Joey Chestnut continued to cement himself as one of the top competitive eaters on the planet. On Monday, Chestnut ate 83 hot dogs and buns to defeat Takeru Kobayashi 83-67 in a live showdown between the two iconic competitive eaters called “Unfinished Beef.”
Chestnut eclipsed his previous personal best of 76 hot dogs and buns, which he set in the 2021 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. Meanwhile, Kobayashi’s 67 hot dogs and buns were also an individual record after beating his previous best of 64.5 hot dogs and buns.
The two were neck-and-neck during the early stages of the event before Chestnut was able to take a five-hot dog lead midway through the competition. Chestnut led Kobayashi 51-44 five minutes into the competition, and ultimately pulled away down the stretch to cruise to the convincing victory.
This marked the first marquee competition for Chestnut since he was banned from competing in the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest due to his new partnership with Impossible Foods. This came after Chestnut stated that Major League Eating altered the terms of his agreement in regard to endorsing other products. Chestnut revealed that he thought it was too close to the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest to make any changes, and therefore didn’t compete this past Fourth of July.
While Chestnut didn’t compete on the Fourth of July, he had the opportunity to rekindle the flame of an old rivalry with Kobayashi. The two did compete for the Mustard Belt on several occasions. Kobayashi had won the iconic competition from 2001 until 2006 when Chestnut arrived on the scene.
The two hadn’t faced off in 15 years. Chestnut is a 16-time winner of the Mustard Belt, while also holding the record for the most hot dogs and buns eaten (76) in the annual 10-minute competition. Most recently, Chestnut downed 62 hot dogs and buns in 2023.
