Joey Chestnut eats 66 scorching canines to once more declare Mustard Belt

Crowds gathered within the sweltering warmth Saturday to have a good time the US’ 250th birthday by watching famed aggressive eater Joey “Jaws” Chestnut defend his world scorching canine consuming championship in Coney Island, the place he downed 66 scorching canines in simply 10 minutes. Miki Sudo defended her title as nicely within the girls’s division. Saturday marked the 18th time Chestnut, 42, received the so-called Mustard Belt in simply 21 appearances on the internationally televised Nathan’s Well-known Fourth of July scorching canine consuming contest. He beat out 13 opponents who got here from across the nation and the world, trekking from the Czech Republic, Australia and South Korea.”It is a dream, it is electrical, there is not any place higher on Earth,” Chestnut stated breathlessly in an interview instantly after the showdown, donning a cumbersome, bejeweled necklace bearing the identify of the sports activities betting firm “Polymarket” round his neck. In a video posted on Instagram earlier than the competitors, Chestnut referred to as aggressive scorching canine consuming “probably the most patriotic sport we have.”Chestnut handily defeated the second-place winner, Patrick Bertoletti, 41, who ate 50 scorching canines, however fell in need of his personal 2021 report of 76 wieners and buns — or roughly 7.6 scorching canines per minute.Defending champion within the girls’s division, the 40-year-old Sudo of Tampa, Florida, received the brilliant pink Mustard Belt for the twelfth time, downing 38.75 canines. In 2024, she ate a report 51 hyperlinks.After competing, Sudo joined the gang to observe her husband — who proposed to her in 2021 instantly after downing 50 boiled eggs in simply over 3 minutes to set a world report — compete within the males’s occasion.Each champions stated that the warmth wave that scorched New York on Saturday — bringing temperatures in Brooklyn to roughly 90 levels Fahrenheit (32 levels Celsius) throughout the competitors — made that rather more tough. On prime of that, ESPN announcers stated the humidity modified the consistency of the buns.”I simply stated I must depend on muscle reminiscence, and the gang actually carried me by to a different belt in the present day,” Sudo stated.A big crowd braved the warmth to observe the occasion, sporting foam scorching canines on their heads and standing exterior the unique Nathan’s Well-known restaurant that has been in Coney Island, Brooklyn, since 1972. The superfans who stood closest to the stage wore ponchos as safety in case a competitor threw up.There was briefly some concern earlier this yr that Chestnut would not be capable of take part within the 2026 competitors after he was arrested for allegedly slapping a person in an Indiana bar. He was placed on probation after pleading responsible to misdemeanor battery, however is allowed to journey exterior Indiana. Scorching canine contest organizer Main League Consuming stated the legal case did not have an effect on Chestnut’s eligibility for the competitors. Regardless of his continued reign, Chestnut informed an ESPN interviewer after the sport that he was disillusioned that he wasn’t in a position to prime his earlier report.”Dang, I acquired a lot room left,” stated Chestnut, who announcers known as the “Michelangelo of Mastication.”