Chestnut Wins Wild Hot Dog Contest

Joey “Jaws” Chestnut lived up to his nickname Tuesday when he won his 10th Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest. And he set a Nathan’s record in the process. Breaking his old record of 70, Chestnut gobbled down 72 hots and buns in 10 minutes. Carmen Cincotti was second with 62 and Matt Stonie was a distant third with just 48 hot dogs and buns eaten. Stonie won the event two years ago. But Chestnut has dominated the past two years.

While Chestnut was the main attraction, Mika Sudo won the women’s competition with a personal best 41 hot dogs. It was her fourth win a row breaking the record of Sonya “the Black Widow” Thomas. Thomas finished third.

Things got interesting when five people were hauled away by police during the men’s competition. But they were eventually released after being taken to the police station. While PETA was present giving away vegan hot dogs, they had nothing to do with those arrested. A group called Direct Action Everywhere claimed they were the ones taken in. While they want Nathan’s to stop the contest there’s little chance of that happening. The event has become too big to discontinue.

Chestnut’s winning effort made a winner of those who took the over 70.5 hot dogs. Even though the over/under was 70.5 there were a lot of people on the over. The odds on over climbed all the way to -165 or higher at some sportsbooks. Sudo’s effort also was a winner for those who bet the over. And both Chestnut and Sudo were huge favorites to defend their titles. So the only surprises were found in the totals, particularly the women’s division, where over 39.5 was usually a plus money.

Chestnut consumed 20,160 calories and 1,286 grams of fat. There were 56,000 grams of sodium in what he ate, but on the positive side there were also 720 grams of protein.