Joey Chestnut is once again the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest champion. This year, he was gunning for his 14th Mustard Belt and hoping to break his own record of 75 hot dogs in 10 minutes. He did both.
It was a close count, though. At the end of the competition, Chestnut came in at a total of 76 weiners. The competitive eater credited his fans for helping him to break the record, noting that he started to slow down in the sixth minute of the contest but that their cheers pushed him forward.
Though Chestnut was the odds-on favorite going into the contest, he remained humble and focused. “Many huge favorites have failed to deliver… I need to stay focused, hungry, and happy,” he tweeted just before the competition.
ESPN had the exclusive broadcast rights for the competition this year but, unfortunately, the broadcast experienced technical difficulties during the event. One person joked that the difficulties came from Chestnut himself, and the exertion he was experiencing.
“Joey Chestnut is going so hard he broke ESPN,” Trey Sandefur tweeted.
Even so, fans celebrated his win as excitedly as ever, even going so far as to compare him to some other incredible athletes.
Chestnut remains the top ranked competitive eater in the nation.