With the controversial absence of its king, Joey Chestnut, the aggressive consuming world turned its eyes to Coney Island, the place an open area of rivals aimed to usurp the crown at Nathan’s Well-known Fourth of July scorching canine consuming contest.
After 10 minutes of scarfing scorching canines, a brand new males’s champion emerged — Patrick Bertoletti. With mouth agape and abdomen expanded, Bertoletti devoured 58 scorching canines to seize the Yellow Mustard Belt, outlasting 13 rivals.
For the primary time in eight years, a brand new males’s champion was topped.
Bertoletti, a Chicago native, returned to the occasion because the No. 9 ranked eater on the earth. In his sixth look, he surpassed his private finest complete of 55.
“At all times the bridesmaid, by no means the bride,” Bertoletti stated on ESPN2 after the competitors. “Right now, I’m getting married.”
The silver went to Geoffrey Esper, the favourite going into the occasion, who ate 53 scorching canines, whereas James Webb of Australia secured third place with 52 canines consumed.
“I simply can’t imagine it. I at all times completed second or third, and that is large,” Bertoletti stated. “With Joey not right here, I knew I had a shot. I unlocked one thing inside me that I don’t know the place it got here from, however I’m not complaining.”
On the ladies’s aspect, the brand new potential face of aggressive consuming emerged as Miki Sudo, the reigning queen of the occasion, set a brand new ladies’s world file by downing 51 scorching canines in 10 minutes. She clinched her tenth Pink Belt in historic vogue, beating her earlier world file of 48.5 scorching canines and buns and surpassing the 50-dog threshold.
“I lastly did it,” Sudo stated on ESPN2 after the competitors. “We lastly beat 50 scorching canines. A lot of that is because of Mayoi Ebihara, who pushed me a lot. Truthfully, I ready much more as a result of I knew she was going to convey it.”
In second place, gobbling 37 scorching canines, was Tokyo-based aggressive eater and social media star Mayoi “Ebimayo” Ebihara. In a neck-and-neck race to victory, Ebihara gave Sudo a run for her cash for the second consecutive 12 months, protecting tempo with the champion for almost the complete stretch of the competitors.
Michelle “Cardboard Shell” Lesco, who claimed victory within the 2021 competitors throughout Sudo’s absence, completed third, gobbling 23.5 hotdogs and buns, falling wanting her private better of 32 hotdogs and buns.
A mainstay in aggressive consuming, Sudo proved why she is the No.1 ranked aggressive feminine eater and No. 3 total. She has dominated the occasion yearly since 2014, apart from 2021, when she missed time as a result of being pregnant together with her son Max.
“Ten years into this, I nonetheless have extra to indicate,” Sudo stated. “The ladies’s information are simply going to enhance.”
This 12 months’s contest could have an asterisk connected as the person synonymous with the occasion, Chestnut, was banned as a result of a contractual settlement to endorse a rival model of wiener, Not possible Meals, which produces vegan scorching canines.
Nathan’s and Shea refuted claims of a ban, telling CBS Information, “He’s by no means banned. He has by no means been banned. We wish him there. We needed him there. We conceded on all these parts. It was an exclusivity situation.”
Both manner, “Jaws’” star energy was notably absent.
For the final 17 years, Chestnut has been the Goliath of the competition, successful 16 of the earlier 17 Nathan’s scorching canine consuming contests. MLE, the governing physique for quite a few aggressive consuming contests, has topped him “the best eater in historical past.”
On common, Chestnut has eaten 66.47 wieners per 12 months. , a mark which Bertoletti fell wanting, a benchmark Chestnut could have expectedly surpassed as he has accomplished many occasions earlier than.
Chestnut is collaborating in a Fourth of July scorching canine consuming contest that includes Not possible Meals merchandise at Fort Bliss in Texas at 2 p.m. PST. He’s additionally set to face his largest rival, former champion Takeru Kobayashi, in a Netflix particular airing on Labor Day.