Joey Chestnut has been bounced from the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest. But he’ll be back for bagels in Vegas.
Banished from Nathan’s July 4 event at Coney Island, Chestnut is expected to defend his Siegel’s Bagelmania World Eating Championships victory next January.
The tentative date for the third installation of the rollicking event is Jan. 18.
“Absolutely, he will be defending!” Bagelmania owner Stephen Siegel texted Wednesday.
Chestnut won the second Siegel’s Bagelmania World Eating Championships this past January. About 500 spectators turned out for the competition, held in the deli parking lot at 252 Convention Center Drive.
Chestnut said afterward he was happy with the victory and $5,000 first-place check. But he added, “There is room for improvement.” It was his first bagel-eating competition.
In his first appearance in the event, Chestnut downed 15 bagels in eight minutes. That was half a bagel better than second-place finisher and the event’s defending champ, Geoff Esper. Nick Wehry was third with 10.5 bagels consumed in the sloppy, yet suspenseful, contest.
Chestnut is the 16-time champion of the Nathan’s competition, but was cut loose from the competition after signing an endorsement deal with Impossible Foods, a company that makes plant-based franks. The company has a new marketing campaign attempting to reach meat-eating customers.
Major League Eating (MLE), the administrative body for professional competitive eating events, said that Chestnut had “chosen to represent a rival brand.” The endorsement is not a conflict with Bagelmania’s variety of bread-based products.
Chestnut said on social media, “I was gutted to learn from the media that after 19 years I’m banned from the Nathan’s July 4th Hot Dog eating Contest. I love competing in the event, I love celebrating America with fans all over this great country on the 4th and I have been training to defend my title.”
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.