In a duel between two legendary hot dog eating contestants, the American Joey Chestnut beat his previous world record. The 40-year-old ate 83 sausages and buns within ten minutes; his previous best was 76 hot dogs. His competitor, the Japanese Takeru Kobayashi (46), was able to improve his personal record, but “only” ate 66 hot dogs in the eating competition in Las Vegas.
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For the first time in 15 years, the two eating pros met again to duel. The streaming service Netflix hosted the live event “Unfinished Beef” on Monday. In front of a cheering audience, they stuffed the sausages and buns into their mouths with both hands and washed them down with water.
As the winner, Chestnut received a trophy and prize money of $100,000. He said he had been trying to eat 80 hot dogs for years, he beamed after his victory. Having Kobayashi as his opponent was now the incentive to give his best.
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Chestnut, who weighs a good 100 kilograms, and his rival Kobayashi, who weighs significantly less than 71 kilograms, last faced each other in 2009, when Chestnut triumphed with 68 hot dogs.
Kobayashi was one of the pioneers of the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, which is traditionally held in New York on Independence Day (July 4). He won the event six times in a row starting in 2001. In 2010, however, he was banned from the competition by the organizer, Major League Eating, due to a contract dispute.
Chestnut won the “Nathan’s Famous” title for the first time in 2007 and beat his competitors in this eating contest a total of 16 times. Last July, however, the champion nicknamed “Jaws” was excluded from the traditional New York event. The trigger was his sponsorship deal with the meat substitute supplier Impossible Foods. In the absence of eating legend Chestnut, the American Patrick Bertoletti won his first title – with 58 hot dogs.
