Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest

Nathan's Wall of Fame of contest winners, 2006.

The I.F.O.C.E. Nathan's International July Fourth Hot Dog Eating Contest is an annual competitive eating competition held at Nathan's Famous Corporation's original and best-known restaurant at the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York. The event is held on July 4, and is regarded as the world's most famous hot dog eating contest and a colorful tradition of Independence Day in the United States. In 2006, over 30,000 spectators attended the event, and an additional 1.5 million households watched it live on ESPN.

The ninety-fourth annual contest was held on July 4, 2009. Six-time champion Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi and two-time defending champion Joey Chestnut were the favorites going into the contest; Chestnut prevailed by setting a new record of 68 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes. Kobayashi was second with 64½. The contest was televised live on ESPN, which has held the broadcast rights for this event since 2004.

History and traditions

According to legend, on July 4, 1916 four immigrants had a hot dog eating contest at Nathan's Famous stand on Coney Island to settle an argument about who was the most patriotic. The contest has been held nearly every year since, in conjunction with Independence Day at the site. In 1993, a one-time, one-on-one contest under the Brooklyn Bridge was held between Mike DeVito and Orio Ito.

There is a weigh-in with the Mayor of New York City prior to the contest. On the day of the contest, the contestants arrive in the "bus of champions".

In recent years, guitarist and songwriter Amos Wengler has performed one of the songs he had written for the contest. A person in a hot dog costume dances as Wengler plays. Some of Wengler's compositions are "Hot Dog Time!", "Hot Dogs, Hot Dogs" and "Where is the Belt?" by John Jones.

The winner is given possession of the coveted international "bejeweled" mustard-yellow belt. The belt is of "unknown age and value" according to IFOCE co-founder George Shea and rests in the country of its owner. Due to the string of Japanese wins in the first half of the 2000 decade, the belt had been on display in the Imperial Palace in Saitama, Japan near the Nakazato Danchi campus. It was moved to the United States as a result of the 2007 contest win by American Joey Chestnut, and will remain in the United States as a result of his win in 2009.

Rules

Only adults 18 years or older who fulfill one of the following four conditions may compete:

• The defending champion
• Winners of a regional qualifying contest for that season
• Qualifying as one of two wildcards (highest two average qualifier scores without winning a single qualifer)
• Special invitation by IFOCE (see "Controversies" below)

The IFOCE has sanctioned the event since 1997. Today, only entrants currently under contract by the IFOCE can compete in the contest.

Rules used in the early years of the contest were different than today's. For example, in past contests minors could compete (Birgit Felden was 17 when she won the 1984 contest.)

During the event, the field of about 20 contestants stands on a raised platform behind a 30-foot (9.1 m)-long table with drinks and Nathan's Famous hot dogs in buns. Most contestants drink water, but other kinds of drinks can and have been used. Condiments are allowed, but are usually not used. The hot dogs themselves are allowed to cool slightly after grilling to prevent possible mouth burns. In the past, whoever consumed (and kept down until the contest had ended) the most hot dogs and buns ("HDBs") in twelve minutes was declared the winner. However, starting in 2008, the contest is only ten minutes long due to recent evidence suggesting the original contest in 1916 was this length (rather than 12 minutes). However, this has been somewhat controversial and criticized by the reigning champion of the event, Joey Chestnut. There is further confusion about the length because of two articles suggesting the length of the contest was a mere three and a half minutes. A designated scorekeeper, known as a "Bunnette," is paired with each contestant. The Bunnette flips a number board counting the hot dogs consumed. Partially eaten hot dogs count and the granularity of measurement is eighths of a length. Hot dogs still in the mouth at the end of the 10 minutes count only if they are swallowed. There can be deductions in score for excess HDB debris. Both hands may be used. After the winner is declared, a plate with the number of hot dogs eaten by the winner is brought out for photo opportunities.

Qualifying contests

First held nationally in 1993 and internationally in 1997, qualifying contests are used to determine contestants for the July 4th competition. A qualifier winner cannot compete in another qualifier in the same year and no contestant can compete in more than three qualifiers in the same season. Each qualifier can have at most fifteen participants (typically first come/first served). A world record that is broken in a qualifier is official, but the winner does not get to hold the belt.

Prizes

Winners receive a trophy, two cases of Nathan's Famous hot dogs, the famous Nathan's Mustard Belt, and in some years a nonmonetary prize donated by a sponsor. For example, in 2004 Orbitz donated a travel package to the winner.

In 2007, for the first time, cash prizes were awarded to the winners, as a total of $20,650 (U.S.) was awarded as follows:

• First Place: $10,000
• Second Place: $5,000
• Third Place: $2,500
• Fourth Place: $1,500
• Fifth Place: $1,000
• Sixth Place: $500
• Seventh Place: $100
• Eighth Place: $50

Controversy

Controversies usually revolve around supposed breaches of rules that are missed by the judges. For example, NY1 news reporter Adam Balkin reviewed taped footage of the 1999 contest and noticed that Steve Keiner ate half of a hot dog before the contest had officially begun. The judge, who was standing directly in front of Keiner, missed it - otherwise Keiner would have been disqualified. According to the rules, the judge's word is final, so in this case Keiner took first place despite Balkin's discovery. Editors of the website speedeat.com have accused others of cheating at qualifiers where there is less scrutiny.

Another controversy occurred in 2003 when former N.F.L. Player William "The Refrigerator" Perry competed as a celebrity contestant. Though he had won a qualifier by eating twelve hot dogs, he ate only four H.D.B.s at the contest, stopping eating completely just five minutes into the competition. On July 1, 2004 at a ceremony following a showing of Crazy Legs Conti's documentary, George Shea stated that the celebrity contestant experiment will likely not be repeated.

At the 2007 contest, the results were delayed to review whether defending champion Takeru Kobayashi had a "Roman method incident" (A.K.A. "reversal of fortune") in the final seconds of the competition. Such an incident results in the disqualification of the competitor under the rules of the International Federation of Competitive Eating. The judges ruled in Kobayashi's favor; a disqualification would have given second place to Patrick Bertoletti. A similar incident occurred during Kobayashi's 2002 title defense when he consumed over fifty hot dogs in a victory over Eric "Badlands" Booker.

Results

Year	Winner	First	HDB/Min	Second	Third	Notes	Contest Duration (minutes)
2009	Joey Chestnut	68	6.8	64½	55	Joey Chestnut beat his previous record by eating sixty-eight hot dogs & buns (H.D.B.) in ten minutes, nine more than in 2008, setting new event, U.S., and world records. He became the second person to win three consecutive titles. Kobayashi ate 64.5 H.D.B., setting a Japanese record, & Patrick Bertoletti placed third with fifty-five H.D.B. Chestnut improved his H.D.B. per minute in 2009's contest to 6.8 from the 5.9 he had in 2008. Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas broke her own female record with forty-one H.D.B.	10
2008	Joey Chestnut	59#	5.9	59	42	Event, Japanese, U.S., and world records set (fifty-nine H.D.B.). First event using new ten-minute time limit and first tie and eatoff since 1980. Chestnut and Kobayashi tie for first with fifty-nine in regulation. In overtime Chestnut is the first to finish a plate of five. Kobayashi, losing by a bite, finishes second, and Tim Janus finishes third with forty-two	10
2007	Joey Chestnut	66	5.5	63	49	Having broken the world and U.S. records with 59½ H.D.B. at a qualifier contest on June 2, 2007, Chestnut finishes first, setting new event, U.S. and world records (sixty-six H.D.B.); Sonya Thomas, #5, sets female record (thirty-nine H.D.B.).	12
2006	Takeru Kobayashi	54	4.5	52	37	Kobayashi, #1, sets event, Japanese and world records (53¾ H.D.B.); Joey Chestnut, #2, sets U.S. record (fifty-two H.D.B.).	12
2005	Takeru Kobayashi	49	4.08	37	32	Sonya Thomas sets the female and U.S. records (thirty-seven H.D.B.)	12
2004	Takeru Kobayashi	53½	4.45	38	32	Event, Japanese and world records set; Sonya Thomas sets the female and U.S. records (thirty-two H.D.B.)	12
2003	Takeru Kobayashi	44½	3.7	30½	29½	Sonya Thomas sets the female record (twenty-five H.D.B.)	12
2002	Takeru Kobayashi	50½	4.2	26	25½	Event, Japanese and world records set.	12
2001	Takeru Kobayashi	50	4.16	31	23½	Event, Japanese and world records obliterated.	12
2000	Kazutoyo Arai	25⅛	2.09	24	22¼	Event, Japanese and world records set; first - Kazutoyo Arai, 新井和響, 25, M.; second - Misao "Beast" Fujita, 藤田操, 24, M.; third - Takako Akasaka, 赤阪尊子, 22, F.; Takako Akasaka sets the women's record
1999	Steve Keiner	20¼		19		Before the contest Keiner ate half of a hot dog, but judges missed it. He would have been disqualified had the judges seen it.
1998	Hirofumi Nakajima	19
1997	Hirofumi Nakajima	24½				Event, Japanese and world records set; First time that intergovernmental qualifiers were used
1996	Ed Krachie	22¼		20		Event, U.S. and world records set. World record was later broken December 4, 1996 by Hirofumi Nakajima (23¼) in a hot dog eating contest in Central Park, also setting the Japanese record.
1995	Ed Krachie	19½		19
1994	Mike Devito	20
1993	Mike Devito	17				First time that qualifying events were used to choose contestants
1992	Frank Dellarosa	19
1991	Frank Dellarosa	21½				Event, U.S. and world records set; 1991 event was the seventy-fifth annual contest.	12
1990	Mike Devito	16
1989	Jay Green	13
1988	Jay Green	14
1987	Don Wolfman	12				Record going into contest reported as 17
1986	Don Wolfman	15½	1.55			Despite Don Wolfman being listed falsely as the winner in various accounts, the New York Post of July 5, 1986 and New York Times of July 7, 1986, confirms Heller the winner of the 10 minute contest. According to a Nathan's spokesman, the 70-year record going into the 1986 contest was 17 by Walter Paul in 1978.	10
1985	Oscar Rodriguez	11¾
1984	Birgit Felden	9½					10
1983	Luis Llamas	19½				Unconfirmed; a 1987 New York Times article states that the record going into the 1987 contest was seventeen.
1982	Steven Abrams	11				Independence Day was on a Sunday, and therefore held July 5; Winner ate one bite of a twelfth hot dog. Record going into contest reported as fourteen (Jim Mattner)
1981	Thomas DeBerry	11	2.2			Winner stopped eating after five minutes to attend a family barbecue.
1980	Paul Siederman & Joe Baldini	9+				Siederman and Baldini both ate nine hot dogs plus part of a tenth in ten minutes. Both ate 3½ hot dogs in an eat-off, and were declared co-winners	10
1978	Walter Paul	17				Event, U.S. and world records set
1974	Roberto Muriel	10				The 3 ½ minute contest was won by a twenty-two-year-old Brooklyn resident	3.5
1972	Jason Schechter	14				The contest lasted for 3 ½ minutes and was won by a Brooklyn collegiate student. The prize was a certificate for forty more hot dogs.	3.5
1916	James Mullen	13				Inaugural contest	12

^# - Won a five-dog eat off.

Medial coverage

Newspapers

News sources typically use puns in head-lines and copy referring to the contest, such as "'Tsunami' is eating contest's top dog again," "couldn't cut the mustard" (A.P.), "Nathan's King ready, with relish" (Daily News) and "To be frank, Fridge faces a real hot-dog consumer" (ESPN).

Reporter Gersh Kuntzman of the New York Post has been covering the event since the early 1990s and has been a judge at the competition since 2000. Darren Rovell, formerly of E.S.P.N., has competed in a qualifier.

Film, television and Radio

The Nathan's contest has been featured in these documentaries and televisual programs:

• "A Different Story" (July 4 1996) - Jeannie Moos covers the contest on CNN
• "Red, White, and Yellow" (1998)
• "A Hot Dog Program: An All-American, Culinary Cruise Through Hot Dog History" (1999)
• "Gut Busters" (2002) Made for TV - Discovery Channel
• "King of the Hill", "The Fat and the Furious" episode (2002)
• "Footlong" (2002) - not the 2003 short film of the same name
• "The Tsunami - Takeru Kobayashi" (2003) Japanese
• "Crazy Legs Conti: Zen and the Art of Competitive Eating" (2004)
• "The Most Extreme", "Big Mouths" episode (2004) (Animal Planet)
• Cheap Seats, (2004)
• "True Life" (2006) MTV documentary series
• "American Dad!", "Weiner of our Discontent" Episode (2009)

The 2000 animated movie Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation, based on the Street Fighter video game series, makes a reference to this event. In a early scene, Sakura decides that she wants to go to the United States to enter a hot dog-eating contest and notch a world record, after which her friend criticizes her decision. She would later change her motivation to martial arts, after seeing a karateka named Ryu take down several thugs with his martial arts skills.

In 2003, E.S.P.N.. aired the contest on a tape-delayed basis. Starting in 2004, E.S.P.N. began covering the contest live. As part of that arrangement, the contest was moved to a 12:40 p.m. start. For 2004, E.S.P.N. hired Windfall Productions (Ralph J. Mole, Exec. Producer) who used six cameras, a live New York City crew and a TV mobile unit to produce a one-hour network sports special about the contest. It was hosted by Gary Miller and Richard Shea and was carried live in Times Square on the A.B.C. "Jumbotron". Since 2005, Paul Page has been ESPN's play-by-play announcer for the event, accompanied by color commentator Richard Shea.

In 2004, the first live broadcast on E.S.P.N. drew 926,000 viewers. In 2006, it was watched by a record 1.46 million viewers..

A.B.C. Radio Network is the only radio source for live coverage of the event which started in 2004.

Staten Island rap cartel The Wu Tang Clan recorded the humorous tribute to Joey Chestnut "Joey's my Dog" on their latest Iron Flag C.D.

Other

The competition draws many spectators and worldwide press coverage. In 2007, an estimated 50,000 came out to witness the event.

In June 2004 a three-story high "Hot Dog Eating Wall of Fame" was erected at the site of the annual contest. The wall lists past records going back to 1984 and has a digital clock, which counts down the minutes until the next contest.

From 1997 to 2006, a Japanese competitor held the belt in every year but 1999. In 2000, the first, second and third places were all taken by Japanese contestants.

Tactics and training

Each contestant has his or her own eating method. Takeru Kobayashi pioneered the "Solomon Method" at his first competition in 2001. The method is to break each hot dog in half, eat the two halves at once, then eat the bun. Kobayashi does a hip-wiggling dance while he eats, which lead to speculations that it was part of his technique, but he insists he was just getting into the music. Table manners are not a part of the game. Carlene LeFevre hops to help get the hot dogs down. Contestants typically stand while eating or lean forward.

It is thought that high blood-sugar levels open the pylorus, the link between the stomach and the duodenum so some contestants eat sweets before the contest.

Because buns absorb water, some contestants prefer to drink as little as possible. Others dunk their hot dogs (or just the buns) in water and squeeze them to make them easier to swallow.

The idea of eating the hot dogs and buns separately was first demonstrated by Kazutoyo Arai and is sometimes called "Tokyo Style" or "Japanesing".

Contestants train and prepare for the event in different ways. Some fast, others drink water before the event. Takeru Kobayashi meditates, drinks water and eats cabbage, then fasts before the event. Kevin Lipsitz formerly trained by having eating races with his dogs, but animal rights advocates convinced him to stop. Several contestants, such as Ed Jarvis, aim to be "hungry, but not too hungry" and have a light breakfast the morning of the event.

The IFOCE does not sanction home training and does not endorse any training method.

Recent contest results

2008 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest (10 minutes) Friday July 4, 2008
No.	Name	Hot Dogs
1 (tie)	Joey "Jaws" Chestnut (U.S. Record, World Record tie) Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi (World Record tie)	59*
3	Tim “Eater X” Janus	42
4	Patrick "Deep Dish" Bertoletti	41
5	Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas	33
6 (tie)	Hall "Hoover" Hunt "Humble" Bob Shoudt	30
8	Juliet Lee	29
9 (tie)	Erik "The Red" Denmark Juris Shibayama	28
11	Tim Brown	27
12	Eric "Badlands" Booker	25.5
13 (tie)	Patrick Vandam Rich "The Locust" LeFevre	25
15	Crazy Legs Conti	24
16	Allan Goldstein	21
17	Pat Philbin	20
18	Nathan Biller	18.5
19	Pete Davekos	18
20	Arturo Rios	16
21	Kevin Ross	14

^* - Chesnut won a five dog eat off. The new record is based on the net hot dogs per minute with the new 10-minute format. Both Chestnut and Kobayashi will hold the official record jointly. 35,000 in attendance.

2007 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest (12 minutes) Wednesday July 4, 2007
No.	Name	Hot Dogs
1	Joey "Jaws" Chestnut (U.S. Record, World Record)	66
2	Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi (Japanese Record)	63
3	Patrick "Deep Dish" Bertoletti	49
4	Tim “Eater X” Janus	43.5
5	Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas (Women's Record)	39
6	"Humble" Bob Shoudt	35
7	Chip Simpson	35
8	Rich LeFevre	31
9	Hall "The Hoover" Hunt	29
10	Juliet Lee	26
11	Dale Boone	25
12	Pat "from Moonachie" Philbin	24
13	Crazy Legs Conti	23.5
14	Erik "The Red" Denmark	23
15	Tim Brown	22.5
16	Arturo Rios, Jr.	21
17	Allen Goldstein	21

2006 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest Tuesday July 4, 2006
No.	Name	Hot Dogs
1	Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi (World Record, Japanese Record)	54
2	Joey "Jaws" Chestnut (U.S. Record)	52
3	Sonya "Black Widow" Thomas (Women's Record)	37
4	Patrick Bertoletti	34¼
5	Tim "Eater X" Janus	34
6	Chip "The Phenom" Simpson	33
7	"Humble" Bob Shoudt	30
8	Rich "The Locust" LeFevre	28
9	Eric "Badlands" Booker	24
10	Patrick "from Moonachie" Philbin	23
11	Erik "The Red" Denmark	22
12	Seaver Miller	22
13	Brian Subich	22
14	Crazy Legs Conti	21⅓
15	Allen Davis	20½
16	Robert Andersson	20
17	Hall "The Hoover" Hunt	19
18	Kamil "The Camel" Hamersky	18
19	Kenji Oguni	16
20	Jed Donahue	1

2005 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest Monday July 4, 2005
No.	Name	Hot Dogs
1	Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi	49
2	Sonya "Black Widow" Thomas (U.S. Record, Women's Record)	37
3	Joey "Jaws" Chestnut	32
4	Ed "Cookie" Jarvis	29
(tie)	Keiji Oguni	29
6	Rich LeFevre	25½
7	Carlene LeFevre	25
8	Ron Koch	23
9	Tim Janus	22½
10	Eric Booker	22
(tie)	Charles Hardy	22
12	Patrick "Pat From Moonachie" Philbin	20
13	Crazy Legs Conti	19
14	Joe LaRue	18
15	Don Lerman	15
16	Rob Burns	10

2004 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest Sunday July 4, 2004
No.	Name	Hot Dogs
1	Takeru Kobayashi (World Record, Japanese Record)	53.5
2	Nobuyuki Shirota	38
3	Sonya Thomas (U.S. Record, Women's Record)	32
4	Rich LeFevre	27.76
5 (tie)	Ed Jarvis/Eric Booker	27
7 (tie)	Ron Koch/Carlene LeFevre	22
9 (tie)	Oleg Zhornitskiy / Jim Reeves	21
11	Joe LaRue	20
12	Allen Goldstein	19
13 (tie)	Charles Hardy/Don Lerman/Dale Boone	18

July 4, 2003

• 1st - Takeru Kobayashi (44-1/2)
• 2nd - Ed "Cookie" Jarvis (30-1/2, American record)
• 3rd - Eric "Badlands" Booker (29)
• 4th - Sonya Thomas (25, women's world record)
• 20 competitors total. Included William "The Refrigerator" Perry (4 hot dogs)
• 3,000 spectators in attendance

July 4, 2001

• 1st - Takeru Kobayashi (50, world record)
• 2nd - Eric "Badlands" Booker (26)
• 3rd - Oleg Zhornitskiy (25)
• 20 competitors total

July 4, 2000

• 1st - Kazutoyo "The Rabbit" Arai 新井和響 (25⅛, world record)
• 2nd - Misao "Beast" Fujita, 藤田操 (24)
• 3rd - Takako Akasaka 赤阪尊子 (22¼, women's world record)
• 4th - Steve Addicks (21)
• 5th - Charles "Hungry" Hardy (19)
• Also competed- Steve "The Terminator" Keiner, Ed "The Animal" Krachie

Sources

• Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest Results
• Two Dozen Hot Dogs Please, and No, They're Not to Go by Anthony Ramirez
• Sports Illustrated feature on the 2006 contest

External links

• Nathan's Famous
• International Federation of Competitive Eating
• Joey Chestnut Beats Takeru Kobayashi
• MeatballsOnline Meatballs Movie Website