Joey Chestnut made his return to the annual Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest on Friday afternoon on Coney Island.
After a 1-year absence due to a sponsorship issue, Chestnut cruised to an easy victory to claim his 17th title in the competition. He consumed a staggering 70.5 hot dogs over just 10 minutes of competition time. Second place went to last year’s champion, Patrick Bertoletti, who managed just 46.5 hot dogs.
Here’s a clip from the home stretch of Chestnut’s blowout victory:
While 70.5 HDB is impressive, it’s not the record for this competition. Chestnut, of course, set the all-time record back in 2021 with 76 HDB.
In 2024, Chestnut was banned from the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest due to his sponsorship with Impossible Foods. However, he returned in 2025 and proved his dominance once again on competitive eating’s biggest stage.
Chestnut’s 17 Mustard Belts are by far the most on the men’s side of this competition. Takeru Kobayashi is second all-time with 6 titles, but he hasn’t competed in this event since 2009. He did compete against Chestnut in a head-to-head battle streamed on Netflix in 2024, which Chestnut won.
Chestnut will presumably battle for title No. 18 next summer.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
