BY AMANDA MOSES
Nathan’s Famous July 4th Hot Dog Eating Contest returned to Surf and Stillwell Avenues, just outside of the flagship restaurant after two years of being forced to relocate due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thousands of revelers lined the streets of Coney Island in hopes of catching a glimpse of the contest, especially World Campion, Joey Chestnut from Indianapolis. Last year, Chestnut devoured 73 hot dogs; however, this year the champ regained his title and consumed 63 hot dogs within 10 minutes.
Chestnut shared that he became winded while competing in the blistering heat, which he attributes to his limited ability to perform cardio workout due to his torn tendon on his right leg. In addition to the physical setbacks, there was an animal rights activist who pushed Chestnut aside while he was in the middle of consuming his 17th hot dog.
Allegedly, the protester is a member of the Direct Action Everywhere group, who showcased a sign stating, “Expose Smithfield Deathstar,” which points at a Virginia pig farm for claims of animal abuse. The champ wrestled the protester out of the way and says that this distraction did not affect his overall performance.
Sixteen men were competing in the competition, with Geoffrey Esper coming in second place with 47. 5 hot dogs eaten.
“I was exhausted during the contest. I got a little bit winded,” Chestnut said. “The [fans] were pushing me hard. They wanted to see a record and for some reason everybody had low numbers today. It’s just some years it’s like that.”
Chestnut is a 15-time Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest winner, and he says it feels great to retain the title.
“It feels great to win again, 15 times. It’s awesome. There was a point that I wasn’t sure I could compete, but I started practicing and said I can stand up. I was able to figure it out,” Chestnut said.
For the women’s competition, there were 12 females including Michelle Lesco, who hails from Tucson, Arizona, who was last year’s champ. Former winner, Mikki Sudo from Tampa, Florida returned from maternity leave with her eye on regaining her title as the first-place champ. Sudo chomped her way to the top devouring 40 hot dogs.
“I started this as a single person and then I met the love of my life in competitive eating and now we have a child together and we get to do all of this as family. I never thought that competitive eating could bring so much meaning to my life,” Sudo said.
Sudo told the Spring Creek Sun that she will not be entering her son, Max, in competitive eating when he gets older.
“I think that Max will grow up just thinking his parents are weird and would want nothing to do with competitive eating, so hopefully he just becomes an engineer or something,” Sudo said.
Photos by Amanda Moses
