July 4 (UPI) — A different hot dog-eating king was crowned at the 108th Nathan’s annual event at Coney Island in New York on Thursday after the perennial top dog was absent.
Patrick Bertoletti, 26, of Chicago, chowed down 58 hot dogs and buns — nearly six a minute — to defeat other 13 competitors in the Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest before thousands on Independence Day in ideal weather conditions in Brooklyn.
In the women’s contest, 38-year-old Miki Sudo, of Tampa, Fla., and previously New York, broke her women’s record with 51 hot dogs to take the pink belt for the 10th time.
The new men’s mustard belt needs an asterisk because Joey Chestnut, a 16-time winner and record holder with 76, was absent because he struck a deal with plant-based food company Impossible Foods.
Bertoletto, who goes by the nickname” deep dish,” didn’t compete last year. He has performed sporadically since 2007, placing as high as third place in 2010. Geoffrey Epps, 49, of Oxford, Mass., was second with 53, and James Webb, 35, of Sydney, Australia, was third with 52.
Bertoletto was trailing during portions of the contest.
“I was not going to stop eating until the job was done,” Bertoletti said after the event.
“I just can’t believe it,” he later said on ESPN. “I lost some weight. Just lots of work. There’s an urgency.
“With Joey not here, I knew I had a shot. I was able to unlock something that I don’t know where it came from.”
Chestnut ate a record of 7.6 hotdogs and buns per minute over 10 minutes in 2021. Last year he wolfed down 62 in bad weather conditions.
The Major League Eating organization, which oversees the world-renowned event, has said it is not banning for life. Chestnut must renounce deals with brands that rival Nathan’s.
“Joey Chestnut is an American hero. We would love nothing more than to have him at Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest, which he has dominated for years. We hope that he returns when he is not representing a rival brand,” MLE said in a statement.
Instead Chestnut took on four U.S. Army soldiers at the Fort Bliss base in El Paso, Texas, in an “all-beef” hot dog eating event to raise money for military famlies.
Chestnut, 40, of Westfield, Ind., consumed 57 hot dogs and buns in five minutes, just one fewer than Betoletti, who had twice as much time.
Chestnut began eating at Nathan’s in 2006, finishing second with 52.
He won his first title in 2007 when the contest lasted 12 minutes. The next year 2 minutes were shaved from the event.
Chestnut dethroned Takeru Kobayashi, from Japan, who had won six titles in a row. The margin was 66-63.
Chestnut’s only loss since 2007 was to Matt Stonie in 2016.
Kobayashi dramatically increased the profile of the event in 2001 when he ate 50 hot dogs and buns — doubling the previous record. He hasn’t competed since 2009 due to a refusal to sign an exclusive deal with Major League Eating.
In Kobayashi, 46, announced his retirement from competitive eating due to health concerns.
But Kobayashi and Chesnut plan to face off in an all-beef hot dog battle against each other Sept. 2, Labor Day, in an event to be streamed on Netflix. A location hasn’t been announced.
In the women’s contest, Sudo won her 10th pink belt. Her previous record was 48.5 in 2020 with 39.5 last year. She has won every year since 2014 except 2021, when she sat that year out due to pregnancy. Her husband is Nick Wehry, finished fourth in the men’s event with 51.75, just a quarter of a dog ahead of her wife.
“I mean, I finally did it,” Sudo, a dental hygiene student, said on ESPN. “We finally beat 50. So much of this is thanks to Mayoi Ebihara, who was pushing me so much. Obviously I prepared even more because I knew she was going to bring it.”
Ebihar, from Japan, finished second with 37, and also was runnerup last year. In all there were 14 contestants.
The 2020 event took place indoors during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 1916, Polish immigrant Nathan Handwerker opened a nickel hot dog stand on Coney Island with a $300 loan from two friends. It’s still there at Surf and Stillwell.
