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Longtime champion Joey Chestnut downs 71 hot dogs to reclaim title
Joey Chestnut reclaims Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating title with 71 dogs after last year’s ban over plant-based food sponsorship.
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Reuters - Fri, 04, Jul 2025
- 15:11 EDT
- 12
Joey Chestnut, a multi-time winner, holds a plate of hot dogs with the Mustard Belt over his shoulder, after winning the competition during the 2025 Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest, at Coney Island, Brooklyn in New York City, U.S., July 4, 2025. / REUTERS/David 'Dee' Delgado
Joey "Jaws" Chestnut on July 4 regained his longtime title of champion in the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating contest at New York City's Coney Island after he was banned from the competition last year.
Chestnut, 41, of Indiana, ate 71 hot dogs in 10 minutes, landing him the "Mustard Belt" prize for the most dogs consumed.
In 2024, his association with plant-based food company Impossible Foods resulted in his banishment from the event after his longtime dominance.
"Lots of people told me I was part of their Fourth of July and they missed me," he told an ESPN reporter on Friday. "I guaranteed I'd try hard and I didn't want to let people down."
The champion went into Friday's competition with 16 Nathan's titles to his name and a record of 76 hot dogs and buns in 2021.
Last year's winner, Patrick Bertoletti, took the second-place title on Friday with 46 hot dogs consumed.
In the women's competition, defending champion Miki Sudo took the title with 33 hot dogs and buns, a far cry from her record of 51, set last year. Michelle Lesco finished second with 22.75.
"I might have stumbled out of the gate, but when things are tough, you get back up and you keep going," Sudo told ESPN at the event.
The event celebrating the United States' birth began in 1980.
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