Nothing like the human drama of athletic-ish competition. A career rivalry was revived today as Netflix hosted a live hot-dog-eating contest pitting two of the pseudo-sport’s legends — and the result was a world record.
Joey Chestnut finished off Takeru Kobayashi in the streamer’s Chestnut vs. Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef, choking down a record-smashing 83 hot dogs and buns to Kobayashi’s 66 during the 10-minute chowdown. The previous mark was 76.
Chestnut pocketed the $100,000 prize in the first time the two longtime adversaries had squared off against each other in 15 years.
“I’ve been trying to hit 80 hot dogs for years, and without Kobayashi I was never able to do it,’’ Chestnut said the feast feat. “He drives me. We weren’t always nice to each other, but I love the way we push each other to be our best.”
Netflix announced the competition in June, a day after Chestnut was banned from the Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest that he long had dominated. That happened because he took a sponsorship with plant-based Impossible Foods, which turned the stomachs of brass at Major League Eating, which runs the Nathan’s show.
Chestnut had won the coveted Mustard Belt — handed out to the person who eats the most hot dogs each July 4 on ESPN — for eight years running and in 16 of the past 17. He was out-grubbed only once, in 2015, when Matt Stonie took the title.
Chestnut makes an estimated $250,000 to $500,000 per year in competitive eating challenges and via sponsorship deals. He also has his own line of condiments for hot dogs, brats, sausages, wings and sandwiches.
Here’s the trailer for Chestnut vs. Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef:
