In one of the most exciting finishes in hot dog eating competition history, defending champion Joey Chestnut today defeated six-time winner Takeru Kobayashi in overtime to keep the Mustard Belt, $20,000 and the world's fastest hot dog eater title.
Both eaters downed 59 hot dogs in the regular 10-minute competition at Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hotdog-Eating Contest in Coney Island, forcing a speed-eating, five-dog overtime. There Chestnut, known to some as the "Clay Aiken of Bacon," proved to be the speedier of the two.
"It was a little bit messier than I wanted it to be," Chestnut said immediately after the competition. "But I got them in me. I got them down.
"He wanted it, but I needed it," he said.
Kobayashi, who lost last year's competition to Chestnut, said it was speed that did him in.
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