Joey “Jaws” Chestnut isn’t letting a disqualification get in the way of defending his title at the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest.
Per USA Today, the 16-time champion of Nathan’s worldwide famous contest is hosting his own contest at the Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso, Texas this Fourth of July. He will be facing off against soldiers at the base, but he also hopes to beat the number of hot dogs consumed by the winner of Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest despite a tighter time restriction.
Nathan’s contest runs for ten minutes, while Chestnut’s rival event will last just five. The record at Nathan’s is 76 hot dogs and buns, which he set in 2021, and now he’s planning to eat as many as 56 in half the time. The event will be livestreamed on YouTube and will open with a pizza eating contest before getting to the main event, which will be followed by a Q&A with the throat goat himself.
“I wish them luck on that,” said Major League Eating’s George Shea, who serves as the emcee for the event. ” I guess it’s possible that Joey’s such an amazing eater that he could do that [eat more hot dogs than the Nathan’s winner in half the time] and that may be a way to snub us on Coney Island. But it’s just not going to the Nathan’s Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest.”
Chestnut was disqualified from the annual July 4th event last month because he signed a deal with one of Nathan’s biggest competitors, vegan brand Impossible Foods.
