Joey Chestnut skipped Coney Island on Thursday, but kept up his Fourth of July tradition by winning a hot dog eating contest.
Chestnut beat a group of four Army soldiers in a contest at Fort Bliss Army Base in El Paso, Texas, by eating 57 hot dogs in five minutes. The soldiers ate 49 hot dogs in total. The group would have won if they had eaten more hot dogs in total than Chestnut.
“Hot dogs on the Fourth of July in front of people celebrating America, it doesn’t get any better than that,” Chestnut said, sporting his winner’s sash.
Chestnut, 40, has won 16 of the last 17 international hot dog eating contests hosted by Nathan’s Famous in Brooklyn, New York, and was planning to compete again this year before Major League Eating (MLE) banned him for his partnership with Impossible Foods, a competing plant-based brand. He learned he had been banned three weeks ago, a decision that shocked the competitive eating world and Chestnut’s fans.
Last year, Chestnut ate 62 hot dogs in 10 minutes to win his 16th Mustard Belt and previously set the world record of eating 76 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes in 2021.
After the MLE decision, Fort Bliss organizers approached Chestnut about participating in a July 4 hot dog eating contest. Chestnut, whose grandfather served at Pearl Harbor during World War II, his father served in the Vietnam War and his brothers are in the military, accepted the offer.
Thursday’s contest at Fort Bliss lacked the glitz and glamour of a big stage in the middle of Coney Island and an ESPN camera crew, but the modest crowd that came to see Chestnut take on the soldiers inspired him.
Chestnut said he slowed his pace during the hot dog eating contest but picked it up again after the crowd cheered him on.
The Fort Bliss contest was streamed on Chestnut’s YouTube channel and included a Q&A session with questions from fans.
The contest also raised money for Operation Homefront, a nonprofit that helps military families. After Chestnut’s win, Impossible Foods CEO Peter McGuinness presented Operation Homefront with a check for $106,000.
The Fort Bliss contest took place nearly five hours after Nathan’s contest, where Miki Sudo ate a women’s world record 51 hot dogs to earn her 10th pink belt and Patrick Bertoletti won the men’s contest by gobbling down 58 hot dogs.
Fans who missed Chestnut’s national broadcast on Thursday will be able to watch him compete in a winner-takes-all hot dog eating contest against rival Takeru Kobayashi on Netflix on Labor Day.
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(Photo: Kena Betancur/Getty Images)
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