Every year I post a video of Nathan’s July 4 hot-dog-eating contest, and every year readers respond with a near-universal “ECCH!” And the results are nearly always the same. This year, competitive eater Joey Chestnut, 36, won for the 13th time in 14 years, beating his previous record by one dog. Remember, these are dogs with buns, and remember that the pace was 7.5 dogs per minute!
Here’s Chestnut’s world-record performance, conducted under pandemic conditions this year: no crowd to cheer on the gluttony, contest inside rather than outside, and only five contestants.
I do love my dogs (I’m from Chicago after all), preferably dragged through the garden.
The woman’s record was set by Miki Sudo:
The Coney Island tradition allowed betting this year. The coronavirus crisis forced some changes, too. Spectators weren’t allowed to watch in person. Competitors were separated by clear barriers. And the people bringing them fresh supplies wore masks.
“It was hard, but I knew I was fast at the beginning,” Chestnut said on ESPN. “The dogs were cooked really well today. At minute 6 is where I missed the crowd. I hit a wall. It took a little more work to get through it.”
Miki Sudo ate 48.5 hot dogs to win the women’s division and set a world record. It’s her seventh title, more than any woman ever.
Here’s Sudo’s new record:
Good grief! Ignatius J. Reilly was clearly an amateur. (Actually, he may have been a professional since he was eating the hotdogs he was meant to be selling…)
ECCH!
Too bad, Dr. Bill. I’m gonna put it up next year, too.
Isn’t there anyone else out there who finds this absolutely repulsive? Why can’t the vendors who supply the hot dogs donate them to people who really need them? I know I’m being a spoilsport here, but ….
Absolutely. I’ll never get the appeal, or the reason for existence, of eating contests.
Am I supposed to be ravished in to admiration for these people for engaging in this bizarre and aesthetically hideous performance?
Repulsive, yes, absolutely.
Encouraging people to eat ridiculous amounts of food as rapidly as they can, in an age when obesity is one of the major health problems.
You are not a spoilsport, your reaction is eminently sensible.
Americans- such strange creatures! 😉
Really amazing these blokes. It is a wonder that any of them live to maturity.
Maturity? They don’t. Look at their history
Umm. . . haven’t you heard of one of the world’s most famous competitive eaters, the Brit Leah Shutkever?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4LK8W3w7Uw
Brits–such strange creatures!
Noooo! Mea culpa.
Unless… can I spin this as some kind of American cultural imperialism…?
I won’t even ask where do they put it, but I know where its going.
My wife (an ex-pat American) and I marked the Fourth of July with hot dogs for lunch, but just one each.
I can eat three or four.
Same here. Also, that fourth hot dog would remind me of past times I have overeaten. Competitive eating is well down on the list of possible professions I would consider.