Joey Chestnut wins 18th Nathan's hot dog title with 66 dogs in 10 minutes

Joey Chestnut won his 18th Nathan's Famous hot dog eating championship Saturday at Coney Island, downing 66 hot dogs and buns in just 10 minutes.

The 42-year-old competitive eater beat out 13 competitors who traveled from the Czech Republic, Australia, and South Korea to compete in the internationally televised Fourth of July contest. He claimed the so-called Mustard Belt — though he fell well short of his own 2021 record of 76 hot dogs.

"It's electric, there's no place better on Earth," Chestnut said breathlessly immediately after the showdown. In the minutes before competing, he'd called competitive hot dog eating "the most patriotic sport we've got."

The 41-year-old Patrick Bertoletti placed second with 50 hot dogs. Both champions said Saturday's heat — bringing Brooklyn temperatures to roughly 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) — made the competition significantly harder. ESPN announcers noted that the humidity changed the consistency of the buns.

In the women's division, 40-year-old Miki Sudo of Tampa, Florida, won her 12th Mustard Belt, downing 38.75 dogs. In 2024, she'd set a women's record of 51. After competing, Sudo watched her husband compete in the men's event — he proposed to her in 2021 immediately after downing 50 boiled eggs in just over 3 minutes to set a world record.

A large crowd braved the heat to watch, wearing foam hot dogs on their heads outside the original Nathan's Famous restaurant that's been in Coney Island since 1972. The superfans standing closest to the stage wore ponchos as protection in case a competitor threw up. Chestnut had faced brief concerns earlier this year after his arrest for allegedly slapping a man in an Indiana bar, but he was put on probation after pleading guilty to misdemeanor battery and was cleared to travel and compete.