The hot dogs, buns — and saliva — will be flying this Fourth of July when San Jose’s Joey Chestnut competes for his 13th title in the Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest.
But spectators won’t be in any danger.
For the first time, they won’t be lining New York’s Coney Island boardwalk for the show. Because of coronavirus concerns, they will have to watch on TV with millions of others as Chestnut and the other contestants chow down at a private location with social distancing and other precautions in place.
ESPN will televise the event live at 9 a.m. PDT Saturday, with commentator Mike Golic Jr. doing the play-by-play. The women’s competition will be first up, with Miki Sudo defending her title, followed by the men’s.
Chestnut, nicknamed Joey Jaws, set the world record in 2018, downing 74 hot dogs. Last year he won with a total of 71.
The champ, a former construction manager, will go up against only handful of other competitive eaters. According to ActionNetwork.com, three of the announced challengers from out of state — including rival Matt Stonie, also of San Jose — won’t compete because of New York’s new travel restrictions. But Major League Eating, the association that sponsors these events, “had the foresight” to get the reigning champ into the state in time to self-quarantine.
Chestnut has lost the Nathan’s Famous competition only once in the past 13 years. That was in 2015 when Stonie ate 62 hot dogs, two more than Chestnut.
Major League Eating officials said their group will donate 100,000 Nathan’s Famous hot dogs to Food Bank for New York City this year, and competitors will be making and encouraging food bank donations too.
ESPN plans to rebroadcast the contest several times during the holiday weekend on ESPN2, ESPNews and ET.