He’s the top dog for a reason.
Bottomless pit Joey Chestnut once again took home the crown at the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest Saturday afternoon, celebrating the 250th birthday of America with relish.
Chestnut, 41, scarfed down a nauseating 66 glizzies in 10 minutes to the delight of a ravenous estimated 25,000 spectator crowd in Coney Island to secure his astounding 18th Mustard Belt and $10,000 prize.
And he told The Post he may still have room for dessert.
“I usually don’t have this much spare room left over, but we’ll see … something cold,” he said.
He said the weather took a toll on his high-octane eating.
“It’s definitely hard. I didn’t want to go into it saying it’s gonna affect me, I wanna go into it and convince myself that I can work through it,” he said.
“I got the win but I knew like two minutes in … like wooo my face is woahh – but I didn’t want to let it bother me. I didn’t want to push it because if I push it, then things will get stuck in my throat and then I just needed to stay calm and keep going.”
His 66 downed dogs pale in comparison to Chestnut’s own record of 76 franks he set at the competition in 2021.
This morning, he told “Good Morning America,” that he was “feeling good” before the competition.
“I’m hungry, and it’s a beautiful day. This is going to be a great Fourth of July,” he added.
This week, he called competitive eating “the most patriotic sport we’ve got,” in an Instagram post, where a fan replied, calling him “an American treasure.”
“Joey gotta get a record for the 250,” another of Chestnut’s supporters said.
“When i said I’m proud to be an American this is what I’m referring to,” someone else gushed.
Patrick Bertoletti, 41, of Blue Island, IL, landed in second, eating 50 hot dogs, and winning $5,000 for the feat.
Australia’s No. 1 competitive eater James Webb, 37, came in third, with 48 dogs and taking home $2,500.
The dogs might’ve tasted sweeter than normal this year for Chestnut — who pleaded guilty in April to a misdemeanor battery charge for getting involved in a bar altercation.
The then-17-time champ struck a man with an open hand after the alleged victim just shook his hand in a fight he later told cops he was “pretty drunk” for and “didn’t remember,” according to court records.
His guilty plea means he was still under probation as he cinched his 18th Mustard Belt win.
It’s not the first time Chestnut’s personal beef overshadowed the Coney Island hot dog eating contest.
The big-mouthed eater was banned from the 2024 contest over his deal with Impossible Foods, which had recently launched a plant-based hot dog.
That allowed Bertoletti to eat his way to a win after scarfing down 58 dogs — becoming the first person since 2015 other than Chestnut to win the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Competition.
Thomas Leible 19, a student of economics and business at the Virginia Military Institute told The Post he’s been watching competitive eating since he was 5 years old with his dad on TV and has been champing at the bit to watch superstar Chestnut.
“I’ve been watching this since I was a little kid, and knowing that Joey Chestnut is the greatest of all time, and who knows when he’s going to retire?” he said.
“I mean, there’s nobody as dominant as him in any athletic event ever. I mean if you look back at somebody like Tom Brady who’s not even close and doesn’t have nearly half the records he has.”
In the women’s portion of the competition, which took place before the men’s, Florida mom Miki Sudo reigned supreme once again, taking home her 12th championship belt by chowing down on 38.75 glizzies.
Sudo’s partner, competitive eater Nick Wehry, also partook in the contest.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
