Patrick Bertoletti won the 2024 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest for men, while Miki Sudo defended her 2023 victory with her 10th title in the women’s competition.
Bertoletti of Chicago ate 58 hot dogs in a close race where the leader varied among 13 competitors from around the world, beating his personal record of 55 hot dogs in 10 minutes.
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“I didn’t want to stop eating until the work was done,” he said after his victory.
Sudo, on the other hand, ate 51 hot dogs, setting a new world record for women. The Floridian native competed against 13 other competitors, including her rival Mayoi Ebihara of Japan. Sudo beat her record of 39 1/2 hot dogs last year.
“I’m just happy that it can be mine for another year,” Sudo said after becoming defending champion.
The competition, held every July 4, was the first in nearly two decades that Joey Chestnut did not participate in. However, later in the day he will compete against soldiers at a U.S. military base in El Paso.
The competitive eater has won the Nathan’s event a total of 16 times (out of his 19 attempts), including every year since 2016. However, when Chestnut signed a deal to be a spokesperson for Impossible Foods, which launched a plant-based hot dog that year, Major League Eating claimed he violated the brand’s exclusivity rules for the contest.
“For nearly two decades, we have operated under the same basic hot dog exclusivity terms,” Major League Eating said in a statement in June. “However, it appears that Joey and his managers have prioritized a new partnership with another hot dog brand over our long-standing relationship.”
In response to the news that he would not be allowed to participate in the hot dog eating contest, Chestnut released his own statement, noting that he was “devastated” to learn of his exclusion from the media.
“To be clear, I have no contract with MLE or Nathan’s and they want to change the rules of years past regarding other partners I can work with,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “Unfortunately, this is the decision Nathan’s and Major League Eating are making and it will deprive major fans of the usual joy and entertainment of the holiday.”
Although Chestnut wasn’t on stage at Coney Island this year, that doesn’t mean his fans won’t be able to see him eat hot dogs this summer. The competitive eater will face off against his “bitter rival,” Takeru Kobayashi, in a hot dog eating contest that will be broadcast live on Netflix on Labor Day, September 2.
The special is called Chestnut vs. Kobayashi: Unfinished BeefThe time and location are to be announced, and the rivals will meet for the first time since 2009, when Chestnut defeated Kobayashi in a sudden death five-hot dog contest.
“In all my years of competitive eating, Kobayashi is my biggest rival,” Chestnut said in a statement when the special was announced. “Competing against him has pushed me to be that much better. I know the fans have been waiting a long time for a new chapter in our rivalry, and I can’t wait for our big showdown live on Netflix! It’s time to give the people what they want!”
Kobayashi, on the other hand, had withdrawn from the eating contest, but was persuaded by Netflix to make one last frankfurter bet.
“I will not retire until I beat him one last time,” Kobayashi said. “This rivalry has been brewing for a long time. Facing Joey live on Netflix means fans around the world can watch me knock him out.”
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