The official field for the 2022 Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest has yet to be released. Last year, the entrant list was not announced until July 4. Here is how the roster could shape up:

Previous Champions bye: Joey Chestnut, Matt Stonie (might not compete)
Miki Sudo, Michelle Lesco

Qualfied: James Webb, Pablo Martinez, Derek Hendrickson, Pat Bertoletti, Ronnie Hartman, Derek Jacobs
Prudence DiBenedetto, Rene Rovtar, Catie Livermore

Probable Byes: Geoff Esper, Nick Wehry, Gideon Oji, Darron Breeden (will probably miss due to birth of son)
Sarah Rodriguez, Larell Marie Mele, Katie Prettyman, Sophia DeVita-Gutierrez

Possible Byes: Max Suzuki, Ricardo Corbucci, Steve Hammond, Adrian Morgan, Adam “Beard Meats Food” Moran, Bartley Weaver, George Chiger, Brett Healey, Juan Rodriguez
Holly Titus, Jocelyn Walker, Kelly Wong, Kathryn Tesch, Mary Bowers

When the contest was originally fannounced, the field sizes were given as 16 men and 12 women.

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The top 3 men and women from today’s Nathan’s qualifier at Giant National Capital BBQ Battle in Washington, DC. The top 3 men and women advance to the finals.

1 Pat Bertoletti 40, 1st Nathan’s qualifier since April 21, 2012
2 Ronnie Hartman 29.5
3 Derek Jacobs 27

1 Rene Rovtar 6.5
2 Prudence DiBenedetto 5
3 Catie Livermore 2.8

update
Mac Stoddard has a video. Crazy Legs Conti and Buffalo Jim Reeves also competed. Mike Whities had to miss the contest for work. George Chiger and Jules Goldberg might have received byes.

Catie Livermore’s 2.8 hot dogs is a record low qualifying total, breaking a tie for 3 by:
Lauren Gallagher, Foxborough, MA 2011
Meghan Drake, Valdosta, GA 2017

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GamblingSites.com has a preview of the Nathan’s finals for bettors. The following odds for the men’s field are given:

oey Chestnut (-2500) (bet $2500 to win $100)
Geoffrey Esper (+700) (bet $100 to win $700)
Nick Wehry (+1000)
Darron Breeden (+1200)
Gideon Oji (+2000)

Matt Stonie is not listed.

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update Derek Hendrickson, Safeway and Misty Family Vlogs have videos. KCBS has a radio segment

The top 6 men from today’s Nathan’s qualifier at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton, CA (top 3 qualify for finals)
1 James Webb 41.5
2 Derek Hendrickson 28.75
3 Pablo Martinez 28.5
4 Erik Denmark 25
5T Gabriel Lucas 7
5T BJ Thompson 7

Austalia’s James Webb broke the UK Commonwealth Nathan’s record previously held by Adam “Beard Meats Food” Moran (32)

There were not female entrants according to Pablo Martinez

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Daily Mail has an article about Anne Nelson, whose father, Port Authority Police Officer James Nelson, died in the World Trace Center wreckage. Another shocking fatality would strike the family 16 years later.

Tragedy stalked Anne again in 2017 when her sister Caitlin (then a 20 year old college student) died in a freak accident when she choked in a charity pancake eating contest.

‘I think that loss is what really made me process my father’s death a little more. Even though I had gone to therapy before, the enormity of it all didn’t really hit me until that happened.’

Anne Nelson’s story is proof that people can live through not one but multiple traumas and still recover. Now 31, Anne tries to honor her sister and dad in everything she does.

She currently works as a special needs teacher at an elementary school, inspired by Caitlin’s studies in social work and her father’s life-long emphasis on education. ‘I take a little bit of both of them in what I’m doing and I try to carry them with me through that.’

Nathan’s Hot Dog qualifiers, restricted to NYC civil servants, were held on top of the original World Trade Center from 1998 to 2000. “Hungry” Charles Hardy won all 3 contests. Very little information about the competitions remains on the internet. Here is a screen capture from the 2002 documentary “Footlong”

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Joey Chestnut is currently the #3 Twitter Trending Topic for the United States. The social media activity was spurred by a recent study claiming that eating one hot dog will reduce a diner’s lifespan by 35 minutes.

According to the eatfeats database, Joey Chestnut has eaten 1364.5 Nathan’s Famous hot dogs in 22 public events (17 finals, 3 qualifiers and 2 exhibitions). If the study is accurate, this would truncate Joey Chestnut’s lifespan by 47,757.5 minutes, or slightly more than 33 days. A list of all of Joey Chestnut’s Nathan’s Famous hot dog results follows.

Read the rest of this entry »

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