Joey Chestnut reveals tips on how he became GOAT at hot dog eating contest
He is the GOAT.
Over the past two decades, Chestnut has won the contest 16 times, 10 more than any other eater has won the men's competition in the history of the event.
He also holds record for most hot dogs and buns consumed during the 10-minute contest with 72, 10 more than any other competitor has eaten.
During an interview with USA TODAY Sports, Chestnut, 41, shared details about how he became the Greatest Of All Time after eating 32 hot dogs and buns in 2005 in his debut at the Nathan's contest.
Chestnut said his inner drive remains high two decades later.
'I want to push myself,'' he said. 'There's room for growth. I've seen that there's little things I can do to get better at everything. I enjoy pushing myself at setting up these crazy contests at home.'
Despite winning 16 Mustard belts, awarded to Nathan's champion ever year, Chestnut said some things never change as the contest approaches.
'I still get nervous,'' he said. 'I mean, I definitely still care.''
Joey Chestnut gets everything loose
On the day of the contest, Chestnut uses an electric stimulation machine on his abdomen.
'To get everything working, get everything loose,'' he said. 'I'm working really hard to get everything relaxed.''
For competitive eaters, the standard training involves drinking excessive amounts of water to stretch their stomachs and increase their capacity for hot dogs and buns and to simulate the hot dog contest.
Chestnut, however, has elevated training and preparation to another level. Although he said he would not reveal all of his secrets, his novel techniques include neck raises with a 16-pound bag attached to a leather strap that hangs from a mouthguard, according to Chestnut.
'When I'm raising up (his neck), I have to keep my jaw clenched the entire time,'' he said. 'And when I'm raising up, I'm almost imagining I'm swallowing. So I'm thrusting my tongue against the leather strap the mouthpiece is glued to.
'That's good for the jaws and my neck a little bit.''
Then there are the burping exercises, Chestnut explained.
'If I'm outside, I can practice swallowing and then burp, getting all those muscles and my esophagus working together,'' he said. 'It also helps my stomach because there's layers of muscle around your stomach and those muscles have to get used to stretching, and you can't stretch it all the time with food or even water.''
He also said he takes Primatene, an over-the-counter drug used for mild intermittent asthma.
'I noticed early on right away, it helped me breathe through my nose while I'm eating,'' he said. 'But it also helped (get) amped up. That's one of my little tricks.''
Joey Chestnut's attention to detail
Few details escape Chestnut, such as the water he uses for dunking the hot dog buns.
'I like my water about 116 degrees,' he said. "Hot water, it helps digestion, helps muscles relax, helps fat stay liquid. The muscles stretching, the hot water really helps that.''
At home, Chestnut said, he practices with the water temperature as low as 111 degrees and as high as 121 degrees because it's challenging to get the water to exactly 116 degrees on the day of the contest. He also said he practices getting the water to the right temperature quickly because at Nathan's there is limited time between the introductions and start of the contest.
'Everybody brings their own water, and I'll have a two-gallon bag within another bag that keeps it pretty close to (116 degrees). It will come out just a little bit hot and I'll just have a cup of cold water and just pour a little bit of water.
'And (during training) I practice mixing it to the temperature I like really quickly.''
Joey Chestnut taps into anger
Generally speaking, Chestnut said, he's a mild-mannered guy. But he's learned to channel his anger when he's competing at Nathan's.
"I kind of kept it hidden how competitive I was with it. I mean, it seemed really almost crazy to be that competitive for eating contest. ...
'I like having this perfect mix of anger and I'm amped up. But then I can also breathe calm. It sounds really weird, but I can be angry and calm at the same time.''
The anger flared during the 2022 contest, when he briefly put a protester in a chokehold after the man came onto the stage and bumped Chestnut.
'I look at video and I look really, really angry,'' Chestnut said. 'I felt embarrassed.''
Quickly, Chestnut resumed eating. He won the contest by a margin of 15 hot dogs and buns.
Less sheepish about his intensity, Chestnut said this year he'll draw on lingering anger about being banned last year.
'I'm going to let loose,'' said the GOAT.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Newsweek
43 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Where to Watch Joey Chestnut's Return: Live Stream Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest, TV Channel
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The champion returns to take over Independence Day as Joey Chestnut will compete in this year's Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest. Competitive eating champion Joey Chestnut wins the 2017 Nathan's Famous 4th of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest with 72 hot dogs at Coney Island on July 4, 2017, in the Brooklyn borough of New... Competitive eating champion Joey Chestnut wins the 2017 Nathan's Famous 4th of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest with 72 hot dogs at Coney Island on July 4, 2017, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. More Bobby Bank/WireImage How to Watch Joey Chestnut's Return The greatest competitive eater of all time, Joey Chestnut, returns to the main stage after sitting out of the 2024 Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest. The Fourth of July competition is the Super Bowl of eating events, and after being away for a year, Chestnut is ready to make his return to glory. Patrick Bertoletti was able to take advantage of Chestnut's absence in 2024, winning with 58 total hot dogs. Chestnut is usually a lock to clear at least 60, but Bertoletti at least proved he is up for the challenge of trying to outpace the greatest of all time. Date: Friday, July 4, 2025 Time: 12:00 p.m. ET Channel: ESPN2 Stream: Fubo (TRY FOR FREE) Live stream Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest for free on ESPN2 with FuboTV: Start your subscription now! Joey Chestnut of San Jose, California (C) smiles while stuffing hot dogs into his mouth next to his opponent, Takeru Kobayashi of Nagano, Japan (R) during Nathan's Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest... Joey Chestnut of San Jose, California (C) smiles while stuffing hot dogs into his mouth next to his opponent, Takeru Kobayashi of Nagano, Japan (R) during Nathan's Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest on July 4, 2009 in Coney Island in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Chestnut defeated Kobayashi by eating 68 to his 64.5 hot dogs. Kobayashi won six previous competitions before tying last year with Chestnut. MoreChestnut is a 16-time champion at this event and holds the record for most dogs eaten in a single contest with 76. During his rise to fame over fifteen years ago, Chestnut was in the middle of a fierce rivalry with then-champion Takeru Kobayashi. The two had many epic battles before Kobayashi's retirement, and no one has been able to truly give Chestnut a run for his money since. This is a great annual event that you will not want to miss; make sure to tune in and catch all the action. Live stream Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest for free on ESPN2 with FuboTV: Start your subscription now! Regional restrictions may apply. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation.
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
How to watch Joey Chestnut's return to Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest for free
New York Post may be compensated and/or receive an affiliate commission if you click or buy through our links. Featured pricing is subject to change. It isn't July Fourth without hot dogs, but to be more specific, it isn't July Fourth without the traditional Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. After missing last year's contest, 16-time champ Joey Chestnut is back in the field this year. Last year, Chestnut was handed a ban following a dispute due to his conflicting sponsorship with Impossible Foods. While Chestnut still works with Impossible Foods, a deal for Chestnut to return to Nathan's was struck in June 2025, paving the way for the record-holder to defend his record again. RELATED: Joey Chestnut gives behind-the-scenes look at 'hungry' prep for Nathan's return Last year's champ Patrick Bertoletti, who earned the belt after eating 58 hot dogs in 10 minutes, is also returning to this year's contest. Miki Sudo, who set the world record in the 2024 contest with 51 hot dogs, will return to the women's field this year, to defend her unbeaten streak. When and where is the 2025 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest? The Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest is today, July 4, near the original Nathan's store in Coney Island. The women's contest begins at 10:45 a.m. ET, while the men's contest kicks off at 12 p.m. ET. How to watch the 2025 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest for free: If you don't have cable, you'll need a live TV streaming service to stream Gold Cup matches for free. One option we love is DIRECTV, which comes with five days free and starts at $59.99/month, with plenty of subscription options that include the ESPN family of networks. The women's contest will air on ESPN3, before moving over to ESPN2 for the men's contest. You can also take advantage of free trials of fuboTV (seven days) and Hulu + Live TV (three days). 2025 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest participants: Top competitors from around the globe, including champions Chestnut and Sudo, will compete in this year's contest. Men's field Joey Chestnut: 41 years old, from Westfield, Indiana Patrick Bertoletti: 40, from Chicago, Illinois James Webb: 36, from Sydney, Australia Nick Wehry: 35, from Tampa, Florida Geoffrey Esper: 50, from Oxford, Massachusetts Max Stanford: 37, from Brixton, England Derek Hendrickson: 37, from Las Vegas, Nevada George Chiger: 46, from Pocono Pines, Pennsylvania Ricardo Corbucci: 38, from Brasilia, Brazil Gideon Oji: 33, from Morrow, Georgia Adrian Morgan: 42, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana Radim Dvořáček: 34, from Ostrava, Czech Republic Darrien Thomas: 26, from Ontario, Canada Cameron Meade: 21, from Valparasio, Indiana Jerome Burns: 33, from Danbury, Connecticut Women's field Miki Sudo: 39 years old, from Tampa, Florida Michelle 'Cardboard Shell' Lesco: 41, from Tucson, Arizona Domenica Dee: 33, from Westchester, New York Tandra Childress: 39, from San Francisco, California Katie Prettyman: 42, from Marysville, Washington Larell Marie Mele: 55, from Long Pond, Pennsylvania Isabeau Prettyman: 18, from Marysville, Washington Jocelyn Young: 44, Sherman, Texas Kelly Lewis: 32, from Overland Park, Kansas Camille O'Brien: 38, from Jeffersonville, New York* Elizabeth 'Glizzy Lizzy' Salgado: 33, from Kern County, California Cherish Brown: 36, from Edon, Ohio Madison Barone: 24, from Manville, New Jersey Laura Beitler: 30, from Batavia, Illinois 2025 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest prize purse: A prize pool of roughly $40,000 is split between the men's and women's event. The winner of each portion of the event receives $10,000. Second place gets $5,000 and third place receives $2,500. 2025 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest rules: Though the rules aren't overly complicated, there are a few that the competitors must follow. Each competitor has 10 minutes to eat as many hot dogs as possible. Competitors receive one plate of five hot dogs and buns at a time. Ketchup and mustard are not permitted. Any non-alcoholic beverages are allowed, but only water is given. If competitors bring their own beverages, they are limited to 13 cups. Competitors can separate the hot dogs from the buns but must eat an equal amount. If an uneven amount is eaten, the lower number is the competitor's score Competitors are allowed to dunk the hot dog and bun in a cup for as many as five seconds. No utensils are allowed. Eaters are allowed to break up the hot dogs but must do so with their hands. Any eater who vomits during the competition is disqualified. The competitor with the most hot dogs and buns eaten within 10 minutes wins. Why Trust Post Wanted by the New York Post This article was written by Angela Tricarico, Commerce Writer/Reporter for Post Wanted Shopping and New York Post's streaming property, Decider. Angela keeps readers up to date with cord-cutter-friendly deals, and information on how to watch your favorite sports teams, TV shows, and movies on every streaming service. Not only does Angela test and compare the streaming services she writes about to ensure readers are getting the best prices, but she's also a superfan specializing in the intersection of shopping, tech, sports, and pop culture. Prior to joining Decider and The New York Post in 2023, she wrote about streaming and consumer tech at Insider Reviews
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
How Nathan's Famous turned competitive eating into a national spectacle
A plate full of hot dogs is seen during the 2022 Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4, 2022 in New York City. -Every Fourth of July, starting when she was 15, Jacqueline Lewis and her family come together to honor a great American tradition: the Nathan's Famous hot dog eating competition. 'I think people want to know how many hot dogs a human can eat in that amount of time.' Lewis, now 26, told CNN on a warm June day last year while eating miniature corn dogs (at a leisurely pace) outside of the original Nathan's location in Coney Island. 'I think they want to know.' Advertisement Lewis and her family aren't the only ones who want to see how many franks competitors can scarf down in 10 minutes. Each year, close to two million people watch Nathan's hot dog eating contest on ESPN, according to the frankfurter brand. Tens of thousands of spectators come out to Brooklyn's Coney Island to watch the event in person. Competitors train for months in advance, preparing their bodies to consume thousands of calories in just a few minutes. And the big headline this year: champion eater Joey Chestnut will return to the contest after being barred from competing last year over his deal with Impossible Foods — a plant-based meat company. Chestnut has won the 'Mustard Yellow Belt' 16 times, and once ate a world record 76 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes in 2021. Nathan's, and the marketing visionaries behind the annual event, helped shape competitive eating as we know it today — a bombastic, showy sport that some say symbolizes America's obsession with excess. But eating contests date back. Way back. Advertisement Two men, many ginger cakes It seems like people have always had a fascination with how much someone can eat and how quickly. 'Speed and volume competitions pop up in Greek myth, in the Eddas of Norse myth, and even in what may be mankind's first novel, Apuleius' 'Golden Ass,' written in the second century A.D.,' wrote Jason Fagone in his book 'Horsemen of the Esophagus: Competitive Eating and the Big Fat American Dream.' In the United States, the tradition goes back a few hundred years. Fagone cites a 1793 Pennsylvania newspaper that described an event in which two men 'undertook to eat twenty-four ginger cakes each.' Advertisement Over time, pie eating contests became a regular part of Fourth of July celebrations as well as 'a natural icebreaker for picnics, summer camps, and county fairs,' Fagone wrote. Boys participating in a pie eating contest at the 4-H Club fair in Cimarron, Kansas. August 1939. - Corbis/Getty Images In the 19th century, there were basically two kinds of contests, explained Adrienne Bitar, a lecturer in American studies at Cornell University and the author of 'Diet and the Disease of Civilization.' There was speed eating — who could eat the most in a set amount of time — and untimed competitions, where the winner was the person who could eat the most, full stop. The foods back then were simpler, and unbranded. People competed over onions, eggs, watermelon and pies. The contests were 'very lighthearted,' she said, and not nearly as physically taxing as they are today — they were 'athletic like a three legged race is athletic.' Advertisement When Nathan's starting putting on its annual event in the 1970s, it looked more like those early contests. At the time, PR mavens Max Rosey and Mortimer Matz thought a hot dog eating competition would drum up some publicity for Nathan's. (They also seem to have made up the legend that the first Nathan's contest was held in 1916). Back then, 'there was still kind of like a local flavor to it … the competitors were mostly just big guys from Long Island,' Fagone told CNN. Contestants would enter, rapidly eat some hot dogs and go back home to their own barbecues, he said. Melody Andorfer was the winner of the first official Nathan's contest in 1972, according to the Coney Island History Project. She ate 12 hot dogs in 5 minutes — beating all other competitors, men and women, she told the non-profit in an interview in 2020. That first year, Nathan's used barrels and a plank of wood to make the competitors table, she recalled. 'They put a white plastic tablecloth there. In front of you, they put on a paper plate hot dogs and no mustard, nothing to drink. Just the hot dogs.' Advertisement A couple of decades later, in the 1990s, brothers George and Richard Shea took over marketing for Nathan's. George Shea, who still hosts the competition, helped turn the homespun event into a gigantic spectacle. Hot dog publicity Americans say the annual competition is about many things: Coney Island, the Fourth of July, patriotism — but the event that kicked off the rise of mainstream competitive eating in the United States is, at its core, about publicity, the man who runs the contest said. 'It is a sport that did not start as a sport. It was a platform for exposure for Nathan's and certainly many other brands in the years that followed,' said George Shea, who co-founded Major League Eating, the professional league that now oversees the competition. Advertisement Shea took over the contest in 1991 when Rosey died. Before Shea stepped in, he said, the contests included a couple of cameras, a handful of competitors and '15 or 20 onlookers who just happened to be passersby and stopped.' George Shea attends 2015 Nathan's Famous 4th Of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island on July 4, 2015 in New York City. - Henry S. Dziekan III/FilmMagic/FilmMagic/Getty Images As host, Shea cultivated a persona designed to hype the event. He stands on stage in a flat-top straw hat and a suit and tie. Leading up to the contest, he makes grand proclamations about life and poetry as dramatic music plays. When announcing competitors, he builds up anticipation, treating the event more like a boxing match than a hot dog eating contest. The act is 'a little bit of Coney Island, it's a little bit of sports reporter, it's a little bit of apocalyptic preacher,' Shea said. 'The whole thing is just fantastic. You get up there, there are no rules, you say and do whatever you want and it's all about getting in motion, expressing the emotion … and universally the reaction I get from people is just 'this is not what I expected and I really love it.'' Advertisement It took a while to bring that performance to the mainstream. About a decade into his tenure as leader of the competition, Shea pitched a story to the LA Times. The ensuing article introduced the idea to a new part of the country, he said. After that, Shea signed deals for a documentary and TV special — just as superstar Takeru Kobayashi came onto the scene in 2001 and 'blew it open,' Shea said. 'It was coincidental and very mutually beneficial. The timing was very good because he had enormous star power,' Shea said. The first year he participated in the contest, Kobayashi ate 50 hot dogs — nearly double the 2000 winner. Twenty-three year-old Takeru Kobayashi of Japan raises his hands in victory July 4, 2001 at the 86th annual Nathan's Famous International 4th of July Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island in Brooklyn, NY. Kobayashi, who was the odds on favorite, broke the world record of 25 and 1/8 set by fellow countryman Kazutoyo Arai by eating 50 hot dogs in 12 minutes. -Kobayashi showed 'that you could treat (the contest) as an athletic activity and excel,' Fagone said. The Japanese newcomer had taken the pursuit seriously, training and coming up with a novel way to approach the contest (separate hot dogs from buns and snap the frankfurters in half before eating). Advertisement The intensity of the training, and the achievement, lent legitimacy to the whole endeavor. A few years later, ESPN started broadcasting the event. An American tradition, for better or worse For some, competitive eating is a symbol of American culture — the good and the bad. Eating contests are 'a celebration of excess,' Bitar said, part and parcel of the myth of America that attracted immigrants when the country was still young. They represent 'this larger fantasy, this national American fairy tale about consuming without consequence.' Kobayashi himself has pierced that fantasy, revealing in a Netflix documentary show called 'Hack Your Health' that he no longer feels hunger and that he's worried competitive eating may have lasting ramifications for his health. Advertisement Nevertheless, he did face off with Chestnut on Labor Day last year in a Netflix special called 'Chestnut vs. Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef.' Similar to Chestnut, Kobayashi was banned from competing in the Nathan's competition due to a contract dispute in 2010. The contests have staying power in part because of their shock value, Bitar said. Competitive eating 'breaks all sorts of etiquette and social norms,' she said. 'It's one of these moments where all of our rules are broken.' Shea also pointed to an underlying tension as a reason that Americans still watch the Nathan's hot dog eating contest after all these years. He described it as the 'element of 'wait you're not supposed to do that' and 'I can't believe he's doing that or she's doing that.'' Joey Chestnut eats hot dogs during the 2022 Nathans Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4, 2022 at Coney Island in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. -But he sees the contest as a special event, one that symbolizes something else: happiness. Advertisement 'It goes to New York City history … but more important, hot dogs represent to me the joy of summer.' Beatrice Fellman, 25, agrees. The Coney Island visitor, who described the hot dog as 'America's meal' on that warm day in June last year, said it stands for 'patriotism and a good time.' Fellman was one of many on a crowded boardwalk, flooded with hundreds of beachgoers trying to soak up the sun, carrying towels and beach chairs. The mood was celebratory. Bass bumped from speakers and a live band played to about a dozen people dancing. Despite the heat, there were lines at both Nathan's locations, where people waited for the famous hot dogs and crinkle-cut french fries. 'We love the Nathan's hot dog eating competition because we love how it brings the city together,' Fellman said, standing with a group of her friends, all wearing Nathan's hot dog eating contest T-shirts. 'It celebrates a beautiful American comfort food that is the hot dog.' Advertisement This article has been updated with new information that Joey Chestnut will return to the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest in 2025. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at
