My own hot dog eating has dropped off in the last few years since going vego, as soy versions just don’t quite cut the mustard (ahem), but legendary wiener-scoffer Joey ‘Jaws’ Chestnut hasn’t been slacking off, and has just claimed a new hot dog eating world yet again.
Already laying claim to the title of world’s best consumed of tubular ‘meat’, Jaws won Nathan’s Famous July Fourth hot dog eating contest for a crazy 11th time, setting a new high mark of 74 hot dogs along the way – including the buns.
As ABC reports, he topped the competition by 10 dogs and beat his own previous world record by 2, while the women’s champ Miki Sudo downed 37 on her way to a fifth-straight win.
“I found a vicious rhythm, I was feeling good today,” Jaws told the crowd after the win – although his victory was marred at first by some controversy, as there was some confusion among the judges.
It took Brooklyn district attorney Eric Gonzalez stepping in and verifying the totals to settle things, and nab both winners their $10k grand prizes.
The contest has been running for decades, and for us outsiders, the Independence Day tradition seems like a perfect celebration of every American stereotype you could ask for.
Of course, many of us remember a Japanese legend by the name of Kobayashi who set the record of 50 hot dogs back in 2001, and introduced competitive eating to the world as a minor celebrity, holding the record of 69 dogs until Joey Chestnut came along in 2016.
For his part, Joey wishes Kobayashi were still competing today, saying that he felt the intense rivalry that built between the two helped drive him to keep striving for new records. He
Despite the lack of any serious competition though, it seems that Jaws is still as hungry as ever. And after staring at that pile of meat and bread, I might even be able to stomach one of IKEA’s new vegetarian hot dogs in his honour.
Watch Joey ‘Jaws’ Chestnut training for the hot dog eating world record:
