Joey Chestnut won the official Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island yesterday with a whopping 62 dogs in ten minutes—no doubt an impressive feat, but not enough to beat his own 2009 world record of 68 dogs. No, that distinction goes instead to blacklisted Japanese competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi, who ate 69 dogs from the rooftop lounge of 230 Fifth. But what does it all mean?!
Kobayashi, who chowed down in a non-Major League Eeating sanctioned "competition" against no one, technically broke the world record—but under decidedly different circumstances than the official Nathan's contest. In the video below, he certainly looks like his old self, shoveling dogs rapid-fire in a "Kobi Unleashed" shirt alongside a live feed of the Nathan's competition, all while a cheering crowd roared him on.
But Chestnut wasn't fazed, saying “That wasn’t a competition, that was just him eating. I ate 71 hot dogs by myself once. It was his choice not to be here." Since Kobayashi wasn't actually in the official competition, his win will not count, International Federation of Competitive Eating officials said. Still, if you'd like to catch a glimpse of the action, see below:
