Joey Chestnut has officially been named the ultimate hot dog-eating champion after Netflix‘s epic Labor Day showdown.
The 40-year-old eater beat his World Record of 76 hot dogs with an epic 83 hot dogs in 10 minutes, besting his longtime rival Takeru Kobayashi’s score of 66 hot dogs.
Chestnut vs. Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef marked the first time the bitter rivals faced off against each other in 15 years. They last competed in a 2009 hot dog-eating competition where Chestnut bested Kobayashi and set a new world record of eating 68 hot dogs.
The crowd in the Hyperx Arena at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas roared as WWE wrestler Rey Mysterio awarded Chestnut the WWE-made custom championship title belt.
“It’s amazing, I’ve been trying to hit 80 hot dogs for years and without Kobayashi I would have never been able to do it,” Chestnut said.
Chestnut beat his world record of 76 hot dogs with about a minute and 20 seconds to spare, while Kobayashi was lagging behind at 63.
Chestnut and Kobayashi had 10 minutes to eat as many all-beef hot dogs and buns as they could but Netflix instituted a new set of rules for the competition. Not only were they prohibited from separating the hot dogs from the buns, the competitors were prohibited from dunking or pouring water on the food.
The main event was also prefaced by a chicken wing-eating contest featuring competitive eater Matt Stonie versus Olympic medalists Ryan Murphy, Max Irving, and Ryan Lochte.
Stonie, who once beat Chestnut in 2015 at the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, blew the Olympic athletes out of the water by eating 53 chicken wings in under three minutes. The athletes managed to down 36 collectively.
And Leah Shutkever attempted to set another Guinness World Record during the show by eating the most watermelon in three minutes – a feat she reached with 30 seconds to spare.
She downed a whopping 2400 grams of watermelon in two-and-a-half minutes. A Guinness World Record adjudicator was on site to certify the record.
Unfinished Beef is just the latest live sporting event Netflix has presented this year. The streamer is next set to present the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson boxing event Nov. 15. And in 2025, Netflix will stream WWE Raw every week as part of a new licensing deal.
Chestnut vs. Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef is streaming now on Netflix.
The post Joey Chestnut Defends Title At Netflix’s ‘Unfinished Beef’ Special, Crowned The Weiner Of Hot Dog-Eating Showdown appeared first on Decider.
