defending champions<\/a> entered the annual frank-fest with targets on their backs, but by the final buzzer, they\u2019d once again proven they were the undisputed top dogs of Coney Island\u2019s most famous Independence Day tradition.<\/p>\nThe pair entered this year\u2019s contest as defending champions, with Chestnut looking to surpass his world record of 76 hot dogs and buns, and Sudo chasing her own record of 51.\n<\/p>\n
Though they both fell short of their personal records, they out-ate the competition in front of a sprawling, sweaty crowd.\n<\/p>\n
Thousands packed the People\u2019s Playground early Saturday morning for Brooklyn\u2019s most recognizable July 4 tradition, waving foam hot dogs, sporting Nathan\u2019s hats and patriotic attire and cheering on competitors from across the United States and around the world.<\/p>\n
Held every July 4 since 1972 in its modern competitive eating form \u2014 and tracing its origins back to Nathan\u2019s 1916 hot dog holiday promotion \u2014 the contest has grown from a quirky neighborhood tradition into a global spectacle. Fans travel each year from around the world to witness the uniquely American event, packing the boardwalk hours before the opening introductions (which include theatrical weigh-ins from hot dog heavyweights and newcomers alike).<\/p>\n
Festivities began at 10 a.m. with live music and dance performances before the women\u2019s championship kicked off at 11 a.m. The men\u2019s contest followed at 12:30 p.m., with longtime announcer George Shea hyping up the crowd.<\/p>\n
On the sidelines, Nathan\u2019s Famous continued its annual charitable tradition by donating 100,000 hot dogs to Food Bank For New York City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hot Dog Eating Contest champs Joey Chestnut and Miki Sudo. Photo courtesy of Paul Martinka\/Nathan\u2019s Famous On a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286779,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[2571,98,100,99,119,4619,89503,55294,103580,109773,49015,109774,109772,9,24,12,370,63,904],"class_list":["post-286778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-arts-and-entertainment","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-coney-island","tag-events","tag-joey-chestnut","tag-july-4","tag-miki-sudo","tag-nathans","tag-nathans-famous","tag-nathans-famous-hot-dog-eating-contest","tag-nathanu2019s-famous-fourth-of-july-international-hot-dog-eating-championship","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-nyc","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"joey](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-233.jpg\")
\t\t\t<\/p>\n