Competitive Eating category

All time best Nathan’s Famous hot dog results – women

All Nathan’s Famous hot dog results of 30 or more by women follows:

2024 Jul 4 1st 51 Miki Sudo Brooklyn, NY
2020 Jul 4 1st 48.5 Miki Sudo Brooklyn, NY
2012 Jul 4 1st 45 Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas Brooklyn, NY
2017 Jul 4 1st 41 Miki Sudo Brooklyn, NY
2009 Jul 4 6th 41 Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas Brooklyn, NY
2013 Apr 20 1st 40 Miki Sudo Las Vegas, NV
2011 Jul 4 1st 40 Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas Brooklyn, NY
2022 Jul 4 1st 40 Miki Sudo Brooklyn, NY
2014 Jun 22 1st 40 Miki Sudo Sonoma, CA
2023 Jul 4 1st 39.5 Miki Sudo Brooklyn, NY
2007 Jul 4 5th 39 Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas Brooklyn, NY
2008 Jun 7 1st 38.5 Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas Norfolk, VA
2016 Jul 4 1st 38.5 Miki Sudo Brooklyn, NY
2015 Jul 4 1st 38 Miki Sudo Brooklyn, NY
2024 Jul 4 2nd 37 Mayoi Ebihara Brooklyn, NY
2005 Jul 4 2nd 37 Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas Brooklyn, NY
2018 Jul 4 1st 37 Miki Sudo Brooklyn, NY
2006 Jul 4 3rd 37 Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas Brooklyn, NY
2013 Jul 4 1st 36.75 Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas Brooklyn, NY
2006 May 27 1st 36.5 Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas Philadelphia, PA
2010 Jul 4 4th 36 Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas Brooklyn, NY
2013 Jul 4 2nd 36 “The Lovely” Juliet Lee Brooklyn, NY
2007 May 26 1st 36 Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas Philadelphia, PA
2009 Jun 6 1st 36 Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas Norfolk, VA
2016 Jul 4 2nd 35 Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas Brooklyn, NY
2014 Sep 28 1st 35 “The Lovely” Juliet Lee Dover, DE
2010 Jun 12 1st 34 Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas Norfolk, VA
2014 Jul 4 1st 34 Miki Sudo Brooklyn, NY
2008 Jul 4 5th 34 Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas Brooklyn, NY
2015 Jul 4 2nd 34 Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas Brooklyn, NY
2011 May 28 1st 34 Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas Atlantic City, NJ
2009 Jul 4 9th 34 “The Lovely” Juliet Lee Brooklyn, NY
2023 Jul 4 2nd 33.5 Mayoi Ebihara Brooklyn, NY
2025 Jul 4 1st 33 Miki Sudo Brooklyn, NY
2012 Jul 4 2nd 33 “The Lovely” Juliet Lee Brooklyn, NY
2017 Jul 4 2nd 32 Michelle “Cardboard Shell” Lesco Brooklyn, NY
2005 Jun 11 1st 32 Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas Norfolk, VA
2004 Jul 4 3rd 32 Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas Brooklyn, NY
2019 Jul 4 1st 31 Miki Sudo Brooklyn, NY
2013 Jun 2 1st 31 Molly Schuyler St. Paul, MN
2021 Jul 4 1st 30.75 Michelle “Cardboard Shell” Lesco Brooklyn, NY
2009 May 23 1st 30.5 “The Lovely” Juliet Lee Atlantic City, NJ
2013 Jun 12 1st 30 “The Lovely” Juliet Lee Pittsburgh, PA
2017 Jul 4 3rd 30 Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas Brooklyn, NY

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All time best Nathan’s Famous results

All Nathan’s Famous hot dog results of 50 or more follows:
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Yunho Choi has posted a video of his trip to Pennsylvania to compete in the Nathan's qualifier held at Hershey Park for the Nathan's Famous hot dog qualifier. He believes a plate was missed which would have given him a winning total of 30 hot dogs.
ESPN has uploaded the entire 2025 men's Nathan's Famous telecast to youtube.

Nathan’s Famous personal bests – women

A listing of all Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest personal bests for females only of 10 hot dogs or greater follows:
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Nathan’s Famous personal bests

A listing of all Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest personal bests 10 hot dogs or greater follows:
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All Nathan’s Famous Coney Island winners

Here is a list of all winners of a hot dog eating contest held at Nathan’s Famous in Coney Island in the database. Before 1980, competitions were held on various days throughout the summer. The first contest to receive news coverage was held on June 30, 1967 to commemorate the centennial of the hot dog. Walter Paul reportedly won that event with a reported total of 127 hot dogs in an hour.
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2026 ESPN/ABC Nathan’s television schedule

update June 29 A press release announces that Jeremy Schapp, Rich Shea and Marion Crowder will be the announcers. This will be the first eating contest to be televised live on a national over-the-air network since the 2008 Collegiate Nationals, won by
Furious Pete, was broadcast by CBS.

Here is the current broadcast schedule for Nathan/s Famous hot dog eating contest on July 4. The men’s contest will be on ESPN2 and simulcast on ABC starting at 12:30 as part of its “Disney Celebrates America” marathon. The women’s contest will be streaming only. Joey Chestnut and Miki Sudo will have individual cameras.

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Paul Nicholson has posted a list of the 86 food YouTube channels with the most views in 2026. The only competitive eating / restaurant challenge accounts are Beard Meats Food (#3 317M views) and Matt Stonie (#32 25M views). First We Feast, producers of the "Hot Ones" spicy wing series, is the overall #1 channel with 566M views.
Ben Huddleston reports that the men's Nathan's Famous hot dog eating contest will be televised live on ABC starting at 12:30 pm Eastern as part of the network's "Disney Celebrates America" programming. With a 24 hour run-time, there is no excuse for not televising the women's contest earlier in the day.

Trump, Howard Lorber & the NY Knicks

One June 5, the official White House X account posted a picture of President Trump watching a New York Knicks game from courtside seats. His seatmate is believed to be Howard Lorber, his longtime friend and CEO of Nathan’s Famous. The picture was taken at a 2007 game against the Los Angeles Lakes and comes from a NY Magazine article which claims that Lorber was Trump’s most common companion at Knicks games. The game Trump attended on June 8 was the only game lost by the Knicks in a 4-1 NBA Championship Series win.

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Joey Chestnut was interviewed by the Stacking Pennies podcast when he was in Charlotte for the NASCAR races Memorial Day weekend. They do not ask him about his recent arrest for battery and probation.

Nathan’s Famous / Smithfield Foods closing postponed

The takeover of Nathan’s Famous by its meatpacker and distributor, Chinese-owned Smithfield Foods, was announced in January and expected to be completed in the first half of 2026. Various issues have postponed the closing to the second half of the year.

Completion of the transaction remains contingent upon meeting several conditions specified in the Merger Agreement. These include securing approval from the holders of a majority of Nathan’s outstanding stock, obtaining clearance from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), and fulfilling other closing requirements. However, given the impact of the partial government shutdown on statutory deadlines for CFIUS’s review process, our anticipated closing timeline has shifted, and we now expect the transaction to close in the second half of 2026.

update Jun 13 The Trump Administration has criticized foreign control of the American meat industry, but they have not expressed any criticism of the Nathan’s Famous / Smithfield Foods merger. One reason for the lack of opposition to the deal might be the longtime friendship between Trump and Nathan’s Famous CEO Howard Lorber, who has hosted fundraisers for the president.

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Season 2 of "Everything on the Menu with Braun Strowman" will debut tonight on the USA Network at 11pm Eastern. WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry will accompany Braun in the episode. update June 10 The full episode can be viewed on youtube.

Nathan’s men’s contest on ESPN2, women’s on streaming

The July 4 schedule for ESPN is now available. The main channel will observe America250 by broadcasting British tennis while the men’s Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest is relegated to ESPN2 and the women’s division is streaming-only. The men’s contest will be rerun on ESPN2 at 4pm Eastern and the documentary “The Good, the Bat, The Hungry” will be shown at 5pm.

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The episosde of "Beavis and Butthead" in which the duo competes in a bratwurst eating contest has been uploaded to youtube. The segment begins at 5:33 and is part of a two hour block of recorded programming that includes commercials.
The Japan Reporter has a 10 minute documentary titled "Rise and Fall of Japan's Big Eating Culture"

Number of Nathan’s qualifiers by contest year

Here is the number of Nathan’s Famous hot dog qualifiers in the database since 2002 by contest year. The list does not include non hot dog competitions like the 2005 UK sausage eating contest that awarded a finals spot.

2025-26 2
2024-25 6
2023-24 7
2022-23 6
2021-22 2
2020-21 0
2019-20 3
2018-19 16
2017-18 19
2016-17 19
2015-16 12
2014-15 15
2013-14 15
2012-13 12
2011-12 14
2010-11 15
2009-10 15
2008-09 18
2007-08 19
2006-07 14
2005-06 16
2004-05 14
2003-04 14
2002-03 13

A list of all the qualifiers follows after the jump
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Pat Bertoletti was the guest on this morning's epsidoe of "Toon in with Me" on MeTV.
The World Strawberry Shortcake Eating Championship will return to the Mattituck, NY Strawberry Festival. The contest date will probably be June 20.
Fortune has an article about Amazon CEO Andy Jassy's wing eating events. He held a weekly competitions with his friends in Seattle and also held a wing eating contest at the Amazon AWS re:Invent convention. Jassy's personal best is 57 wings.
The Korean Herald reports tha mukbang star Tzuyang, who has 13.2 million subscribers for her youtube channel, will start a television program "Still Hungry" on the cable channel ENA in May.
Ryu @R78782179 won today's "King of Gluttony" competition televised on TV Tokyo. For the first time in several contests, all competitors were Japanese. Kawaxile was runner-up and Angela Sato was third. A video of the whole broadcast is currently available on youtube.
Food Challenge News has an article about the British Eating League and its founder Craig Harker.
Extreme Eating Championships announced that Joey Chestnut will be competing in its World Chocolate Cake Eating Championship at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on April 4. I think this will be the first time a Major League Eating competitor has done a contest sanctioned by an organization other than MLE. Buccaneers offensive linemen Tristan Wirfs and Luke Goedeke will also compete.
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