In the absence of 16-time winner Joey Chestnut, Patrick Bertoletti won Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs Fourth of July contest on Thursday. Bertoletti won after eating a total of 58 hot dogs. He came into the event as Major League Eating’s No. 9-ranked eater in the world.
Instead of participating in the Nathan’s Famous contest in Coney Island, Chestnut will be doing a live event later today. He’ll eat hot dogs against several members of the U.S. Military. Last year, he won the Nathan’s Famous contest by downing 62 dogs.
Despite his ban this year, Chestnut has stated that he’s not opposed to competing in the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest in the future, even if there is tension right now.
Chestnut speaks out about Nathan’s ban
This week, Chestnut shared his side of how it got to the point that he wouldn’t be competing. He is arguing that the terms of his agreements were changed and that information was leaked.
“Everything with Impossible was perfectly fine by all my previous agreements,” Chestnut said. “They changed terms and conditions [around] exclusivity. And it’s not the first time they’ve changed some things, but it’s the first time they’ve really changed things after the fact, and I had to say, ’Hey, it’s too late, I’ve already started working with this brand.’ This was never an issue in the past.”
Chestnut says information was leaked about him, including blatant misinformation.
“And they tried to dance around it — they changed a lot of terms, and then they escalated things to a degree they didn’t imagine when they started leaking information and telling people I was banned and that I turned vegan, which clearly isn’t the case,” Chestnut said.
Competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi calls it a career
Former Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest winner Takeru Kobayashi called it a career last month after revealing the strain competitive eating has put on his body in a Netflix documentary. He last competed in the July Fourth contest in 2009. His nemesis, Joey Chestnut, beat him with 68 hot dogs eaten to 64.5 hot dogs after an eat-off contest in 2008.
At the 2010 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, Kobayashi was famously arrested after appearing on stage in the event, after he was banned from competing due to an exclusivity issue with his contract. He claimed he was not trying to compete until the crowd egged him on.
In 2024, Kobayashi decided to call it quits. On “Hack Your Health,” on Netflix, Kobayashi detailed how his many years of competitive eating left his body in an unsustainable state.
“I hear people say they’re hungry, and they look very happy after they’ve eaten. I’m jealous of those people because I no longer feel hunger,” he said in the documentary. “I hope to live a long and healthy life.”
Despite his official retirement, Kobayashi will eat against Chestnut in a special Netflix live event on Labor Day.
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