Joey Chestnut secured his 17th Mustard Yellow Belt at the 2025 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest by devouring 70.5 hot dogs in just 10 minutes.
Joey “Jaws” Chestnut is back on top — and with a vengeance! 🌭💪 After missing the 2024 contest due to a sponsorship dispute, he returned to Coney Island and devoured 70.5 hot dogs in 10 minutes, clinching his 17th Mustard Yellow Belt at the 2025 Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest.
He outpaced his closest rival, Patrick Bertoletti, by a whopping 24 hot dogs. While it wasn’t quite his 2021 record of 76, Chestnut was still pleased, saying, “I really wanted a little bit more, but you know what? There’s next year. I’m just happy I’m here”.
“My goal was 70 to 77,” he told ESPN moments after his triumph. In fact, Joey, who in 2021 gobbled a record-breaking 76 wieners, noted that his hardest challenge is frequently himself.
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“Showing up is the hardest part sometimes,” he went on. “But I love being here. As soon as I found out I was coming, my body was easy to train. I love doing it. I love pushing myself and beating the heck out of people.”
Joey went on an eight-year winning streak after earning his first Mustard Yellow Belt in 2007 until losing to Matt Stonie in 2015. The following year, he regained the title, beginning a new winning run that would last until 2023.
However, Joey was disqualified from competing last year when Major League Eating, the organization that organized the competition, decided that his sponsorship agreement with Impossible Foods, a plant-based substitute that was considered a rival to Nathan's, disqualified him from competing, an MLE representative told ESPN at the time.
Thankfully, Joey's announcement of his comeback to the competition in June seemed to settle the issue.
“While I have and continue to partner with a variety of companies, including some in the plant-based space,” on June 16, he posted on Instagram. “Those relationships were never a conflict with my love for hot dogs.”
Also, worth a shoutout: Miki Sudo dominated the women’s division with 33 hot dogs, earning her 11th title.
