In the absence of eating legend Joey Chestnut, American Patrick Bertoletti won the traditional New York hot dog eating contest on US Independence Day. Bertoletti devoured 58 buns and sausages in ten minutes at the contest in the Coney Island district, more than all of his competitors. It is his first title. Thousands of spectators cheered the holiday spectacle.
Meanwhile, there was a record among the women: Defending champion Miki Sudo ate 51 hot dogs. Sudo was the big favorite in the women’s competition. She had won every competition since 2014 with the exception of 2021 – she did not take part at the time because she was pregnant.
The perennial winner among the men is actually Chestnut, who was excluded from the eating contest this year due to a sponsorship conflict. He is said to have signed an advertising contract with a manufacturer of meatless sausages. “He has decided to represent a rival brand,” the company Major League Eating (MLE) announced in mid-June. MLE organizes the competition together with sausage producer Nathan’s. Chestnut said he was devastated at the time on Instagram.
In the women’s competition, Miki Sudo (right) won against Mayoi Ebihara.dpa
Chestnut had won the competition in front of the Coney Island amusement park in southern New York every year since 2016, winning 16 times in total. His own world record is 76 hot dogs – almost eight per minute.
Counter-competition in Texas
He still kept the tradition of an eating contest on the 4th of July alive: Chestnut competed against a group of soldiers at the Texas Army base Fort Bliss. There he ate 57 hot dogs in just five minutes, while the soldiers only managed 49 together. Chestnut not only outshone the army representatives, but also the winner in New York: There Bertoletti won the title with just one more hot dog – but he had twice as much time.
“Hot dogs on the Fourth of July in front of people celebrating America, it doesn’t get any better than that,” US media quoted Chestnut as saying. He initially slowed down a bit, but then picked up the pace as the crowd cheered him on. The eating contest raised more than $100,000 for soldiers’ families.
