Nathan’s famous Independence Day hot dog contest takes place in NYC – without the usual nibbler

The annual Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest will feature contestants attempting to scarf down as many hot dogs as possible in New York City on Thursday – but this year the event’s biggest star will be munching 2,000 miles away.

Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, who has won 16 of the last 17 contests, is not competing because of a sponsorship dispute. Instead, he will face soldiers later in the day at a U.S. military base in El Paso.

This means that the traditional event in Brooklyn is now completely open to a new winner: On American Independence Day, eaters from all over the world compete to see how many hot dogs they can eat in 10 minutes.

Thousands of fans flock each year to the event, which takes place outside the original Nathan’s location in Brooklyn’s Coney Island, a beachside town with amusement parks and a carnivalesque summer culture. ESPN will broadcast the competition live. The women’s division begins at 11 a.m. ET, and the men’s division begins at approximately 12:20 p.m.

Participants come from over a dozen countries and five continents. Talents from Brazil, Japan, Great Britain, South Korea, Australia and the Czech Republic compete for the coveted title and prize money of $10,000.

“There will be a new champion,” Australian James Webb, who holds the world record for eating 70 doughnuts in eight minutes, said at a preview event in New York on Wednesday.

Last year, Indiana’s Chestnut won the title by eating 62 sausages and buns in 10 minutes. The record he set in 2021 is 76.

Ahead of the event, ESPN announced that it would use its own camera angles to focus on two Americans: high school teacher Geoffrey Esper from Massachusetts in the men’s category and dental hygiene student Miki Sudo from Florida in the women’s category.

Esper finished second last year with 49 dogs and buns, but her personal best is 51. Sudo won her ninth title in 2023 with 39 1/2, but her personal best is 48 1/2, the women’s world record.

“I’m going to try hard,” Sudo said on Wednesday. Her rival Mayoi Ebihara from Japan said through an interpreter that she would eat until she passed out. Her goal was to eat 50 hot dogs.

Chestnut was initially disinvited from the event because he had signed a sponsorship deal with Impossible Foods, a company that specializes in plant-based meat substitutes.

Major League Eating, the organizer of the Nathan’s Famous competition, has since announced that it has lifted the ban, but Chestnut decided to spend the holiday with the troops anyway.

Chestnut said he would not return to the Coney Island competition without an apology.

The event at Fort Bliss Army Base in El Paso, which is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. Eastern Time, will feature traditional hot dogs, and Chestnut will attempt to eat more hot dogs in five minutes than four soldiers.

Although he won’t eat the vegan products, Impossible Foods is promoting Chestnut’s YouTube livestream of the expo by flying planes with banners over Los Angeles and Miami. The company will also donate to an organization that supports military families based on the number of hot dogs eaten at the event, a spokesperson said.