It was 1986. That August 22nd, Rob Reiner released Stand By Me. Few knew who River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O’Connell and Wil Wheaton were. Even fewer knew what a phenomena this cast and movie would become. But there is one scene in particular I wanted to tackle for this month’s column; “The Great Tri-County Bake Off & Pie Eat.” Yes, that is the scene that David “Lardass” Hogan (played by Andy Lindberg) got his revenge on the town he grew up in for calling him fat. That was the first time I had ever seen an eating contest.
Years later, just hearing the phrase “competitive eating” conjured up the very image of Lardass vomiting all over four-time pie eating contest winner Bill Travis, resulting in the “Barf-O-Rama” that everyone laughs at during the film. The very idea of it made me nauseous. That is until one fateful Fourth of July in 2004 that changed everything.
That was the year competitive eating legend Takeru “Tsunami” Kobayashi broke every record on the books by consuming 53.5 hot dogs at the legendary Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Competition. Watching this tiny man consume that many hot dogs astounded me. How could all of that meat and bread fit inside such a tiny human? I was instantly hooked on the gluttony of it all.
Now, on every Fourth of July, I fire up the barbecue and throw a ton of Nathan’s hot dogs on the grill, along with the buns. My wife, any friends we have over, and I then sit in front of the idiot box watching as grown men and women shovel dozens of dogs down their throat in a display that can only be called hilariously disgusting.
When fan-favorite Joey “Jaws” Chestnut defeated the Tsunami and broke his record in 2007 by consuming 66 of Nathan’s tube steaks, the intersection of Surf and Stillwell on Coney Island lit up like the Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks. Chestnut became an overnight sensation with millions of adoring fans showing their love and support for Jaws.
When Chestnut lost the Mustard Belt title to Matt Stonie in 2015, millions across the globe cried foul. Jaws reclaimed the belt the following year, swearing his fans were the reason for his triumphant return.
So it came as quite a shock when Major League Eating (who is responsible for the contest with Nathan’s) announced a couple of weeks ago that Joey Chestnut has been banned from this year’s Pepto Bismol necessitating contest, especially when we found out why. And, just to be clear, this mess is Chestnut’s fault. Not Nathan’s. Not Major League Eating.
After almost 20 years of competing in the Nathan’s competition, Chestnut signed a contract with Impossible Foods to represent their new veggie hot dog line despite knowing that Nathan’s has a firm non-compete clause every competitor must sign to participate in the contest. This begs the question, “why did Joey Chestnut do this?” The answer? As always, it’s about the money.
Allegedly, Joey Chestnut signed with Impossible Foods for only a slightly higher amount of money than the $1.2 million four-year contract Nathan’s offered.
Bear in mind, that $1.2M was strictly for Chestnut to appear and do media, with any competition winnings on top of that base pay.
It is sad that Chestnut knew exactly what he was doing when he signed with Impossible. Yet the apologists (you know…the folks who believe everything they read on FakeBook and X…those wouldn’t understand the truth if you slapped them across the face with it) keep saying that Nathan’s is the bad guy here. Said apologists have repeatedly called on Nathan’s, Major League Eating and ESPN to be “cancelled” because of Chestnut being banned.
Here is the reality…Chestnut took a payday to satisfy his own personal desires at the sake of the millions who loved and adored him through 16 Mustard Belt titles. The fans made his career. Major League Eating is simply enforcing the rules that Chestnut has agreed to for almost 20 years of competing on Coney Island. Sorry to those who disagree, but it is fact.
Major League Eating and Nathan’s bent over backwards to accommodate requests by Chestnut’s management, but at the end of the day, they just weren’t willing to take a punch to the gut. It is important to note that Nathan’s did give Chestnut the opportunity to work through things, even allowing him to compete in a non-branded hot dog eating competition around Labor Day, but there just seemed to be no pleasing the famous glutton. Chestnut claimed to be surprised when the story broke about the ban.
For Nathan’s to give Impossible the opportunity to capitalize on the legendary competition would have cost the company millions in revenue. Granted it would have been a short-term revenue bump to Impossible, given how poorly their sales are trending and the negative sentiment being shared by many of their now former customers.
The Final Word: Joey “Jaws” Chestnut left his fans in the lurch for a payday