffrey Esper, at +1,000, or third-favored Nick Wehry at +2,000.