Hot dog eating champs Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi to face off on Netflix
By Ramishah Maruf, CNN
New York (CNN) — World record holder Joey Chestnut may not be competing at Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest this year, but now fans will be able to watch Chestnut face off with his rival Takeru Kobayashi on Netflix on Labor Day.
The two professional competitive eaters will face off in a Netflix special titled “CHESTNUT VS. KOBAYASHI: UNFINISHED BEEF,” which the streaming company advertised as a determination of the ultimate hot dog eating champion.
Netflix’s announcement comes just a day after Chestnut was banned from competing in Nathan’s hot dog eating contest because he signed a deal with rival plant-based food company Impossible Foods.
Chestnut is a hot dog champ. He’s won the “Mustard Yellow Belt” 16 times, ate a world record 76 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes in 2021 and has reportedly made hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars for his competitive eating of hot dogs and other foods.
Kobayashi is Chestnut’s “fiercest rival,” he said in a Netflix press release.
Kobayashi — who popularized competitive eating as a sport in 2001 when he almost doubled the previous record for most hot dogs eaten in the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Championship — said he would put off retiring until he takes down Chestnut “one last time” in the release.
Netflix said the last time the two faced off was in 2009, when Chestnut edged past Kobayashi.
Similar to Chestnut, Kobayashi was banned from competing in the Nathan’s Competition due to a contract dispute in 2010.
“We are devastated to learn that Joey Chestnut has chosen to represent a rival brand that sells plant-based hot dogs rather than competing in the 2024 Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest,” the Major League Eating organization, which oversees the Nathan’s event, said in a statement Tuesday.
CNN’s Erika Tulfo contributed to this report.
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