Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest

TheNathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contestis an annual Americanhot dogcompetitive eatingcompetition. It is held each year on July 4 atNathan's Famous' original, and best-known, restaurant at the corner of Surf andStillwell AvenuesinConey Island, a neighborhood ofBrooklyn, New York City.
The contest has gained public attention since the mid-2000s due to the stardom ofTakeru "The Tsunami" KobayashiandJoey Chestnut. The defending men's champion isPatrick Bertoletti, who ate 58 hot dogs in the 2024 contest. The defending women's champion isMiki Sudo, who ate 51 hot dogs in 2024.
Major League Eating(MLE), sanctioned by theInternational Federation of Competitive Eating(IFOCE), has sanctioned the event since 1997. Today, only entrants currently under contract by MLE can compete in the contest.
The field of about 20 contestants typically includes the following:
The competitors stand on a raised platform behind a long table with drinks and Nathan's Famous hot dogs in buns. Most contestants have water on hand, but other kinds of drinks can and have been used.Condimentsare allowed, but usually are not used. The hot dogs are allowed to cool slightly after grilling to prevent possible mouth burns. The contestant who consumes (and keeps down) the most hot dogs and buns (HDB) in ten minutes is declared the winner. The length of the contest has changed over the years, previously 12 minutes, and in some years, only three and a half minutes; since 2008, 10 minutes.
Spectators watch and cheer on the eaters from close proximity. A designated scorekeeper is paired with each contestant, flipping a number board counting each hot dog consumed. Partially eaten hot dogs count and thegranularityof measurement is eighths of a length. Hot dogs still in the mouth at the end of regulation count if they are subsequently swallowed.Yellow penalty cardscan be issued for "messy eating",and red penalty cards can be issued for "reversal of fortune" (vomiting), which results in disqualification.If there is a tie, the contestants go to a 5-hot-dog eat-off to see who can eat that many the quickest. Further ties will result in a sudden-death eat-off of eating one more hot dog in the fastest time.
After the winner is declared, a plate showing the number of hot dogs eaten by the winner is brought out for photo opportunities.
The winner of the men's competition is of the coveted international "bejeweled" mustard-yellow belt. The belt is of "unknown age and value" according to IFOCE co-founder George Shea and rests in the country of its owner. In 2011,Sonya Thomaswon the inaugural women's competition and its "bejeweled" pink belt.
Various other prizes have beenawardedover the years. For example, in 2004Orbitzdonated a travel package to the winner. Starting in 2007, cash prizes have been awarded to the top finishers.
The Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest has been held at theoriginal locationonConey Islandmost years since about 1972, usually in conjunction withIndependence Day.As Coney Island is often linked with recreational activities of the summer season, several early contests were held on other holidays associated with summer besides Independence Day; for example, multiple contests in the 1970s were scheduled onMemorial DayorLabor Day.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the competition was dominated byJapanesecontestants, particularly Kobayashi, who won six consecutive contests from 2001 to 2006. In 2001, Kobayashi transformed the competition and the world of competitive eating by downing 50 hot dogs—smashing the previous record of 25.5. The Japanese eater introduced advanced eating and training techniques that shattered previouscompetitive eatingworld records. The rise in popularity of the event coincided with the surge in popularity of the worldwide competitive eating circuit.
In recent years, a considerable amount of pomp and circumstance have surrounded the days leading up to the event, which has become an annualspectacleofcompetitive entertainment. The event is presented on an extravagant stage complete with colorful live announcers and an overall party atmosphere. The day before the contest is a public weigh-in with themayor of New York City. Some competitors don flamboyant costumes and/ormakeup, while others may promote themselves with eating-relatednicknames. On the morning of the event, they have a heralded arrival to Coney Island on the "bus of champions" and are called to the stage individually during introductions. In 2013, six-time defending championJoey Chestnutwas escorted to the stage in asedan chair.
The competition draws many spectators and worldwide press coverage. In 2004 a three-story-high "Hot Dog Eating Wall of Fame" was erected at the site of the annual contest. The wall lists past winners, and has a digital clock which counts down the minutes until the next contest. In 2007, an estimated 50,000 came out to witness the event. Despite substantial damage suffered atNathan'sdue toHurricane Sandyin October 2012, the location was repaired, reopened, and the 2013 event was held as scheduled.
ESPN has long enjoyed solid ratings from its broadcast of the Hot Dog Eating Contest on Independence Day, and on July 1, 2014, the network announced it had extended its agreement withMajor League Eatingand would broadcast the contest through 2024.The most recent broadcast rights deal, announced in November 2022, will keep the contest airing on ESPN through 2029.
In 2003 formerNational Football LeagueplayerWilliam "The Refrigerator" Perrycompeted as a celebrity contestant. Though he had won a qualifier by eating twelve hot dogs, he ate only four at the contest, stopping after just five minutes.The celebrity contestant experiment has not been held since.
At the 2007 contest, the results were delayed to review whether defending champion Kobayashi had vomited (also known as a "Roman method incident" or "reversal of fortune") in the final seconds of regulation. Such an incident results in the disqualification of the competitor under the rules of the IFOCE. The judges ruled in Kobayashi's favor. A similar incident occurred involving Kobayashi in 2002in a victory overEric "Badlands" Booker.
On July 4, 2011,Sonya Thomasbecame the champion of the first Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest for Women.Previously, women and men had competed against each other, except for one Memorial Day competition held in 1975.Eating 40 hot dogs in 10 minutes, Thomas earned the inauguralPepto-Bismol-sponsored pink belt and won $10,000.
In 2020, due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, the contest was held without spectators at an indoor location inWilliamsburg, Brooklyn, and only five eaters competed in each category instead of the usual 15.In 2021, the event was held atMaimonides Park, with a reduced crowd of 7,000.
Kobayashi has not competed in the contest since 2009 due to his refusal to sign an exclusive contract with Major League Eating, which is the current sanctioning body of the contest. In 2010, he was arrested by police after attempting to jump on the stage after the contest was over and disrupt the proceedings. Some witnesses reported that Kobayashi was attempting to congratulate the winner, Chestnut.On August 5, 2010, all charges against Kobayashi were dismissed by a judge in Brooklyn. Despite his six consecutive victories in their annual event, Nathan's removed Kobayashi's image from their "Wall of Fame" in 2011. Kobayashi again refused to compete in 2011, but instead conducted his own hot dog eating exhibition, consuming 69 HDB, seven more than Chestnut accomplished in the Nathan's contest.The sports websiteDeadspindeemed Kobayashi's solo appearance "an improbably perfect 'up yours' to the Nathan's hot dog eating contest."
Chestnut was banned from the 2024 contest due to signing a deal with Impossible Food, which sells plant based products including hot dogs. A Major League Eating executive claimed that Nathan's asked for an exemption to the deal be made regarding Impossible Food's hot dogs which was denied with Major League Eating banning Chestnut as a result.On June 25, Chestnut instead agreed to attendFort Bliss' Pop Goes the Fort celebration and compete in a 4 versus 1 eating competition with a five minute time limit,with Chestnut prevailing 57 to 49 while raising $106,000 forOperation Homefront.
In 2010, Nathan's promoter Mortimer "Morty" Matz admitted to having fabricated the legend of the 1916 start date with a man named Max Rosey in the early 1970s as part of a publicity stunt.
According to that legend, on July 4, 1916, four immigrants held a hot dog eating contest at Nathan's Famous stand on Coney Island to settle an argument about who was the mostpatriotic. Some accounts alleged that a man named Jim Mullen won the first contest.Others describedJimmy Durante, who wasnotan immigrant, as competing in that all-immigrant inaugural contest, which was judged byEddie CantorandSophie Tucker.Another co-founder describes the event as beginning "in 1917, and pittedMae West's father, Jack, against entertainer Eddie Cantor."Nathan made the spurious claim that the contest has been held each year since then except 1941, "as a protest to the war in Europe",and 1971, as a protest to political unrest in the U.S.
The legend grew over the years, to the point whereThe New York Timesand other publications were known to have repeatedly listed 1916 as the inaugural year, although no evidence of the contest exists.
^afinal total may have been affected by interruption from protestor^bthough Walter Paul's 1967 feat is documented in multipleUPIpress accounts from the time, he has also been mentioned in passing in more recent press accounts for supposedly establishing the contest's then-record17hot dogs consumed; several other people have similarly been credited for records of13+1⁄2,17+1⁄2, or18+1⁄2hot dogs consumed; the following feats are not known to be documented more fully in press accounts from the time of their occurrence and, as such, may not be credible and are not included in theResultstable above:
"Several years" before 1986: unspecified contestant,13+1⁄21979: unspecified contestant,17+1⁄21978: Walter Paul (described as being fromConey Island,Brooklyn), 171974: unspecified contestant, 161968: Walter Paul (described as "a rotund Coney Island carnival caretaker"), 171959: Peter Washburn (described as "a one-armed Brooklyn Carnival worker"),18+1⁄2or 171959: Paul Washburn (described as a carnival worker from Brooklyn),17+1⁄21959: Walter Paul (described as a 260-pound man from Brooklyn), 171957: Paul Washburn,17+1⁄2
^athe 1974Labor Dayand 1978, 1979, 1980, and 1990Independence Daycompetitions ended in ties
^athe 1974Labor Dayand 1978, 1979, 1980, and 1990Independence Daycompetitions ended in ties
^aprior to restructuring the competition to offer women's-only contests, the media was known to use the term "women's category" to describe female participation;the top-finishers of the "women's category" in this era included, for2003:Sonya Thomas(25),2004:Sonya Thomas (32),2005:Sonya Thomas (37),2006:Sonya Thomas (37),2007:Sonya Thomas (39),2008:Sonya Thomas (34),2009:Sonya Thomas (41), and2010:Sonya Thomas (36)
In 2003,ESPNaired the contest for the first time on atape-delayedbasis. Starting in 2004, ESPN began airing the contest live. From 2005 to 2017,Paul Pagewas ESPN'splay-by-play announcerfor the event, accompanied bycolor commentatorRichard Shea. In 2011, the women's competition was carried live onESPN3, followed by the men's competition on ESPN. In 2012, ESPN signed an extension to carry the event through 2017.In 2014, ESPN signed an agreement to carry the competition on its networks for 10 years until 2024.
In 2021, Miki Sudo did not compete, as she was 37 weeks pregnant with her first child with fellow professional eater, Nick Wehry. Sudo instead served as an announcer, alongside Mike Golic Jr., Richard Shea, and Jason Fitz.
The Nathan's contest has been featured in these documentaries and TV programs:
News sources typically use puns in head-lines and copy referring to the contest, such as"'Tsunami' is eating contest's top dog again", "couldn't cut the mustard" (A.P.), "Nathan's King ready, with relish" (Daily News) and "To be frank, Fridge faces a real hot-dog consumer" (ESPN).
ReporterGersh Kuntzmanof theNew York Posthas been covering the event since the early 1990s and has been a judge at the competition since 2000.Darren Rovell, of ESPN, has competed in a qualifier.
Each contestant has his or her own eating method.Takeru Kobayashipioneered the "Solomon Method" at his first competition in 2001. The Solomon method consists of breaking each hot dog in half, eating the two halves at once, and then eating the bun.
"Dunking" is the most prominent method used today. Because buns absorb water, many contestants dunk the buns in water and squeeze them to make them easier to swallow, and slide down the throat more efficiently.
Other methods used include the "Carlene Pop", where the competitor jumps up and down while eating, to force the food down to the stomach."Buns & Roses" is a similar trick, but the eater sways from side to side instead."Juliet-ing" is a cheating method in which players simply throw the hot dog buns over their shoulders.
Contestants train and prepare for the event in different ways. Somefast; others prefer liquid-only diets before the event. Takeru Kobayashi meditates, drinks water and eats cabbage, then fasts before the event. Several contestants, such as Ed "Cookie" Jarvis, aim to be "hungry, but not too hungry" and have a light breakfast the morning of the event.
40°34′31.12″N73°58′53.11″W﻿ / ﻿40.5753111°N 73.9814194°W﻿ /40.5753111; -73.9814194