Hot dog eating contests are right up there with baseball and apple pie when it comes to American traditions. Perhaps the one that is best known, however, occurs every year on July 4. Nathan’s hot dog eating holes in a lot of viewers every year, and typically, a crowd would gather in Coney Island to witness the event. Thanks to the pandemic, the event this year will have a different look.
Nathan’s is still planning on having its hot dog eating contest, but rather than having it outside in front of a large crowd, it will be indoors and without an audience. One of the things that isn’t going to change, however, is the fact that Joey Chestnut is going to show up for it. He already has 12 champions under his belt!
“There’s a little bit of a bonus ’cause we’re gonna be eating in air conditioning and there are less eaters, so they’re making less hot dogs so they might taste better,” Joey told TMZ: “There’s a good chance that we might have better conditions for a world record and I’ma be pushing for it.”
Joey is optimistic about his chances this year. There won’t be the pressure of a crowd of fans and the heat is going to be minimized as well. That is why Joey is thinking that a record may be set again this year. Currently, he holds the record of eating 74 dogs in 10 minutes. On July 4 this year, he wants to beat that old record that he set in 2018.
He admits that it is going to be a strange Fourth of July, but he wants to make it memorable. In his TMZ interview, he says, “If I’m feeling it, if I’m in the perfect rhythm, 77 is doable.”
It isn’t exactly a giant leap for mankind but it is something to shoot for.