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There’s A New Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Champion, Here’s How Many He Put Down

The 2024 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest is in the books!

And it’s Kamala Harris!

I kid, I kid….

The true winner is Patrick Bertoletti of Chicago won the contest, downing 58 hot dogs in 10 minutes.

Coming in 2nd place was Geoffrey Esper of Massachusetts, who ate 53 hot dogs.

Miki Sudo of Florida won the women’s competition, downing 51 hot dogs and setting a new record.

Former Nathan Hot Dog Eating Champion Joey Chestnut was notably missing from the contest due to initially being barred from the event for inking a deal with Nathan ‘s rival Impossible Foods, a company that sells plant-based meats.

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Here’s what The New York Post reported:

The Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest crowned a new winner Thursday – with the annual July 4th competition newly invigorated by the absence of longtime champ JoeyChestnut amid a fight over vegan dogs.

Chicago’s Patrick Bertoletti, 39, took the Mustard Belt after wolfing down 58 franks and buns in a neck-and-neck, 10-minute race at Coney Island that saw the leader repeatedly bounce back and forth.

It’s the first time a man not named Chestnut has won the contest since 2015, and only the second time in the last 17 years.

“I wasn’t going to stop eating until the job was done,” Bertoletti said after securing his first ever win.

He managed to out-ete Geoffrey Esper, 49, of Massachusetts who finished second with 53 dogs. Australian James Webb, 35, came in third after chowing down on 52 wieners.

Per AP:

Patrick Bertoletti of Chicago gobbled down 58 hot dogs to win his first men’s title Thursday at the annual Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest, taking advantage of the absence of the event’s biggest star.

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Bertoletti won in a tight, 10-minute race where the leader bounced back and forth. The 39-year-old Bertoletti defeated 13 competitors from around the world in a test to see who can wolf down the most hot dogs in 10 minutes.

“I wasn’t going to stop eating until the job was done,” Bertoletti said.

Bertoletti bested his prior record of 55 hot dogs at the event, held every Independence Day on New York’s Coney Island.

The reigning men’s champion, Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, didn’t attend the competition this year over a sponsorship tiff. Instead, Chestnut will compete against soldiers at a U.S. Army base in El Paso later in the day. Chestnut won 16 out of 17 previous competitions.

Here’s why Joey Chestnut was not competing:

Joey Chestnut BANNED From Famous Nathan’s Hot Dog Competition

Joe Chestnut will NOT be competing in the famous Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest this year.

I’ll explain why in just a moment:

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Yes, yes…..it’s official — Kamala Harris will be taking his place because she figures if she can swallow multiple bags of dicks over the years (alllllegedly) then surely she can take down a few hot dogs!

I kid, I kid.

I mean, there’s a reason why the Internet calls her “Heels Up Harris” but I digress.

We here at WLTReport cannot confirm if any of these vicious rumors are true, and in fact we ardently stand against them!  Kamala Harris seems like nothing but a great, smart, classy lady!

I would also like to go on record as saying polls like this in Twitter are HIGHLY disrespectful!

But back to Joey Chestnut….

He’s not done competing, just banned from Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest.

In fact, he’ll be taking on his arch-rival, Kobayashi on September 2nd:

But why is he not involved in the most famous July 4th contest out there?

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Sponsorships, of course!

Joey Chestnut, a 16-time Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest champion, has been banned from the famous competition held on July 4th.

A sponsorship to ‘represent another hot dog brand’ is the source of the conflict.

A spokesperson for Major League Eating (MLE) said he wouldn’t be allowed to participate in the highly-anticipated hot dog eating contest in New York City’s Coney Island.

According to the New York Post, Impossible Foods is the brand in question.

From the New York Post:

And not just any brand, but Impossible Foods, which recently launched a vegan frankfurter impostor made from plants.

California-born Chestnut has won it 16 times, including every year since 2016. He gobbled a world’s record 76 dogs and buns in 2021 and kept his title with a paltry 62 down the hatch last year.

He was expected to once again take his usual spot for the hot dog contest on the stage at the corner of Stillwell and Surf avenues — one block from the famous Boardwalk and a Coney Island tradition since 1916 — until the unexpected food fight.

A rep for Major League Eating (MLE), which Nathan’s sanctions to run the event, said the organizers bent over backwards to meet Chestnut’s various demands. They even agreed to let him participate in a rival Labor Day dog-eating fest to be taped for TV as long as no hot dog brand was mentioned.

But they said they drew the line on letting Chestnut pitch for a different hot dog brand.

A source said Chestnut was paid $200,000 to appear in the Nathan’s contest last year, and was offered a $1.2 million, four-year contract going forward.

“It would be like Michael Jordan saying to Nike, ‘I’m going to represent Adidas, too,’” an MLE event organizer said, according to ESPN.

Per ESPN:

“We are devastated to learn that Joey Chestnut has chosen to represent a rival brand that sells plant-based hot dogs rather than competing in the 2024 Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest,” Major League Eating said in a statement.

“MLE and Nathan’s went to great lengths in recent months to accommodate Joey and his management team, agreeing to the appearance fee and allowing Joey to compete in a rival unbranded hot dog eating contest on Labor Day. For nearly two decades we have worked under the same basic hot dog exclusivity provisions. However, it seems that Joey and his managers have prioritized a new partnership with a different hot dog brand over our long-time relationship.”

Chestnut owns the top 10 performances at the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, including downing a record 76 hot dogs and buns in 2021. He ate 62 franks and buns to win last year’s event

“Joey Chestnut is an American hero,” MLE’s statement said. “We would love nothing more than to have him at the Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest, which he has dominated for years. We hope that he returns when he is not representing a rival brand.”

Now we have to flashback to perhaps my favorite Joey Chestnut moment of all time.

Remember when he did this to a protestor back in 2022?

The man is a legend:

And if you’d like to see what it looks like to eat 71 hot dogs and buns in 11 minutes, just watch here:


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