I love this contest. I was a Kobayashi fan before there was a Joey Chestnut. I’ve been watching this for a long time. My wife thinks it’s disgusting, but her manners came from Europe and she never was in a fraternity.
He’s the top dog for a reason.
Joey “Jaws” Chestnut gobbled his way to victory once again at the Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest Saturday in Coney Island, scarfing down 66 wieners and buns in a dominant performance he said was hampered only by the scorching temps.
“Eating here on the Fourth of July is a dream; it’s electric. There’s no place better on Earth,” said Chestnut, wearing a gaudy, bejeweled Polymarket necklace, for the sports betting company, around his neck.
The win earned Chestnut, 41, his record 18th coveted Mustard Yellow Belt, the Stanley Cup to competitive eaters, and $10,000. It was his second consecutive title.
On the women’s side, Florida mom Miki Sudo captured her 12th championship belt by scarfing down a gut-busting 38.75 wieners.
The temperature at the start of the men’s contest was 90 degrees, and Chestnut admitted the weather took a toll on his high-octane eating.
“I usually don’t have this much spare room left over, but we’ll see — something cold,” he said.
“It’s definitely hard. I didn’t want to go into it saying it’s going to affect me, I wanna go into it and convince myself that I can work through it,” he said.
“I didn’t want to let it bother me. I didn’t want to push it because if I push it, then things will get stuck in my throat and then I just needed to stay calm and keep going.”
After his win, Chestnut told The Post he still had room for dessert.
Chestnut, who has won 18 times out of 21 appearances at the internationally televised event, crushed the second-place winner, Patrick Bertoletti, 41, who managed 51 hot dogs, but was well shy of his own 2021 record of 76 wieners and buns.
In 2024, Chestnut was banned from the contest over his sponsorship deal with plant-based meat substitute company Impossible Foods, leaving Bertoletti the victor—and the first person since 2015 other than Jaws to win the contest, with 58 dogs and buns.
Defending champ Sudo, 40, said there was no way she was going to lose this July 4th — America’s 250th birthday,
Delusions of Adequacy 