Subscribe
Follow Us
16-time Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest Champion Joey Chestnut is the greatest competitive eater of all time, but he still strives for new heights. The 41-year-old will attempt to break his own world record for popcorn consumption at farm supply store Rural King in South Terre Haute, Indiana, on Monday. He'll devour as much as possible in eight minutes.
Chestnut, who owns over 55 eating world records, downed 32 24-ounce servings of popcorn in the same amount of time at Victory Field in Indianapolis on Aug. 22, 2022. However, the San Jose State alum is still hungry.
Chestnut spoke to ClutchPoints on Sunday about his love for his work and his mindset headed into this Memorial Day event.
Joey Chestnut Q&A
Joshua Valdez: So first things first, what made you want to get into competitive eating in the first place?
Joey Chestnut: It's weird. Growing up, I was always the biggest eater in my family. And it was something I would actually get in trouble for. My brothers and my mom would actually get mad at me for eating too fast. And when I was going to college, I was kind of ashamed of it. I'd be self-conscious. I'd be aware that I'd try to eat like a normal person. But eventually my friends knew I could eat, and I ended up getting signed up to one contest, and I absolutely loved it. It wasn't even a goal to become a competitive eater. It was like once I did that first contest, I was like, “oh my God, I found something I love, and I don't have to hold back.” Everything was perfect, like eating on stage and not having to hold back and beating people. And then at the end there's like a prize. As soon as I did the first contest when I was 21, I fell in love with it.
Joshua Valdez: What was it about it that made you love it so much?
Joey Chestnut: I mean there's just this whole thing. I'm naturally a big eater, and I'm so used to having to hold back and slow down, especially in public. In public, you're like, “all right, I've got to eat.” You have to eat with manners. And then when you're on stage, all that goes out the window. You're eating in front of people. You're sweating. You're not scared of making a mess. It's competition. There's no holding back. It's just – it's primal. It's weird. I absolutely loved every bit of it. And then there's like the audience yelling and smiling and some of them gasping because it is crazy. The audience really has been a crazy motivator.
Joshua Valdez: How do you train for competitive eating events? Do you ever get sick from eating?
Joey Chestnut: Getting sick? Sometimes. I mean if runners run enough, they're eventually going to trip and fall a little bit. There's things that are going to happen every now and then. [But] eaters have to eat, and I practice through eating and pushing my tolerance. If I'm taking in too much air or too much water, there's a chance I could get sick. If I'm doing a contest and it's super hot outside and I'm dehydrated before the contest starts, then that's the most likely time that I'll get sick. But [after] a lot of competitive eating and practice, you just build a tolerance with the food, get your technique down. And once you establish one number, you're like, all right, you can convince yourself to do a little bit more the next time.
Joshua Valdez: Do you have different strategies with different foods?
Joey Chestnut: Oh, absolutely. Yeah, you have to find a different rhythm for every food. So every food you have to find the rhythm with bite, chew, swallow, and then breathe and drink water. Whatever contest you have, there's all the elements. And some of the contests you need to drink more water, some drink less. Some contests you can take more bites in between your breaths. Some of them are slower, so you have to breathe. You can't take too many swallows in between your breaths. So it's practices. I've found my perfect rhythm of shoving huge handfuls, taking sips of water in between almost every swallow. The water really helps the popcorn go down.
Whereas hot dogs, I don't have to take water every time. So with this one I found the perfect rhythm and sneaking in my breaths. I have to make sure I don't breathe when I'm putting the popcorn right up to my face because I might have inhaled some through my nose. So there's like little things that you just have to be aware of. It's just like everything in practice, and then the day of the contest I'll be ready and I just go into machine mode.
Article Continues Below
Joshua Valdez: Tell me more about “machine mode.” What does that mean to you?
Joey Chestnut: I always say the first bite is always the hardest, and then once I get that first bite down, then I can just try to get in that rhythm. And then if everything is going good, it's like I can [eat] all the way up to the end of the contest, which is very rare, where I can just continue that rhythm all the way to the end. It's very rare. But usually halfway through the contest, things start getting harder. Certain muscles get tired. And then I just have to kind of regroup, like whatever music is playing, or sometimes the audience is chanting. It's hard towards the end. And so I feed off whatever energy is there, and it really helps. But yeah, that initial rhythm, that's where I do really well.
Joshua Valdez: Obviously this time you're going against your own record with the popcorn event tomorrow. Is it strange to compete against yourself?
Joey Chestnut: A lot of the time I'm trying to break my own record. My competitors are great, I do love them. But sometimes at the end of the day, the audience wants to see records…like I did a bologna contest two weeks ago, and I had a record of 13 pounds. And this year I was able to get to 15 and three-quarter pounds, and second place was still, I want to say 12. So I was really pushing myself to break the record. The audience was yelling at me…It's great to compete against people, but everybody wants records.
Joshua Valdez: Is it harder to have to beat yourself? Is it more pressure?
Joey Chestnut: Oh yeah, there's definitely pressure, because I think this record I'm breaking is more than two years old, so I was 39 at the time, now I'm 41. And everybody knows that father time is undefeated…hopefully if I can make a new record at 41, it'd be cool.
Joshua Valdez: Speaking of, what made you want to partner up with Rural King?
Joey Chestnut: It's a great brand. I moved out to Indiana three, four years [ago]. Oh my God, it's more than four years ago now. And yeah, so they're out here, it works perfect. It's funny, as soon as you walk into their stores, there's popcorn. It's free popcorn. You can shop and eat popcorn, and it's a great match. I think everybody can kind of relate to popcorn. It's easy for people to imagine eating a lot of it.
Joshua Valdez: Lastly, what keeps you motivated? Obviously you've had a long, decorated career. How do you stay inspired?
Joey Chestnut: Oh, I have perspective. I went to school, got the engineering degree, worked in construction management, and I used to work. I used to have to answer 50 emails a day, which is a nightmare, and I used to do scheduling and argue over change orders, and now I get to travel around and eat. Anytime I'm thinking like, “oh my God, I feel like garbage,” or “my diet's a little bit hard,” I can remember sitting in traffic, my old daily commute, so I have a pretty good perspective. I have a pretty good gig. I get to travel, eat, make people happy, and hopefully make records.
