Hot Dog! Patrick Bertoletti Is New Champ At Coney Island Eating Contest, Succeeding The Banned Vegan-Endorsing Joey Chestnut

To paraphrase George Thorogood, move over old dog, a new hot dog is movin’ in: Patrick Bertoletti has won the this year’s Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island, succeeding the 16-time champ Joey Chestnut who was spit out of the competition after signing an endorsement deal with Nathan’s rival Impossible Foods.

Bertoletti, a 26-year-old Chicagoan, took the Nathan’s men’s title today by eating 58 hot dogs in 10 minutes. See video below.

Going into the contest, the favorite to take Chestnut’s place at the top was James Webb, an Australian ex-pro soccer player. Competitors from around the world tried for the title including eaters from Brazil and the Czech Republic.

An hour ago, Miki Sudo won the women’s competition with a record-setting 51 hot dogs in 10 minutes, taking the title for the 10th time. She bested her win last year by 11 and a half dogs (and this year’s second place competitor Mayoi Ebihara of Japan by 14). Sudo is studying to be a dental hygienist in Tampa, and after her win today thanked her dental school as well as her family.

The face-stuffing competition – this year was the 108th – is a Fourth of July tradition in New York perhaps second only to Macy’s annual fireworks display, and Chestnut’s forced absence after endorsing the vegan dogs seemed to increase the contest’s national profile this year. Even CNN has been watching the frankfurter developments today.

Chestnut, despite his recent endorsement deal with the plant-based Impossible Foods, apparently is not vegan himself – he competed in a bologna-eating contest in May.

The hot dog contest was shown live in the United States on ESPN2 and ESPN3. It will re-air on ESPN twice tonight. The Chestnut-less men’s competition was scheduled to start around noon ET outside Nathan’s, yes, famous, Coney Island hot dog stand. The women’s competition began at 11 a.m. ET.