This year was the 97th annual Nathan’s famous Hot Dog eating contest held on Coney Island on the 4th of July. Here’s a recap of what we learned this year
1) Joey Chestnut is still the man to beat. He ate 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes matching his personal best. He beat his closest competitor by 16 dogs. He shows no sign of slowing down and is still ranked number 1 in the world. He has impressive form and unlike the other competitors he seems to speed up once the 5 min mark hits.
2) Matt Stonie isn’t worth all the hype at least not yet. The young 19 year old came out of the gate strong but fell really far behind after about the 4 minute mark. Stonie may have a bright future in the world of competitive eating but he is far from the tops. He definitely didn’t deserve a spot next to Chestnut.
3) Patrick Bertoletti needs to prove he can compete with the big guys. I know hes ranked 2nd in the world but he came in 3rd this year and never really gave chestnut a run for his money despite that’s the story line everyone wanted to see.
4) The competition needs someone to challenge Chestnut. They banned Kobayashi because he won’t sign an exclusive contract with the IFOCE which is like the NFL for competitive eating. This isn’t the first time the IFOCE has had issues. They are banned from Wing Bowl which happens to be one of the biggest prizes in the world of eating because the radio station that puts on the event doesn’t like the way the IFOCE wants to control everything. Nathans needs to bring in someone like Kobayashi or find someone who can really push Chestnut to get the event more interest.
5) George Shea can give any of the Buffers a run for their money in the announcing world. He gives intros that are exciting, electrifying and crowd pleasing.
6) Tim “eater X” Janus just might be poised to make a run in the world of competitive eating. He
came into the weekend ranked 3rd in the world and has had some impressive numbers in other events but I think doing this well in this competition will boost his confidence which just might be what he needs to push through the wall at big events.
