New York — America’s perennial sizzling canine swallowing champion gained’t compete on this yr’s Independence Day competitors as a result of a contract dispute, organizers stated Tuesday.
Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, 40, has been competing since 2005 and hasn’t misplaced since 2015. Finally yr’s Nathan’s Well-known Fourth of July sizzling canine consuming contest he downed 62 franks and buns in 10 minutes.
However Main League Consuming occasion organizer George Shea says Chestnut is shifting away from the competition as a result of a contract dispute.
“We love him, the followers love him,” Shea stated, including that “He made the selection.”
Shea says Chestnut struck a take care of a competing model — a purple line for the Nathan’s-sponsored occasion — however didn’t elaborate. He stated the dispute got here all the way down to exclusivity, not cash.
“It could be like Michael Jordan saying to Nike, ‘I’m going to symbolize Adidas, too,’” Shea stated.
Chestnut didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark made by way of his web site.
Chestnut has lengthy dominated the competitors. These vying for second place prior to now might need renewed hope to swallow their strategy to first place this yr, together with worldwide opponents on the consuming circuit.
Final yr’s 2nd place winner was Geoffrey Esper from Oxford, Massachusetts, who downed 49 canine. Third place went to Australia’s James Webb with 47. That was removed from Chestnut’s greatest effort: his document was 76 Nathan’s Well-known sizzling canine and buns in 10 minutes in 2021.
In 2010, Japanese consuming champion Takeru Kobayashi, Chestnut’s then-rival, additionally stopped competing within the annual bun struggle as a result of a contract dispute with Main League Consuming. Kobayashi crashed the competition in a T-shirt studying “Free Kobi” and was arrested. He was sentenced to six months’ probation. Kobayashi introduced his retirement from the game final month.
