The Yellow Mustard Belt has returned to the United States on this Fourth of July. In a previous blog I told you about six-time defending hot dog eating champion Takeru Kobayashi’s injured jaw and how his injury may squash any hope of him leaving the 2007 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest as the champ. Well, turns out the Japanese eating king couldn’t shake his arthritic jaw in time and was dethroned this afternoon in Coney Island.
In what some are calling hot dog history, American Joey Chestnut shattered the world record by downing a record-breaking 66 dogs in the 12-minute competition. According to ESPN, which broadcast the event live (yes, the eating event has is considered an elite sporting event), Kobayashi and Chestnut appeared to be neck and neck until the final 120 seconds. That’s when Chestnut said he “pushed himself” and shoved several franks into his mouth. In the end Kobayashi ate 63 dogs to Chestnut’s 66. (Last year, Kobayashi set the Nathan’s Coney Island contest record by chomping down 53.75 dogs and buns.)
When all was said (and swallowed) today, the records showed that both Kobayashi and Chestnut broke a world’s record set by Chestnut just last month – 59.5 hot dogs in 12 minutes – at an Arizona regional qualifying event in anticipation of Coney. If that’s not enough to impress you consider that the third-place winner (a distant third) in today’s event downed 49 dogs. By the way, after coming in third the eater from Chicago told ESPN commentators that he dedicated his finish to Nicky Hilton, sister of Paris Hilton, because, he said, the younger sibling doesn’t get as much publicity as the older hotel heiress. (Okay, now, if the number of dogs downed by these easter wasn’t enough to make you sick that comment surely must have.)
Anyway, back to today’s big winner—Joey Chestnut. To prepare for today’s big eating contest, Chestnut told ESPN that he’d eaten no solid food for two days but drank about a gallon of water just prior to the event in which, again, he chowed down on 66 hot dogs.
Sixty-six hot dogs in 12 minutes… can you imagine? I don’t even think I can cook 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes. That breaks down to 5.5 hot dogs per minute.
YIKES!
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