NEW YORK — America’s perennial hot dog swallowing champion will not compete in this year’s Independence Day competition due to a contract dispute, organizers said Tuesday.
Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, 40, has been competing since 2005 and hasn’t lost since 2015. At Nathan’s famous hot dog eating contest on July 4 last year, he ate 62 francs and buns in 10 minutes.
But Major League food event organizer George Shea says Chestnut is withdrawing from the competition due to a contract dispute.
“We love him, the fans love him,” Shea said, adding that “He made the choice.”
Shea says Chestnut struck a deal with a competing brand — a red line for the Nathan-sponsored event — but did not elaborate further. He said the dispute came down to exclusivity, not money.
“It would be so Michael Jordan telling Nike, ‘I’m going to represent Adidas too,'” Shea said.
Chestnut did not immediately respond to a request for comment via its website.
Chestnut has dominated the competition for a long time. Those who vied for second place in the past may have renewed hopes of working their way to first place this year, including international competitors on the dining circuit.
Last year’s second-place winner was Geoffrey Esper of Oxford, Massachusetts, who took down 49 dogs. Third place went to Australian James Webb with 47. That was far from Chestnut’s best performance: his record was 76 Nathan’s Famous hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes in 2021.
In 2010 Japanese eating champion Takeru Kobayashi, Chestnut’s rival at the time, also dropped out of the annual bun fight due to a contract dispute with Major League Eating. Kobayashi crashed the match wearing a T-shirt that read “Free Kobi” and was arrested. He was sentenced to 6 months probation. Kobayashi announced his retirement from the sport last month.