update June 14 Debbie has videos Part 1 | Part 2

update June 13 The Virginia-Pilot has a gallery and video
Robbie Hickman has a facebook gallery

update
1) Gideon Oji 33
2) Steve Hendry 31, new wild card leader update tied with Yasir Salem for wild card lead
3) Darron Breeden 28 (record for total unknown?)

1W) BeeJay Alexander 16.5

Steve Hendry, Gideon Oji and BeeJay Alexander are expected to compete.

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With three qualifiers left here is the current field for the 2016 Nathan’s finals:
Men

Women

Presumably previous champions Joey Chestnut and Sonya Thomas will receive byes

Nathan’s 2015 Top 10 yet to qualify:
Tim Janus (retired), Erik Denmark, Yasir Salem, Pablo Martinez
Daniella Gioia, BeeJay Alexander, Carlene LeFevre

Men’s wild card leaders

Women’s wild card leaders

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update Pocono Record has a contest report

Full Results Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
1) Badlands Booker 23.75
2) Kevin Ambs 23.33
3) George Chiger 19.5
4) Jim Reeves 18
5T) Michael Deitz 13
5T) Ryan Siciliano 13
7) Bill Myers 12.75
8) Tom Serpico 6

1W) Larell Marie Mele 12
2w) Tess Siciliano 8

update It appears Eric “Badlands” Booker narrowly won the men’s contest

Larell Marie Mele won the women’s contest, which puts Carlene LeFevre back in the wild card lead.

Larell Marie Mele, Jim Reeves and Bill Myers are expected to do 2 qualifiers in less than 24 hours. “Badlands” Booker is another listed entrant. A victory by Larell Marie would restore the women’s wild card lead to Carlene LeFevre.

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Syracuse.com has an article and video about the qualifier

Ryan Siciliano has the winners from today’s Nathan’s qualifier in Syracuse. Larell Marie Mele says she took the women’s wild card lead. Results part 2

1) Geoff Esper 34.5
2) Yasir Salem 31, takes men’s wild card lead
3) Jim Reeves 23
4) Ryan Siciliano 16
5) Steven Dorgo 15
6) Bill Myers 14.5
7) Jesse Kanula 13
8) Don 8
9T) Kevin Belbey 7
9T) Derek 7

1W) Meredith Boxberger 21
2W) Larell Marie Mele 14.5, takes women’s wild card lead

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The Village Voice has an article about Famous Nathan, a book about the history of the hot dog restaurant that will be released June 21 co-authored by Lloyd Handwerker, a grandson of the company founder. The book is a companion to the 2014 documentary by the same name and will include a debunking of the 1916 contest origin myth. Another book Nathan’s Famous: The First 100 Years of America’s Favorite Frankfurter Company by William Handwerker, who is also a grandson of the founder, was released on May 10.

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In the 1970s, Nathan’s held Coney Island hot dog eating contests throughout the summer. Here is the account of the 1978 Memorial Day contest from the Google News Archive. (note the 1917 contest origin year).

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update May 31 Charlotte Agenda has a contest report with a full roster

update May 29 The Sporting News has a contest report. The men’s top 3
1) David Schuster 21.5
2) Ronnie Hartman 18.5
3) Damien Boykin 16

Native New Yorker Elizabeth Petra was the sole woman, perhaps the female Carolinians boycotted due to the HB2 transgender bathroom law 😉

WCCB has a gallery

Steve Shuster won the men’s division with 21 and Elizabeth Petra took the women’s with 6

Ronnie Hartman ad Corey Fanguy are the expected ranked eaters. Rich Shea says a female will make her debut.

Mitchell Johnson and Anthony V. Taddeo did a podcast about the contest

SpeedStreetAutograph is claiming Michael Alvarez is a “semifinalist” who “rocked” last year’s qualifier despite a total of 11 hot dogs.

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The ESPN schedule for July 4, 2016 lists the first showing of the Nathan’s finals at 3 pm. This will be a three hour tape-delay if the competition has its traditional noon start time, as the countdown counter on nathansfamous.com implies. There will also be three reruns on ESPN2. The July 4 web-streaming schedule for ESPN3.com, which shows the women’s division, is not yet available.

It appears that both ESPN and ESPN2 will be broadcasting tennis from Wimbledon while the Nathan’s finals competitions take place.

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Here is a list of everyone who has competed in every Nathan’s finals since 2011 and the year of the start of their finals streak.

2003 Sonya Thomas
2005 Joey Chestnut
2005 Tim Janus
2006 Erik Denmark
2007 Juliet Lee
2008 Eric “Badlands” Booker update Booker missed the 2011 finals
2011 Michelle Lesco
2011 Larell Marie Mele
2011 Adrian Morgan
2011 Matt Stonie

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Takeru Kobayashi appeared on today’s episode of Matsuko Deluxe a show starring a plus-size transvestite. Additional guests include:

• Takako Akasaka, 3rd place in 2000 Nathan’s and first woman to exceed 20 hot dogs in a Nathan’s July 4 contest
• Nobuyuki “The Giant” Shirota 3rd place in 2004 Nathan’s and winner of 3 out of 4 Food Battle Club contests
• Kaz Arai 2000 Nathan’s winner and 2001 Nathan’s runner up

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update May 13 Nela Zisser has a contest video

update May 1 The Houston Chronicle has a contest report

Winners from today’s Nathan’s qualifier in Houston. update George Shea has the rest of the men’s top 3

1) Adrian Morgan 39
2) Peter Rottman 22
3) Steven Schuster 20.5

1W) Nela Zisser 17

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