Joey Chestnut participates in a hot dog eating contest with soldiers at Fort Bliss, Texas, on July 4, instead of Nathan’s famous contest

Joey Chestnut will not be “sitting on the bench” on July 4th.

Unfortunately, he still seems is not allowed to participate in Nathan’s famous hot dog eating contest on July 4. The News hit some hardmyself included, we have made it an Independence Day tradition to turn on the television and watch the greatest athlete of all time, Joey Chestnut, devour hot dogs at breakneck speed.

The decision to disqualify Chestnut from the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest came after it was revealed that the competitive eater had signed an endorsement deal with Impossible Foods. The New York Post Through a representative from Major League Eating (MLE), Chestnut learned that he had signed a deal with a rival hot dog manufacturer—one that doesn’t even make real hot dogs. The vegan brand recently launched a meatless frankfurter, which obviously makes it difficult for Chestnut to proudly stuff Nathan’s frankfurter down his gullet.

And now Joey “Jaws” Chestnut will take his talents from his usual Fourth of July haunt (Coney Island) to Fort Bliss, Texas, where he will compete against four soldiers in a hot dog eating contest.

The glitter gobbling contest will be part of the Pop Goes the Fort celebration.

The rules for the event Chestnut will now compete in are a little different from those of Nathan, which he has dominated for nearly two decades (he has won every year since 2016). The Fort Bliss competition gives you just five minutes to eat as many hot dogs as possible, compared to the ten minutes normally allowed for Nathan’s competition. And in a fun twist, the four soldiers will combined The total number of hot dogs will rival Joey Chestnut’s solo numbers.

Can one man eat more than four soldiers? I guess we’ll find out on the Fourth of July… although Joey Chestnut doesn’t think there’s a good chance they’ll eat more than him:

“If they (each) crack the 10, that would be pretty good.”

Hopefully this event will be televised, live streamed, or recorded in some way so we can all witness this amazing event. If not, competitive eating fans (or just fans of Joey Chestnut, really) will have to wait until September to watch Chestnut take on his long-time rival Takeru Koyashi. special one-on-one competition that will be broadcast live on Netflix.

Get your Popcorn Hot dogs are ready.