{"id":38682,"date":"2025-07-04T18:07:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T18:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/38682\/"},"modified":"2025-07-04T18:07:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T18:07:09","slug":"joey-jaws-chestnut-reclaims-title-in-famous-hot-dog-eating-contest-wins-17th-mustard-belt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/38682\/","title":{"rendered":"Joey ‘Jaws’ Chestnut reclaims title in Famous hot dog eating contest, wins 17th Mustard Belt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Famed competitive eater Joey \u201cJaws\u201d Chestnut reclaimed his title Friday at the Nathan\u2019s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest after skipping last year\u2019s<\/a> gastronomic battle in New York for the coveted Mustard Belt.<\/p>\n

Chestnut, 41, consumed 70 1\/2 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes, falling short of his 2021 record of 76 wieners and buns. It marked the 17th win in 20 appearances for the Westfield, Indiana, eater at the internationally televised competition, which he missed last year over a contract dispute.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish I ate a couple more. Sorry guys,\u201d a smiling Chestnut told the crowd, many chanting his name. \u201cI\u2019ll be back next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defending champion in the women\u2019s division, Miki Sudo of Tampa, Florida, won her 11th title, downing 33 dogs, besting a dozen competitors. Last year, she ate a record 51 links. She also was apologetic for her performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I let the fans down a little bit. I heard people in the crowd saying, \u2018Go for 52,\u2019\u201d Sudo told ESPN. \u201cObviously, I\u2019m always setting my goals high, but the hot dogs weren\u2019t cooperating. For some reason, the buns felt larger today.\u201d<\/p>\n

A large crowd, peppered with foam hot dog hats, turned out to witness the annual eat-a-thon, held outside the original Nathan\u2019s Famous restaurant in Coney Island, Brooklyn, since 1972. Many fans showed up to see Chestnut\u2019s much-awaited return to an event he has called \u201ca cherished tradition, a celebration of American culture, and a huge part of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

People prepare hot dogs ahead of the 2025 Nathan\u2019s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest in the Coney Island section of the Brooklyn borough of New York, Thursday, July 4, 2025. (AP Photo\/Yuki Iwamura)<\/p>\n

People prepare hot dogs ahead of the 2025 Nathan\u2019s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest in the Coney Island section of the Brooklyn borough of New York, Thursday, July 4, 2025. (AP Photo\/Yuki Iwamura)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Chestnut bested 14 fellow competitors from across the U.S. and the world, including Australia, the Czech Republic, Ontario, England and Brazil. Last year\u2019s winner, Patrick Bertoletti of Chicago, came in second place after gobbling up 46 1\/2 hot dogs and buns, falling short of the 58 he ate to earn the 2024 men\u2019s title.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love being here,\u201d Chestnut told ESPN after his win. \u201cAs soon as I found out I was coming, my body \u2014 it was easy to train. I love doing it. And love pushing myself and beating the heck out of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, Major League Eating<\/a> event organizer George Shea said Chestnut would not be participating in the contest due to a contract dispute. Chestnut had struck a deal with a competing brand, the plant-based meat company Impossible Foods.<\/p>\n

Chestnut told The Associated Press last month that he had never appeared in any commercials for the company\u2019s vegan hot dogs and that Nathan\u2019s is the only hot dog company he has worked with. But Chestnut acknowledged he \u201cshould have made that more clear with Nathan\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, Chestnut ate 57 dogs \u2014 in only five minutes \u2014 in an exhibition with soldiers, at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. He said that event was \u201camazing\u201d and that he was pleased to still have a chance to eat hot dogs \u2014 a lot of them \u2014 on July Fourth.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy I did that, but I\u2019m really happy to be back at Coney Island,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Famed competitive eater Joey \u201cJaws\u201d Chestnut reclaimed his title Friday at the Nathan\u2019s Famous Fourth of July hot…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":38683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[3881,1121,31124,31126,6064,723,57,31129,1819,1818,6323,59,2862,31125,1165,31123,31127,405,403,404,406,31128,62,61,67,132,68,2057,2058],"class_list":{"0":"post-38682","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ap-top-news","9":"tag-brooklyn","10":"tag-competitive-eating","11":"tag-el-paso","12":"tag-fl-state-wire","13":"tag-florida","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-george-shea","16":"tag-il-state-wire","17":"tag-illinois","18":"tag-in-state-wire","19":"tag-inc","20":"tag-indiana","21":"tag-joey-chestnut","22":"tag-lifestyle","23":"tag-miki-sudo","24":"tag-nathans-famous","25":"tag-new-york","26":"tag-new-york-city","27":"tag-new-york-city-wire","28":"tag-ny-state-wire","29":"tag-patrick-bertoletti","30":"tag-sports","31":"tag-u-s-news","32":"tag-united-states","33":"tag-unitedstates","34":"tag-us","35":"tag-wa-state-wire","36":"tag-washington"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114796301785007697","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}