The 2024 Nathan’s Hot Dog Competition is history after Chicago’s Patrick Bertoletti won the men’s event on Thursday, capturing the coveted Mustard Yellow Belt by wolfing down 58 hot dogs, while reigning champion Joey Chestnut sat out the competition.
Before that showdown, the women’s record was broken by ten-time winner Miki Sudo of New York City, who ate 51 sausages on her way to winning the contest.
The rules for the annual dogfight, which began in 1972, state that the person who eats the most hot dogs in 10 minutes takes home $10,000. Every Fourth of July, about 20 professional eaters show up at the corner of Surf and Stillwell Ave. to show off their bellies.
Notably absent from the men’s competition was Chestnut, the 16-time reigning champion who won last year’s contest by wolfing down 62 hot dogs. He sat out this year’s competition due to a contract dispute stemming from his deal with Impossible Foods, which makes vegetable-based sausages.
Chestnut was scheduled to compete in a 5 p.m. contest with U.S. troops at Fort Bliss in Texas. He ended the reign of Takeru “The Tsunami” Kobayashi in 2007 in a showdown that is considered a classic in the competitive eating world. Chestnut ate 76 hot dogs in 2021, which is still a world record.
Kobayashi was champion from 2001 to 2006, but withdrew from the Nathan’s event in 2007 due to disagreements with organizers Major League Eating.
He ate 50 hot dogs in 2001, doubling the previous record. The 46-year-old competitive eater accomplished the feat by implementing the “Solomon Method.” The plan involves competitors popping half a hot dog into their mouths while dunking the other half — bun and all — in water before pushing that half down as well.
Chestnut and Kobayashi will forge a rivalry again on September 2 when they compete in an eating contest airing on Netflix.
