IN MOST SPORTS, there are endless debates over who is the greatest to ever do it. LeBron vs MJ, Messi vs Ronaldo and Djokovic vs Federer vs Nadal keep basketball, football and tennis fans in states of perpetual argument. That is not the case in the world of competitive eating, in which Joey Chestnut is the undisputed GOAT.
Chestnut won his 18th title at the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest over the weekend. This puts him in rarefied territory. He’s six titles clear of the next most illustrious eater, Miki Sudo; and 12 titles clear of the nearest men’s competitor, Takeru ‘Tsunami’ Kobayashi. Chestnut’s personal best of 76 hot dogs consumed in 10 minutes is a bit like Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game or Wayne Gretzky’s career points total – a record widely viewed as unbeatable.
This time around, Chestnut managed to eat 66 hot dogs in 10 minutes. It’s a tally that’s 10 shy of his record, set in 2021, but was still 15 hot dogs ahead of his nearest rival, Patrick Bertoletti, who had 51. Australian James Webb finished third, with 47.
It is difficult to fathom how someone can eat that many hot dogs in such a short timespan (we highly recommend watching a video of it, here). It becomes even more unbelievable once you take into account the nutritional content of what Chestnut is consuming.
The nutritional content of Joey Chestnut's 66 hot dogs
The numbers here are genuinely insane. We’re talking about more than a week’s worth of calories, enough sodium to kill you, and so much protein that it would make a powerlifter in a bulking phase think twice.
Here’s the full breakdown, with the recommended daily intake included to put things into perspective.
Calories: 19,100 RDI: 2,400
Fat: 1,122g RDI: 78g
Sugar: 264g RDI: 36g
Cholesterol: 4,290mg RDI: 300mg
Sodium: 59,400mg RDI: 1,500mg
Carbohydrates: 1,386g RDI: 130g
Protein: 726g RDI: 64g
After looking at those numbers, you might be wondering whether it’s even safe to eat that much. The answer is no, and people have died during eating contests before. Competitive eaters train for years to expand their stomachs and even so, it’s still not entirely safe. The average person should not, under any circumstances, eat 66 hot dogs in one sitting. Or ever, really. They’re not very healthy to begin with.
There is one useful takeaway from this though. Appetite is trainable in both directions. Competitive eaters spend years learning to ignore their satiety signals, but the inverse can also be trained. Eating slowly and giving those signals the roughly 20 minutes they need to register can help you feel more full, and ultimately, lose weight.
