There will be one less familiar face – perhaps the only familiar one to most – at the Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest on Thursday when the top competitive eaters battle for the iconic mustard belt. Joey Chestnut, Major League Eating’s No. 1 ranked competitor and 16-time winner of the hot dog eating contest, is banned from participating in this year’s competition due to a contract dispute.
Chestnut’s partnership with plant-based food company Impossible Foods led to his banishment from the competition after MLE made the announcement on June 11. It marks the first time Chestnut won’t compete since 2004 and ends his streak of eight consecutive titles dating back to 2016.
Fans hoping to watch Chestnut down some dogs on Independence Day shouldn’t fret. The 40-year-old is still going to put his jaws to the test in a contest against American soldiers at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. Chestnut announced his participation last week.
In a different format from the 10-minute, all-you-can-eat individual contest Nathan’s holds annually, Chestnut will go head-to-head against a group of four soldiers trying to dethrone the hot dog messiah collectively in a five-minute contest. The event will stream on Chestnut’s YouTube channel hours after the Nathan’s Famous contest.
The Fort Bliss contest will serve as a precursor for Chestnut’s hot dog endeavors in 2024. The eating legend is set to face his old rival Takeru Kobayashi in a one-on-one hot dog eating contest on Labor Day to be live-streamed on Netflix. Kobayashi won six consecutive Nathan’s contests before Chestnut began his reign in 2007.
Joey Chestnut on ban, relationship with MLE
Chestnut is not the first and likely won’t be the last competitive eater to get into a contractual dispute with Major League Eating. The organization showed that no one competitor is above others with their ruling on Chestnut, but it potentially stung its relationship with its most marketable star.
Chestnut was blindsided by the news of his ban and how MLE handled the situation.
“Everything with Impossible was perfectly fine by all my previous agreements. They [MLE] changed terms and conditions [around] exclusivity,” Chestnut said, per Emma Baccallieri of Sports Illustrated. “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. 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.”
MLE, run by brothers George and Richard Shea, said in a statement that it conceded the sponsorship issue with Chestnut following his ban. Still, the sides could not agree to new terms, with Chestnut opting to head to the army base in Texas instead.
Despite not competing this year, Joey Chestnut hopes to return in 2025 or at least be in a more formal competition next July 4.
“I don’t think the Shea brothers are bad people. I’m not burning any bridges. And I love it—I love the Fourth of July and that contest. I’m always willing to try. I don’t hold grudges. So nothing is out of the question,” Chestnut said.
Show goes on for Nathan’s Famous without star
Major League Eating doesn’t want to miss a beat without Joey Chestnut. Maybe banning its biggest star makes the men’s contest more appealing this year with a wide-open field.
On the men’s side, it’s expected to be a two-horse race between Geoffrey Esper and James Webb. The second and fifth-ranked competitive eaters, respectively, Esper and Webb are the odds-on favorites with the winning number projected to sit around the 50 hot dogs and buns mark.
On the women’s side, Miki Sudo cleaned up again by setting a women’s record with 51 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes. It is Sudo’s 10th title, winning each of her last 10 appearances in the contest. (Sudo did not compete in 2021 due to her pregnancy).
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