Who is Patrick Bertoletti? Get to know the 2024 Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest winner

EVERY year on the Fourth of July, hundreds of people gather to watch contestants gobble down hot dogs in hopes of becoming Nathan’s Hot Dog eating champion.

During the 2024 contest , fans saw Patrick Bertoletti, 39, take home the winning title and here’s everything we know about him.

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Who is Patrick Bertoletti?

On July 4, Chicago native Patrick Bertoletti took home the winning title of Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest.

He ended the competition with 58 hotdogs, beating his personal best of 55 hot dogs and buns.

This marks Patrick’s first win in the competition as he went neck and neck with runner-up Jeffrey Esper, who finished with 53 hotdogs.

“I wasn’t going to stop eating until the job was done,” Patrick said after his win.

According to Major League Eating, Patrick is ranked ninth eater globally.

Apart from his current win, Patrick has 17 world records of competitive eating under his belt.

What was Patrick Bertoletti’s prize?

Coupled with being crowned the new winner of Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, Patrick was also awarded a hefty cash prize .

Patrick won $10,000 for 10 minutes of eating.

The competition allows $20,000 in cash prizes for both the women’s and men’s competitions, which are split between the two.

While Patrick won the men’s competition, Miki Sudo took home the winning title, defending the women’s division.

New York City native Miki claimed her 10th victory by eating 51 hot dogs in 10 minutes.

Why was Joey Chestnut not competing in the 2024 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest?

For the first time in almost a decade, 16-time champ Joey Chestnut sat out of this year’s competition.

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According to an exclusive interview with Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest MC George Shea , Joey signed a deal with a plant-based meat brand that made his involvement with Nathan’s a conflict of interest.

“We would never ban Joey Chestnut – we are not banning him,” George told The U.S. Sun.

“What happened is after 20 years with Nathan’s he signed with a rival brand, a plant-based meat brand which is selling hot dogs which runs into a conflict with Nathan’s.

“It’s a conflict for him to represent Nathan’s while he is representing another hot dog brand.”

He continued: “As a result that conflict makes it that he can’t [take part on July 4] and that’s always been the case.”

Joey holds the world record for the most franks eaten, with 76 dogs and buns.

While Joey didn’t compete in this year’s competition, he will be going head-to-head with hot dog champ Takeru Kobayashi in a live event in a Netflix Labor Day special titled Chestnut vs. Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef .