Joey Chestnut Just Ate 57 Hot Dogs on YouTube Livestream, Clowned Fourth of July Coney Island Event

American hero Joey Chestnut competed in a hot dog eating contest in El Paso, Texas, on Thursday afternoon after being banned from the famous Nathan’s Original Hot Dog Contest on ESPN.

A few weeks ago, Major League Eating announced that Chestnut was banned from this year’s Fourth of July contest for promoting a rival frank with Impossible Foods. 

But that didn’t stop the glizzy GOAT from downing hot dogs on America’s birthday. On his YouTube channel, Chestnut competed against four soldiers at an army base. 

The participants had five minutes to eat as many hot dogs as possible. Chestnut ate 57. Today’s Nathan’s Original Champion, Patrick Bertoletti, ate just 58 hot dogs in 10 minutes. One more hot dog in twice the amount of time. Comical.

On the nation’s birthday, Chestnut took his ball and went home. He embarrassed the talent pool of the organization that banned him.

No disrespect to Bertoletti, but Chestnut proved that the 2024 crown is a Mickey Mouse title just mere hours after he won it. It’s like when LeBron James went to the Western Conference and the Toronto Raptors immediately won the championship. 

It’s 100 degrees in El Paso. Chestnut was on pace to eat over 100 hot dogs if this was the actual contest.

I’m sure executives at MLE and Nathan’s were understandably very upset that Chestnut was promoting a rival hot dog. But come on. The event is completely bogus without him, and he proved that today.

Chestnut will compete again on Labor Day, September 2, against Takeru Kobayashi live on Netflix. It’ll be a true duel to determine who is actually the hot dog GOAT. 

Kobayashi, 46, is just six years older than Chestnut, who holds the record with 76 hot dogs in 2021. We’re several years removed from that legendary performance, but Chestnut proved that he still has his fastball by downing nearly 60 hot dogs in just five minutes. 

In 2022, the stage at Coney Island was overtaken by protestors, and Chestnut had to put one of them in a headlock. In 2023, a two-hour rain delay pushed back the contest, and according to reports, Chestnut was the one lobbying for the show to go on.

On Labor Day, there will be no distractions. While Chestnut might be banned from the Nathan’s Original contest, the American people still regard him as our hero, and that’s what matters most.