Who is Joey «Jaws» Chestnut? A legend in hot dog eating competitions!
4 july 2024 в 18:13
Who is Joey «Jaws» Chestnut? He is the most famous hot dog eater in the world! 40-year-old Chestnut has won the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest 16 times, which takes place at Maimonides Park on Coney Island on the Fourth of July every year. This competitor has won the title a total of 15 times and set a record by eating 76 hot dogs in 10 minutes (which he achieved in 2021).
However, the famous participant was banned from competing in the 2024 contest due to a deal he made with Impossible Foods. Joey won his 16th title during the 2023 competition. Although he did not reach his personal record, he still managed to win by eating 62 hot dogs in 10 minutes.
Before the 2023 competition, Joey won the first Qdoba burrito eating contest in April, eating 14.5 burritos in 10 minutes. After his victory in 2022, he also set a record for the most Raising Cane’s chicken fingers eaten in five minutes (44) in July 2022 and ate 32 servings of 24-ounce popcorn in eight minutes in August.
Joey has faced a number of obstacles: he suffered an open fracture of his right leg, requiring two surgeries and nearly two weeks in the hospital in December 2021. Additionally, he injured the tendon in his right leg and arrived in New York in a cast. In May, he tested positive for COVID-19, forcing him to withdraw from a donut eating competition. During the 2022 competition, a protester dressed as Darth Vader tried to disrupt the event with a sign, jumping over the barrier. Joey quickly subdued the protester before security could remove him. And, as if that wasn’t enough, in June 2022 he lost his mother, which he tearfully told the media about. «This is new territory for me, I have to deal with it», - he said during a pre-competition interview. «My mom wouldn’t want me to miss the competition… It will definitely be a more intense competition than last year», - he added.
Joey is truly unparalleled in hot dog eating competitions. Learn all about him here.
Joey won his first Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest championship in 2007, defeating champion Takeru Kobayashi. He won every year until he was defeated by Matt Stonie in 2015. Since his defeat by Matt, Joey has not been beaten in the annual Fourth of July hot dog eating championship. Joey has become the face of competitive eating.
He won the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest championship on the Fourth of July for the 14th time, eating a world record of 76 hot dogs!!! 🤯
«I know that eventually I will give this up for some reason», - Joey told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY. «Either if I start a family. If I want to live a more normal life and can’t travel as much, or if my health changes or if I have a health issue, that will be the reason. But I would like to… I mean, over the past three years I’ve been trying to eat healthier and run more, and I hope I can continue this trend to prolong it as long as possible, because I had a regular job and had to answer to bosses and get rude emails and check schedules and change orders and I can go back to all that!»
When asked if he would train his children in eating competitions, Joey told HollywoodLife: «I don’t know if I will train them, but I would tell them to do what makes them happy, and I chose the specialty I wanted to pursue, and the company I wanted to work for, and that made me happy, and then it grew into something I could never have imagined, so I think do what makes you happy. Always try something new and never close doors».
Just before winning the 2014 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest championship, Joey proposed to his longtime girlfriend. Unfortunately, they broke up
However, the famous participant was banned from competing in the 2024 contest due to a deal he made with Impossible Foods. Joey won his 16th title during the 2023 competition. Although he did not reach his personal record, he still managed to win by eating 62 hot dogs in 10 minutes.
Before the 2023 competition, Joey won the first Qdoba burrito eating contest in April, eating 14.5 burritos in 10 minutes. After his victory in 2022, he also set a record for the most Raising Cane’s chicken fingers eaten in five minutes (44) in July 2022 and ate 32 servings of 24-ounce popcorn in eight minutes in August.
Joey has faced a number of obstacles: he suffered an open fracture of his right leg, requiring two surgeries and nearly two weeks in the hospital in December 2021. Additionally, he injured the tendon in his right leg and arrived in New York in a cast. In May, he tested positive for COVID-19, forcing him to withdraw from a donut eating competition. During the 2022 competition, a protester dressed as Darth Vader tried to disrupt the event with a sign, jumping over the barrier. Joey quickly subdued the protester before security could remove him. And, as if that wasn’t enough, in June 2022 he lost his mother, which he tearfully told the media about. «This is new territory for me, I have to deal with it», - he said during a pre-competition interview. «My mom wouldn’t want me to miss the competition… It will definitely be a more intense competition than last year», - he added.
Joey is truly unparalleled in hot dog eating competitions. Learn all about him here.
Joey won his first Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest championship in 2007, defeating champion Takeru Kobayashi. He won every year until he was defeated by Matt Stonie in 2015. Since his defeat by Matt, Joey has not been beaten in the annual Fourth of July hot dog eating championship. Joey has become the face of competitive eating.
He won the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest championship on the Fourth of July for the 14th time, eating a world record of 76 hot dogs!!! 🤯
«I know that eventually I will give this up for some reason», - Joey told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY. «Either if I start a family. If I want to live a more normal life and can’t travel as much, or if my health changes or if I have a health issue, that will be the reason. But I would like to… I mean, over the past three years I’ve been trying to eat healthier and run more, and I hope I can continue this trend to prolong it as long as possible, because I had a regular job and had to answer to bosses and get rude emails and check schedules and change orders and I can go back to all that!»
When asked if he would train his children in eating competitions, Joey told HollywoodLife: «I don’t know if I will train them, but I would tell them to do what makes them happy, and I chose the specialty I wanted to pursue, and the company I wanted to work for, and that made me happy, and then it grew into something I could never have imagined, so I think do what makes you happy. Always try something new and never close doors».
Just before winning the 2014 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest championship, Joey proposed to his longtime girlfriend. Unfortunately, they broke up
© Puhova Marina
