update Jul 6 Brian Dudzinski has a video talking about the invasion of the left side of the stage. Fake blood was thrown on his food and his & Noelle Morgan’s son was knocked over.

update Jul 5 “Sentiocentrist” admitted throwing blood in this instagram caption. Dan “Big Cat” Katz said he will seek legal action following the admission.

The group Direct Action Everywhere has taken credit for and produced a video of their stage invasion of the Nathan’s finals at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3YViml5lXo. First a woman climbs on stage and throws fake blood on Crazy Legs Conti (Dan “Big Cat” Katz also gets hit). During the commotion, a blonde woman and two males climb on stage. The Daily Mail has an article about the incursion.

Here are some screen captures of the assault (click on images for full size). If have archived the video in case it gets deleted.

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update Jul 8 The Guardian has a gallery

The Daily News has an article about the attack. Three protestors, who disguised themselves as fans, were taken in to police custody after taking the stage.

Protesters also apparently tried to jump Crazy Legs Conti near the start of the contest which required police intervention. This is probably the reason for the one hot dog performance.

Dan Katz reports that protesters from PETA knocked over his plates and threw fake blood on him.

The top 8 | 9-16
1 Joey Chestnut 70
2 Matt Stonie 53, 9 less than 2015
3 Carmen Cincotti 42
4 Gideon Oji 38
5 Geoff Esper 37.5
6 Adrian Morgan 36
7T Yasir Salem 31
7T Erik Denmark 31
9 Rich LeFevre 29
10 Marcos Owens 28
11 Juan Rodriguez 27
12 Eric “Badlands” Booker 25
13 Brian Dudzinski 24
14 Steven Schuster 16
15 Dan “Big Cat” Katz 12
16 Crazy Legs Conti 1 (protest performance?)

Joey Chestnut has regained the title with a finals record 70 hot dogs

This will be a big hour for Bay Area sports. Kevin Durant has decided to join the Golden State Warriors and San Joseans Joey Chestnut and Matt Stonie should finish top 2 barring a shocking upset.

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The top 8 have been announced | 9-15
1 Miki Sudo 38.5
2 Sonya Thomas 35
3T Juliet Lee 27
3T Michelle Lesco 27
5 BeeJay Alexander 17.5
6 Nela Zisser 16.75
7T Meredith Boxberger 15.5
7T Sophia DeVita 15.5
9 Larelle Marie Mele 15
10 Kassie Zapata 13.5
11 Daniella Gioia 12.5
12 Mary Bowers 8.5
13 Noelle Morgan Dudzinski 7.75
14 Hilary Andrews 7
15 Elizabeth Petra 4

Miki Sudo ate 38.5 hot dogs to win the women’s division of the Nathan’s finals for the third year in a row. Sonya Thomas was the runner up with 35.

Hopefully we will get full results promptly since all finishers will receive prizes.

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There are 472 contests from July 1-4, 2016 listed in the calendar. Here are how the 423 contests in the USA break down by state.

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Here are the MLE rankings at the end of the 2nd quarter of 2016. (Ranking system description). Joey Chestnut’s 73 hot dogs in the DC qualifier gave him the best hot dog total over the past 365 days and put him into a tie with with Matt Stonie. The head to head comparisons can be found after the rankings.

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Pages 58-61 from “Eat This Book” about the “history” of Nathan’s Famous eating contest can be viewed below (click on pages to enlarge) or by using Google Books. The section treats the 1916 origin story as a historical fact instead of an “urban legend”.

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On twitter, Juan “More Bite” Rodriguez accuses Erik “The Red Denmark” of “Pocket Dog Gate”. While Carmen Cincotti’s video shows Erik Denmark inserting his hand in his pocket immediately following the Nathan’s Washington, DC qualifier (around the 14:20 mark), it is not 100% clear if he had a hot dog in his hand. Denmark was credited with 32 hot dogs for the contest, which edged out Steve Hendry by one hot dog for the wild card.

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A list of contests this weekend that have listed prizes follows: Read the rest of this entry »

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