Joseph Chestnut, American folk hero, was banned by Major League Eating from taking the stage at The Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4 of this year due to a new partnership with Impossible Foods. In lieu of the traditional, Netflix held a Labor Day competition which created an opportunity for a rematch between Chestnut and his longtime rival Takeru “Tsunami” Kobayashi. The pair are not on good terms, with Chestnut accusing Kobayashi of faking a jaw injury in a talking head on the broadcast.
Clips of Kobayashi’s past career were shown during the special. This included a cut scene of Kobyashi storming the Nathan’s competition in 2010, which resulted in Kobyashi being dragged away in handcuffs by authorities. This event occurred due to his refusal to sign a contract with Major League Eating and subsequently being barred from the competition. After this incident, he was placed on probation for six months and has not returned to compete against Joey Chestnut since. The rematch is historical for this reason alone.
The broadcast included other small competitions, including one in which Matt Stonie, winner of the 2015 Nathan’s Famous competition with 62 dogs, raced against 3 Olympic athletes in a mini hot dog eating contest. This event was followed by Leah Shutkever, one of the top competitive eaters in the women’s division, breaking the world record for the most watermelon eaten in 3 minutes. The main event came towards the end of the broadcast after extended talking head interviews with both Chestnut and Kobayashi.
A twist that was introduced to the Netflix competition that is not present at Nathan’s is that contestants could not dunk their hot dogs into water before eating them. Kobayashi advocated for this rule, as he thought it was unsightly when contestants had their faces covered in wet hot dog bun remnants. Chestnut expressed concern about this, but it did not end up affecting his performance. Halfway through the ten minute stretch, Chestnut was seven dogs ahead – a lead that Kobayashi never caught up to. Kobayashi finished the competition with 66 hot dogs after judges subtracted one due to the amount of bun that was leftover in his mouth after the competition’s end. While this did not beat Chestnut, it was an improvement on his personal best.
Chestnut finished the competition after eating a total of 83 hot dogs and buns, beating his own previous world record of 76 hot dogs and buns that he set at the Nathan’s Famous competition in 2021.
The ‘beef’ between Chestnut and Kobayashi was apparent, as at the finish of the competition both men stood turned away from each other so as to not make eye contact as they waved at the crowd. When asked about the rivalry, Chestnut said, “We [aren’t] always nice to each other, but I love the way we push each other to be our best.”
While it’s still unclear whether Chestnut or Kobayashi will be allowed to compete in The Nathan’s Famous competition in 2025, the Netflix competition allowed for both to compete despite the restrictions placed on them by Nathan’s.
