TMZ reports that Joey Chestnut is negotiating a return to Nathan's Famous hot dog eating contest next month. According to the article, Joey's relationship with Impossible Foods is no longer impeding his return. It is possible the deal has been terminated; Joey Chestnut has not made any videos or appearances for the plant-based meat company in 2025.

June 10, 2025 at 10:09 pm by ojrifkin · More posts about:Joey Chestnut, Nathan's Hot Dog Contest | Permalink * Comments (10)

10 Comments »

  1. Anonymous said

    June 11, 2025 @ 3:18 am

    As much as we all want to see him still compete. I say let him sit 1 more year. Basis of his contract with impossible foods should be expired for 1 year minimum for him to return as it was conflicting interests. Since it was still active in July of last year, that would be less then a year.

  2. Anonymous said

    June 11, 2025 @ 10:00 am

    3:18 The MLE will absolutely love an extra year to milk this “controversy” to generate more PR buzz

  3. Anonymous said

    June 11, 2025 @ 12:58 pm

    Only someone that has a chance of finishing in the money without Joey there would make the comment that 3:18am did.

    You’re a poor sport. If you think MLE is going to “punish” joey by making him sit out this July 4th (when he would otherwise agree to compete), you really don’t understand how the Nathan’s contest works.

  4. Anonymous said

    June 11, 2025 @ 8:44 pm

    Honestly, has it not become totally boring to see the expected outcome all of the time. Joey must make a lot of money through MLE for him to want to continue to compete.

  5. Anonymous said

    June 11, 2025 @ 9:38 pm

    Thing is there are very very few who follow anyone other than Joey – or other MLE events. I read that ratings dropped by over half than average last year. (the lowest in over 10 years)
    This is also a good explanation of why there are very rarely company recorded and streamed contests.

  6. Anonymous said

    June 11, 2025 @ 9:53 pm

    @12:58 oh i know how it works, and no i dont compete at nathans even. His deal with impossible foods is a complete conflict of interest between nathans exlusivity and espn/mle deal. I am not saying he shouldnt of taken the deal and made what money he could of. Disagree with impossible foods in general as a vegan option but besides that joey is free to do whatever he wants. But im saying the exlusivity contract should bar for a year of it ending. Not sure when that would be in joeys case. But it for sure covered the month of july and even up to i think october during his netflix deal?

  7. Anonymous said

    June 12, 2025 @ 12:01 pm

    953 pm– Says who? Why should it “bar for a year of eating”?

    Nathan’s / MLE are viewing this in one of 2 ways

    1. Any publicity is good publicity
    2. People are snubbing Nathan’s products because Joey isn’t competing, and it’s hurting their sales. Also, ESPN may drop the contest if ratings slide further and viewership on July 4th is low.

    If ESPN drops the contest airing, there will not be a Nathan’s July 4th in the same manner that we’ve been used to over the last ~12 to 15 years

  8. Anonymous said

    June 12, 2025 @ 5:55 pm

    Nathan’s sales aren’t down. They’re at an all time high. The company is booming

  9. Anonymous said

    June 12, 2025 @ 7:12 pm

    12:01 – “Any publicity is good publicity” is the route they’re more likely to choose.

  10. Anonymous said

    June 13, 2025 @ 12:29 am

    nathans and MLE have an exclusive contract. No other type of hot dogs are used in any contests throughout the year. It isnt a question does or doesnt hurt Nathans as a whole. Its pretty straight forward with conflict of interest.

RSS feed for comments on this post · TrackBack URI

Leave a Comment

Log in | Register | Comments by users who have not logged in will be held for approval