Report: Joey Chestnut to compete in hot dog contest despite guilty plea

Field Level Media|published: 05/20/2026, 5:23pm EDT

Mar 16, 2025; Chester, Pennsylvania, USA; Competitive eater Joey Chestnut entertains fans during the game between the Philadelphia Union and Nashville SC at Subaru Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

Seventeen-time champion Joey Chestnut won't be banned from this summer's July 4 Nathan's Famous hot dog eating contest for his recent guilty plea to a misdemeanor battery charge, according to a report from Front Office Sports.

The charge stems from a March 21 altercation at an Indiana bar. US Weekly reported that bar surveillance footage showed Chestnut slapping a man across the face. Local police added that Chestnut pulled the man toward him and hit him, causing a bodily injury.

Chestnut, 42, was sentenced to 180 days of probation for his guilty plea.

"Joey is not going to be penalized or barred from participating in this year's Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest," a Nathan's spokesperson told Front Office Sports. "This incident has nothing to do with Nathan's."

Chestnut returned to the hot dog eating contest last July after a one-year ban due to a contract he signed to endorse a meat substitute company, Impossible Foods. He won, eating 70.5 hot dogs -- 24 more than anyone else.

He remains the Nathan's contest record-holder for the 76 hot dogs he ate in 10 minutes in 2021.

--Field Level Media