2023 Hot Dog Eating Contest: Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest

The Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest is an annual American hot dog competitive eating competition.

It is held each year on July 4th at Nathan’s Famous Corporation’s original, and best-known, restaurant at the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues in Coney Island, a neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City.

The contest has gained public attention in recent years due to the stardom of Takeru “The Tsunami” Kobayashi and Joey “Jaws” Chestnut.

The defending men’s champion is Chestnut, who ate 62 hot dogs in the 2023 contest.

The defending women’s champion is Miki Sudo, who ate 39.5 hot dogs in 2023.

Rules

Major League Eating (MLE), sanctioned by the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE), has sanctioned the event since 1997. Today, only entrants currently under contract by MLE can compete in the contest.

The field of about 20 contestants typically includes the following:

• any past champion;
• winners of a regional qualifying contest for that season;
• individuals qualifying as one of two wildcards (highest two average qualifier scores without winning a single qualifier); and
• those invited by special invitation of the MLE.

The competitors stand on a raised platform behind a long table with drinks and Nathan’s Famous hot dogs in buns. Most contestants have water on hand, but other kinds of drinks can and have been used. Condiments are allowed, but usually are not used. The hot dogs are allowed to cool slightly after grilling to prevent possible mouth burns. The contestant who consumes (and keeps down) the most hot dogs and buns (HDB) in ten minutes is declared the winner. The length of the contest has changed over the years, previously 12 minutes, and in some years, only three and a half minutes; since 2008, 10 minutes.

Spectators watch and cheer on the eaters from close proximity. A designated scorekeeper is paired with each contestant, flipping a number board counting each hot dog consumed. Partially eaten hot dogs count and the granularity of measurement is eighths of a length. Hot dogs still in the mouth at the end of regulation count if they are subsequently swallowed. Yellow penalty cards can be issued for “messy eating,” and red penalty cards can be issued for “reversal of fortune”, which results in disqualification. If there is a tie, the contestants go to a 5-hot-dog eat-off to see who can eat that many the quickest. Further ties will result in a sudden-death eat-off of eating one more hot dog in the fastest time.

After the winner is declared, a plate showing the number of hot dogs eaten by the winner is brought out for photo opportunities.

Awards

The winner of the men’s competition is of the coveted international “bejeweled” mustard-yellow belt. The belt is of “unknown age and value” according to IFOCE co-founder George Shea and rests in the country of its owner. In 2011, Sonya Thomas won the inaugural women’s competition and its “bejeweled” pink belt.

Various other prizes have been awarded over the years. For example, in 2004 Orbitz donated a travel package to the winner. Starting in 2007, cash prizes have been awarded to the top finishers.

History

The Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest has been held at the original location on Coney Island most years since about 1972, usually in conjunction with Independence Day. In 1973, 14 year old Michael Rabin won the contest and was on Local channel 7 news. Due to the meat shortage and to avoid bad press, Nathan’s had to pretend the contest never happened, therefore not listing Michael Rabin as the winner.

Nathan’s promoter Mortimer “Morty” Matz claimed that on July 4, 1916, four immigrants held a hot dog eating contest at Nathan’s Famous stand on Coney Island to settle an argument about who was the most patriotic. A man by the name of Jim Mullen is said to have won the first contest,^[4] although accounts vary. One account describes Jimmy Durante (who was not an immigrant) as competing in that all-immigrant inaugural contest, which was judged by Eddie Cantor and Sophie Tucker.

Another co-founder describes the event as beginning “in 1917, and pitted Mae West’s father, Jack, against entertainer Eddie Cantor. Nathan made the spurious claim that the contest has been held each year since then except 1941 (“as a protest to the war in Europe”) and 1971 (as a protest to political unrest in the U.S.).

In 2010, however, promoter Matz admitted to having fabricated the legend of the 1916 start date with a man named Max Rosey in the early 1970s as part of a publicity stunt. The legend grew over the years, to the point where The New York Times and other publications were known to have repeatedly listed 1916 as the inaugural year, although no evidence of the contest exists. As Coney Island is often linked with recreational activities of the summer season, several early contests were held on other holidays associated with summer besides Independence Day; for example, multiple contests in the 1970s were scheduled on Memorial Day or Labor Day.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the competition was dominated by Japanese contestants, particularly Kobayashi, who won six consecutive contests from 2001 to 2006. In 2001, Kobayashi transformed the competition and the world of competitive eating by downing 50 hot dogs—smashing the previous record of 25.5. The Japanese eater introduced advanced eating and training techniques that shattered previous competitive eating world records. The rise in popularity of the event coincided with the surge in popularity of the worldwide competitive eating circuit.

Tactics and Training

Each contestant has his or her own eating method. Takeru Kobayashi pioneered the “Solomon Method” at his first competition in 2001. The Solomon method consists of breaking each hot dog in half, eating the two halves at once, and then eating the bun.

“Dunking” is the most prominent method used today. Because buns absorb water, many contestants dunk the buns in water and squeeze them to make them easier to swallow, and slide down the throat more efficiently.

Other methods used include the “Carlene Pop,” where the competitor jumps up and down while eating, to force the food down to the stomach. “Buns & Roses” is a similar trick, but the eater sways from side to side instead. “Juliet-ing” is a cheating method in which players simply throw the hot dog buns over their shoulders.

Contestants train and prepare for the event in different ways. Some fast, others prefer liquid-only diets before the event. Takeru Kobayashi meditates, drinks water and eats cabbage, then fasts before the event. Several contestants, such as Ed “Cookie” Jarvis, aim to be “hungry, but not too hungry” and have a light breakfast the morning of the event.

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