Biggest rivals in hot dog eating are headed for a rematch 15 years in the making

When hot dog-eating champ Joey Chestnut was banned from the Fourth of July contest that made him famous, he vowed fans would soon see him eating again.

“STAY HUNGRY!” he wrote on Instagram on Wednesday.

And a few hours later, Netflix whetted fans’ appetites with a particularly tasty announcement: Chestnut would face his great rival, Takeru Kobayashi, for the first time since 2009.

The two biggest names in hot dog eating will come together for a “sausage eating” contest on Labor Day, to finally settle their “unfinished beef.” The event will be broadcast live on the platform on September 2, with the time and location to be announced at a later date.

“The showdown will end a 15-year rivalry between the two competitive eaters: will Chestnut retain his title as the world’s best, or will Kobayashi come for revenge and regain his throne?” Netflix teased in a statement.

The stakes are high – arguably higher than the towering platters of hot dogs that every man has mastered the art of devouring. Stay with us as we discuss their story.

Kobayashi helped make competitive eating the sport it is today

Kobayashi, 46, is often called the “godfather of competitive eating” and is credited with making the sport popular in the United States.

Nathan’s Famous Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contest Was Something of a Joke Since the 1970s, Jason Fagone, the author of Riders of the esophagus: competitive eating and the great American dream, told NPR last year. The contestants had goofy nicknames and didn’t really train for it.

Then came Kobayashi, who became famous for eating 16 bowls of ramen in an hour on a TV show in his native Japan.

He first brought his talents – and a novel technique of cutting hot dogs in half and dipping buns in water – to the Coney Island stage in 2001. He ate 50 hot dogs. dogs in 12 minutes, doubling the existing record and breaking a world record of its own.

“And then after that, everything changed because there started to be real money,” Fagone said. “Pretty soon, ESPN was broadcasting the hot dog eating contest live.”

Kobayashi has won the competition six years in a row. But in 2007, plagued by a training-induced jaw injury, he lost 66-63 – to none other than Chestnut. Chestnut beat him again the next two years.

Kobayashi parted ways with Major League Eating (MLE) in 2010, after rejecting their contract due to its exclusivity clause. He showed up at the July 4 pageant that year, despite being barred from the event, and was arrested after taking the stage as spectators chanted “Let him eat.”

He has since spoken about the racism he faced on the tour and feeling like he “was no longer welcome in America” ​​during Chestnut’s rise.

He continued to eat competitively in the years that followed, including hosting a record 14 Twinkies in one minute on the Wendy Williams show in 2012. He holds 10 world records in the sport.

Kobayashi announced his retirement earlier this year in a Netflix documentary. He estimated that he had eaten 10,000 hot dogs during his career and damaged his body, stating, “I’m not hungry anymore.”

But Netflix’s announcement quotes Kobayashi saying he’s not quite ready to retire yet.

“My retirement won’t come until I take him out one last time,” he said, referring to Chestnut.

Defending champion Chestnut is in a sticky situation with the governing body

Chestnut, 40, is currently the highest-ranked competitive eater in the world, according to MLE.

He holds some 55 Guinness World Records for devouring all kinds of foods in 10 minutes or less, including a jaw-dropping 76 hot dogs (and buns) in the 2021 Nathan’s competition.

He has dominated this Coney Island tradition since his first victory in 2007, winning the coveted mustard belt every year since, with the exception of 2015, where a dogged Matt Stonie took home the victory.

But the 16-time champion will not be on stage this July 4, after an apparent argument with the event organizers.

MLE — which runs the contest with Nathan’s — said Tuesday it was no longer eligible because it had signed a deal with a rival company: Impossible Foods, which makes plant-based products including hot dogs .

In a statement shared with NPR on Wednesday, MLE said Nathan’s had made “great efforts in recent months to accommodate Joey and his management team,” including “allowing Joey to participate in a rival hot dog eating contest unbranded on Labor Day. »

Well, a hot dog, indeed.

Chestnut told Netflix that he was looking forward to the rematch with Kobayashi after all these years.

“In all my years in competitive eating, Kobayashi has established himself as my fiercest rival,” Chestnut told Netflix. “Competing against him pushed me to be so much better… It’s time to give the people what they want!” »

Their penultimate competition ended in sudden death.

Chestnut was victorious the last time the two faced off in 2009, settling the score with 68 hot dogs to Kobayashi’s 64.5.

The year before, the contest ended in “sudden death,” after the 10-minute clock ended in an unprecedented tie (59-59).

After a brief break, each contestant received five additional hot dogs and buns, while the emcee whipped the crowd into a frenzy.

The clock started again, a few bites away from victory. Chestnut finished first, in one minute flat.

“The passion is raw but the hot dogs are cooked,” exclaimed the ESPN commentator. “This is the most competitive cooking competition I have ever seen. And Kobayashi is absolutely disheartened, he brought everything he had to Coney Island today. He’s a great competitor and a kind man, but Joey, it seems, is going to retain the title.

And he’s kept it pretty much ever since. It’s no wonder the competitors and their fans are so hungry for a rematch.