update Aug 13 Miki Sudo, Nick Wehry and Pat Bertoletti appeared on Breakfast TV Friday

update Full results on contest page

The Hamilton Spectator has a contest report. Joel Hansen says he signed up at the last minute. Donna Wang has a contest video

James Webb has started a livestream of today’s Smoke’s Poutinerie contest in Toronto.

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Announced results 12 minutes
1 James Webb 8.1 pounds
2 Kylan Lee 5.42
3 Ryan Rodacker 3.69
4 Tanner Gray 2.92
5 Darrien Thomas 2.54

James Webb has started a livestream of today’s Great Midwest Rib Fest World Rib Eating Championship at Mystic Lake in Prior Lake, MN.

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Announced results (8 minutes)
1 Pat Bertoletti 220
2 James Webb 213
3 Geoff Esper 211
4 Sean Yeager 166
5 Australian (Kylan Lee?) 131

James Webb is running a video of today’ Wendy’s chicken nugget eating contest.

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The Guardian has a long interview with Takeru Kobayashi about facing off against Joey Chestnut in a hot dog eating contest on Netflix on September 2. He believes the event will be his final competition.

Will September’s bout with Chestnut be Kobayashi’s last? He has to believe it will be. “Unless I think each match is my last one, I will not be able to perform at my peak level.” But he is enjoying the thrill of competing again. “When you do something for a really long time, you start to lose the magic that you felt initially,” he says. “This has really brought back the feeling of how much fun it is to push yourself.”

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For National Hot Dog Day on July 17, Joey Chestnut did interviews for The Daily Meal, Mashed, People and BroBible.

In the Daily Meal interview he discusses the breakdown of his relationship with Major League Eating
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Announced results: 8 minutes
1 Pat Bertoletti 18.475 lb.
2 Geoff Esper 16.044
3 James Webb 15.319
4 Nick Wehry 12.6
5 Gideon Oji
6 Matt Raible
7 Cherish Brown
8 Rene Rovtar

James Webb has started a livestream video.

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update July 15 TMZ has an interview with Geoff Esper about the allegations:

“There has been other cheating instances in the past,” he said. “As far as I know there was never any suspensions or anything like that. So by looking at past practices, I don’t see that’s going to happen, but I think to stop it from happening in the future something should be done.”

“If there’s no incentive not to do it, why wouldn’t someone else do it?”

update July 12 USA Today has an article with statements from Wehry and Major League Eating:

“I asked Sean how many (hot dogs) he got,’’ Wehry, 35, told USA TODAY Sports by text. “Said awesome job but it looked like more. Always recount…so we did. All of us at one point or another have been shorted a plate, double plated etc.’’

The plates, served to competitors during the event, hold five dogs and buns. After the contest, empty plates are used to determine the official tally of hot dogs and buns consumed.

The extra plate boosted Wehry’s total to 51.75 from 46.75, according to the allegations.

Yeager, who competed while standing next to Wehry, told USA TODAY Sports he did not want to comment “until someone can help us get more video (of the incident) to put this thing to bed.’’

Major League Eating (MLE), which runs the Nathan’s contest, said it investigated the matter and was taking no action against Wehry, who received $1,000 for finishing fourth.

“After being made aware of the accusation stemming from last Thursday’s contest, MLE investigated the incident, carefully considering the complaint and reviewing the videos provided to us,’’ MLE said in a statement. “Like many other professional sports leagues, it is our policy to not overturn judges’ decisions after the final results have been recorded.

“Earlier today, Nick Wehry asked MLE to lower his score to 46.75 based on his touching another eater’s plates. MLE has agreed to adjust the official count. Wehry remains the 4th place finisher of the hot dog eating contest on July 4, 2024.”

The Washington Post also has an article

update July 10 The allegations about Nick Wehry made the front page of the New York Post

update The New York Post has an article about the incident
Yesterday afternoon, the following allegations were made in a long comment about the men’s 2024 Nathan’s finals:
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The Major League Eating Top 50 has been updated. Joey Chestnut remains #1 despite his estrangement from the organization. Nathan’s winner Pat Bertoletti jumps to #2. The new top 10

1. Joey Chestnut (previously #1)
2. Pat Bertoletti (#9)
3. Geoff Esper (#2)
4. James Webb (#5)
5. Miki Sudo (#3)
6. Nick Wehry (#4)
7. Gideon Oji (#6)
8. Derek Hendrickson (#8)
9. Michelle Lesco (#10)
10. Darrien Thomas (#12)

Entering

• 13 Sean Yeager
• 16 Max Stanford (fixed)
• 38 Radim Dvoracek
• 45 Joey Przybylowicz
• 47 Cherish Brown
• 48 Julie Goldberg

leaving

• 16 Darron Breeden
• 28 Juan Rodriguez
• 30 Sarah Rodriguez
• 46 Brian Dudzinski
• 48 Kathryn Tesch
• 50 Doug Ecks

Notable omissions: Takuya Yamomoto, William Lyon, Max Stanford, Yasir Salem, Kylan Lee, Tandra Childress

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Badlands Booker has defended his chugging championship. One of the other competitors had a “reversal” which appears to rival Sloth in the Wing Bowl as one of the greatest reversals in competitive eating history.

Dutch Mazz is also doing a live video that will hopefully have clearer audio than Gigi’s.

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Fox 5 DC has a live video of this afternoon’s Z burger eating contest in Washington, DC.

The top 5
1T Molly Schuyler 34
1T Dan Kennedy 34
3 Joel Hansen 30
4 Robert McGee 15
5 Andrew Krawczyk 10

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