Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi renewed the most competitive rivalry in competitive eating on Monday in Netflix’s “Unfinished Beef” special, with Chestnut winning 83-66. Chestnut’s 83 hot dogs broke the world record for most eaten in 10 minutes, without dunking them in water, in the history of competitive eating. Chestnut won $100,000 in prize money.
“I’ve been trying to hit 80 hot dogs for years, and without Kobayashi I was never able to,” Chestnut said after the contest. “He drives me, we weren’t always nice to eachother, but we push eachother to be our best.”
Chestnut was the heavy favorite across most betting sites in, arguably, the most highly-anticipated competitive eating contest in the sports’ history. The special renewed a storied rivalry in the sport, as the two competitors, known as the two greatest competitive hot-dog eaters, last faced off in 2009.
Chestnut first competed at the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest in 2005. In 2007, he won his first title, downing 66 hot dogs to dethrone Kobayashi, who had already won six titles, marking the start of the rivalry.
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Joey Chestnut sits with the trophy and belt after he won first place, eating 63 hot dogs in 10 minutes, during the 2022 Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4, 2022. (Kena Betancur/Getty Images)
Kobayashi lost to Chestnut again in 2008 and 2009. Then a contractual dispute meant that Kobayashi was no longer able to compete at Coney Island, leaving Chestnut to win the next 16 times. But then this year, Chestnut was barred from the famed contest too, for an endorsement deal. Chestnut signed a sponsorship with Impossible Foods, which specializes in plant-based alternatives to meat products. Major League Eating has since walked back the ban, but Chestnut decided.
Chestnut instead competed in Fort Bliss, Texas, for his Fourth of July feast and competed against Army soldiers. Chestnut ate 57 hot dogs and buns, outdoing four competitors combined, who tallied 49 hot dogs and buns in total.
Joey Chestnut, winner of the 2021 Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog-Eating Contest, poses for photos in Coney Island’s Maimonides Park, July 4, 2021, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman, File)
Competitive eating is most popular in the United States, also in countries including Canada, Germany and Japan, but health experts have criticized it, and China banned it in 2021.
Meanwhile, Kobayashi revealed in May in the Netflix documentary, “Hack Your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut,” that he was retiring from competitive eating after no longer feeling hungry and wondering “what damage I’ve done to my body” after estimating he’s consumed 10,000 hot dogs in his career.
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Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi attend press conference for LIVE Chestnut vs. Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef at the Hyper X Arena at the Luxor on Sept. 1, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (David Becker/Getty Images for Netflix © 2024)
But after ceasing competitive eating for the past five years, he said on “TODAY,” the opportunity to scarf down hot dogs again with Chestnut “means a lot” because he’s retired.
Chestnut now leads the head-to-head record between the two competitors, 4-2.
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