Joey Chestnut defeats Takeru Kobayashi, sets new world record of 83 hot dogs in Netflix eating battle

The greatest competitive eater in history reminded the sports world why he is the undisputed G.O.A.T. on Monday, as Joey Chestnut set a new world record, eating 83 hot dogs in 10 minutes.

83!

The Kentucky native made history in a one-on-one battle with his longtime rival, Takeru Kobayashi of Japan, in a live Netflix event called “Chestnut vs. Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef.”

Chestnut set the previous world record in 2021, eating 76 hot dogs in 10 minutes at the Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest on Coney Island.

“This is amazing,” Chestnut told actor Rob Riggle during the trophy presentation. “I’ve been trying to hit 80 hot dogs for years, and without Kobayashi, I was never able to do it.

“He drives me - and we weren’t always nice to each other, but I love when we push each other to be our best.”

Chestnut and Kobayashi are the two most decorated hot dog eaters of all-time, combining for 22 Mustard Belts as the champion of the annual Nathan’s event. Chestnut has won that event an astounding 16 times since 2007, while Kobayashi owned the beginning of the millennium winning six consecutive belts from 2001 to 2006.

Monday marked the first time since 2009 that these legends have faced off, as Kobayashi was banned from the Coney Island contest ahead of the 2010 event because of a refusal to sign an exclusive deal with Major League Eating - the longtime organizers of Nathan’s.

Chestnut suffered a similar banning ahead of the 2024 event, as he signed a sponsorship deal with Impossible Foods, a vegan company that recently launched a plant-based hot dog. Nathan’s determined that this partnership was Chestnut working with a competing brand, thus disqualifying him from being able to make a run at his 17th Mustard Belt.

One could make the argument that a plant-based hot dog and a meat-based hot dog are two completely different foods, and this is a blasphemous decision by Nathan’s. But that’s a different conversation for a different day.

With the two greatest hot dog eaters in history banned from hot dog eating’s marquee event, Netflix swooped in to give the people what they wanted.

And neither legend disappointed.

In addition to Chestnut setting the new record, Kobayashi set a new personal high, downing 66 dogs of his own.

“I feel like I did everything I could,” Kobayashi told Netflix through a translator after the event.

But Kobayashi’s “everything” was not enough to take down his rival.

With both men setting their own personal records on Monday, it should be noted that they both did so while competing under different rules than they are used to at Nathan’s Famous.

For the Netflix special, the eaters were not allowed to dunk the hot dogs or hot dog buns in water, a tactic creatively referred to as “dunking” on the competitive eating circuit. They also were not allowed to separate the dog from the bun.

Despite this adversity, both men made history.

“Oh my God - dude, when I first heard the rule about no dunking, I was really worried,” said Chestnut. “But then I learned how to eat them like this. And you know, any other hot dog contest I do, I’m gonna be eating some of them without dunking.

“This was amazing.”

Amazing, indeed.

83.

History.