{"id":286786,"date":"2026-07-04T17:49:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T17:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/286786\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T17:49:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T17:49:11","slug":"joey-chestnut-chows-down-on-record-18th-win-at-nathans-hot-dog-eating-contest-in-coney-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/286786\/","title":{"rendered":"Joey Chestnut chows down on record 18th win at Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gastronomic GOAT Joey Chestnut<\/a> won the Nathan\u2019s Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island for the 18th time on Saturday\u2014 devouring a massive 66 hot dogs in 10 minutes.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, the also-undefeated Miki Sudo won the Mustard Belt at the Nathan\u2019s Hot Dog Eating Contest for Women, downing 38.75 dogs to win for a record 12th time in Coney Island<\/a>.\u00a0 She also holds the women\u2019s record of 51.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the battle in the 94-degree heat with thousands of people watching, Chestnut, who didn\u2019t fare as well as he did last year when he ate 70.5 dogs, said he was \u201cfeeling good\u201d about his chances for another belt.<\/p>\n

\"JoeyJoey Chestnut and other competitive eaters consume hot dogs during the 2026 Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest at Coney Island in Brooklyn on Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/Anna Connors)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hungry, and it\u2019s a beautiful day. This is going to be a great Fourth of July,\u201d Chestnut, 41, said in an interview on \u201cGood Morning America\u201d Saturday.<\/p>\n

Asked if he did some intermittent fasting before the competition, he said, \u201cI\u2019m doing my cleanse, I\u2019m empty and I\u2019m loose,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"JoeyJoey Chestnut wins the 2026 Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest at Coney Island in Brooklyn on Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/Anna Connors)<\/p>\n

The Nathan\u2019s Famous hot dog eating contest<\/a> marked the United States\u2019 250th birthday with chomp and circumstance, despite a turbulent year for the annual July 4 event and its stars.<\/p>\n

Contest sponsor Nathan\u2019s Famous was\u00a0sold in January<\/a> to packaged meat giant Smithfield Foods. A few months later, Chestnut was accused of slapping a man in an Indiana bar and pleaded guilty in April<\/a>\u00a0to a misdemeanor battery charge.<\/p>\n

\"MCMC George Shea presents competitive eater Miki Sudo with the champion belt after winning the women’s 2026 Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest at Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/Anna Connors)<\/p>\n

Competitors consume as many hot dogs and buns as possible in 10 minutes, usually dunking the wieners in water first to make them easier to swallow.<\/p>\n

Chestnut has taken the so-called Mustard Belt 17 times and\u00a0notched the men\u2019s record<\/a>: 76 franks in 2021. He\u2019s still on probation in the battery case but is allowed to travel outside Indiana. His lawyer has said that what happened in the bar was a misunderstanding and that Chestnut accepted responsibility for his actions.<\/p>\n

\"MikiMiki Sudo and other competitive eaters consume hot dogs during the 2026 Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest at Coney Island in Brooklyn on Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/Anna Connors)<\/p>\n

Nobody has ever eaten more than 70 hot dogs in the event except for Chestnut, who has done it \u2014 buns included \u2014 seven times, including in 2025.<\/p>\n

But he doesn\u2019t just devour hot dogs: He holds the Major League Eating record in over 50 different categories, including chicken wings (182 in 30 minutes), hard-boiled eggs (141 in eight minutes), grilled cheese sandwiches (47 in 10 minutes) and Twinkies (121 in six minutes).<\/p>\n

He most recently added a world record in the discipline of Padrino tamales to his r\u00e9sum\u00e9, consuming 96 tamales in 10 minutes.<\/p>\n

\"SpectatorsSpectators gather before the start of the 2026 Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest at Coney Island in Brooklyn on Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/Anna Connors)<\/p>\n

Hot dog contest organizer Major League Eating, which oversees the Nathan\u2019s Famous contest, said the criminal case didn\u2019t affect Chestnut\u2019s eligibility for the competition.<\/p>\n

The event, which\u00a0dates to 1972<\/a>, is held in front of the original Nathan\u2019s Famous\u2019 restaurant in New York\u2019s Coney Island.<\/p>\n

With News Wire Services<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gastronomic GOAT Joey Chestnut won the Nathan\u2019s Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island for the 18th time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[85,267,9,24,264,10,12,63,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-286786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-county","tag-new-york-news","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286786","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=286786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}