{"id":3298,"date":"2026-07-06T21:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T21:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3298"},"modified":"2026-07-06T21:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T21:04:09","slug":"joey-chestnut-eats-66-hot-dogs-to-again-claim-mustard-belt-at-nathans-famous-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3298","title":{"rendered":"Joey Chestnut eats 66 hot dogs to again claim Mustard Belt at Nathan\u2019s Famous contest"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Crowds gathered in the sweltering heat Saturday to celebrate the United States\u2019 250th birthday by watching famed competitive eater Joey \u201cJaws\u201d Chestnut defend his world hot dog eating championship in Coney Island, where he downed 66 hot dogs in just 10 minutes. Miki Sudo defended her title as well in the women\u2019s division.<\/p>\n<p>Saturday marked the 18th time Chestnut, 42, won the so-called Mustard Belt in just 21 appearances at the internationally televised Nathan\u2019s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest. He beat out 13 competitors who came from around the country and world, trekking from the Czech Republic, Australia and South Korea.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a dream, it\u2019s electric, there\u2019s no place better on Earth,\u201d Chestnut said breathlessly in an interview immediately after the showdown, donning a bulky, bejeweled necklace bearing the name of the sports betting company \u201cPolymarket\u201d around his neck. In a video posted on Instagram before the competition, Chestnut called competitive hot dog eating \u201cthe most patriotic sport we\u2019ve got.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chestnut handily defeated the second-place winner, Patrick Bertoletti, 41, who ate 50 hot dogs, but fell short of his own 2021 record of 76 wieners and buns \u2014 or approximately 7.6 hot dogs per minute.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>Defending champion in the women\u2019s division, the 40-year-old Sudo of Tampa, Florida, won the bright pink Mustard Belt for the 12th time, downing 38.75 dogs. In 2024, she ate a record 51 links.<\/p>\n<p>After competing, Sudo joined the crowd to watch her husband \u2014 who proposed to her in 2021 immediately after downing 50 boiled eggs in just over 3 minutes to set a world record \u2014 compete in the men\u2019s event.<\/p>\n<p>Both champions said that the heatwave that scorched New York on Saturday \u2014 bringing temperatures in Brooklyn to roughly 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) during the competition \u2014 made that much more difficult. On top of that, ESPN announcers said the humidity changed the consistency of the buns.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just said I would have to rely on muscle memory, and the crowd really carried me through to another belt today,\u201d Sudo said.<\/p>\n<p>A large crowd braved the heat to watch the event, wearing foam hot dogs on their heads and standing outside the original Nathan\u2019s Famous restaurant that has been in Coney Island, Brooklyn, since 1972. The superfans who stood closest to the stage wore ponchos as protection in case a competitor threw up.<\/p>\n<p>There was briefly some concern earlier this year that Chestnut wouldn\u2019t be able to participate in the 2026 competition after he was arrested for allegedly slapping a man in an Indiana bar. He was put on probation after pleading guilty to misdemeanor battery, but is allowed to travel outside Indiana. Hot dog contest organizer Major League Eating said the criminal case didn\u2019t affect Chestnut\u2019s eligibility for the competition.<\/p>\n<p>Despite his continued reign, Chestnut told an ESPN interviewer after the game that he was disappointed that he wasn\u2019t able to top his previous record.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDang, I got so much room left,\u201d said Chestnut, who announcers referred to as the \u201cMichelangelo of Mastication.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3292\">Gold rings around 2,000 years old found during dig at Thailand archaeological site<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3294\">Anissa Helou\u2019s new book of recipes from Lebanon spotlights villages scarred by war<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3296\">What to Stream: Rolling Stones, \u2018Little House on the Prairie\u2019 and \u2018Backrooms\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Crowds gathered in the sweltering heat Saturday to celebrate the United States\u2019 250th birthday by watching famed competitive eater Joey \u201cJaws\u201d Chestnut defend his world hot dog eating championship in Coney Island, where he downed 66 hot dogs in just 10 minutes. Miki Sudo defended her title as well in the women\u2019s division. Saturday marked [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1101,1102,149,150,1103,1104],"tags":[5318,5319,5320,5321,5322,2637],"class_list":["post-3298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-0-no-apple-publish","category-1gridmagazine","category-a-town-magazine","category-celebrities","category-uncategorized","category-z-other-galley","tag-coney-island","tag-joey-jaws-chestnut","tag-miki-sudo","tag-nathans-famous","tag-patrick-bertoletti","tag-polymarket"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Joey Chestnut eats 66 hot dogs to again claim Mustard Belt at Nathan\u2019s Famous contest - Denver Moving Chronicle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/denvermovingchronicle.com\/?p=3298\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Joey Chestnut eats 66 hot dogs to again claim Mustard Belt at Nathan\u2019s Famous contest - Denver Moving Chronicle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Crowds gathered in the sweltering heat Saturday to celebrate the United States\u2019 250th birthday by watching famed competitive eater Joey \u201cJaws\u201d Chestnut defend his world hot dog eating championship in Coney Island, where he downed 66 hot dogs in just 10 minutes. 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