Competitive Eating 101 – Dollars For Hot Dogs

It was Wednesday. Multiple World Champions had migrated to the corner of Surf and Stillwell avenues in Coney Island, Brooklyn. A crowd of thousands had gathered too, eager to find out if the reigning champ would once again leave with the belt and a share of the $40,000 prize pool. This was the moment that they had been waiting all year for, the competitive eating equivalent of a FIFA World Cup final. The venue was Nathan’s Famous and this was the annual 4th of July hot dog eating contest.

We aren’t talking a hot dog or two at the baseball, so step aside MLB and enter MLE (Major League Eating) …yes, really, it is the name of the organization.

Competitive eating, it’s a thing, and it pays.

Competitive Eating: Where Did It All Start?

Competitive eating has probably always been a thing on one level or another. You go out with your friends, add a spectating girl or two for good measure, and let machoism take over. Whether the destination was a cave where they were chowing down wild boar while one man stood guard with a spear at the cave entrance keeping an eye out for Velociraptors, or a downtown McDonalds where Big Macs were the challenge and the only threat to life was heart disease, doesn’t really matter. Competition is everywhere. And where you have competition you have an opportunity to monetise.

Sometime in the 1990s brothers George and Richard Shea were placed in charge of PR for the Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating content. For some crazy reason they thought that this competitive eating thing could possibly be a financial opportunity. Up until this point eating competitions had mainly been single venue competitions, events designed to bring in a few extra patrons. George and Richard envisaged something very different though. What if competitive eating could receive the world recognition that it so clearly deserved? The athletes could be superstars, stopped in the streets for autographs and selfies alongside the likes of Tom Cruise or Kim Kardashian. Hey, don’t laugh. If you have seen Kim Kardashian’s home movie then you will realise that maybe she has more in common with these hot dog eating champions than you first thought.

What the brothers did foresee was the possibility of formalising the competitive eating scene. In 1997 George and Richard founded the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE), which would later be rebranded as Major League Eating (MLE). The organisation provides a mechanism to schedule, host and broadcast competitive eating events.

Competitive Eating: Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Content

Who is this Nathan bloke that we keep mentioning? Nathan’s Famous is a takeaway hot dog stand located in Coney Island, Brooklyn. They are at the epicentre of the competitive eating discussion. Here is a blurb from their website about the founding of the stand:

“In 1916, Polish immigrant Nathan Handwerker started a nickel hot dog stand on Coney Island with a $300 loan from two friends and his wife’s secret spice recipe. Today, Nathan’s is the most famous hot dog in the world, with restaurants across the globe, products in every supermarket in America and millions of fans. And yes, the original Coney Island restaurant is still there at the corner of Surf and Stillwell”.

The website then goes on to mention that the first hot dog eating competition was believed to have been held on 4 July, 1916, between 4 immigrants who were debating who was the most patriotic of the bunch.

How much of this story is fact vs fiction up until this point is the subject of debate, as the records on the Nathan’s Famous website only go back as far as 1972.

The 1972 hot dog eating eating competition was the first large-scale competitive eating competition held by Nathan’s. The winner, Jason Schechter, took home the title by eating a grand total of 14 hot dogs (including buns). Maybe at the time 14 hot dogs was seen to be grotesque, a great achievement in eating. 14 hot dogs in today’s competitive eating competitions would be seen as child’s play, barely an entree.

2001 saw a new contestant begin to dominate the competition, enter Takeru Kobayashi of Japan. Up until this point the Nathan’s record sitting at 25 hot dogs in 10 minutes. This young, thin, Japanese wonder kid ate 50. Maybe he was just hungry. It wouldn’t be until 2007 that he would be dethroned.

The dethroning of legend Takeru Kobayashi took place on the 4th of July, 2007. American hometown hero Joey Chestnut began his reign over the Nathan’s Famous contest, and for that matter the competitive eating scene as a whole. Joey doesn’t lose a Nathan’s 4th of July contest until 2015 …before then coming back the year after and dominating the competition once again. It is important to note that in 2007 Kobayashi had injured his jaw in “training” (one can only imagine what training entails). Would Chestnut still have have reached the same amazing heights if Kobayashi was 100% fit for the event? We will never know. This will surely be labelled as one of the great unsolved mysteries, alongside the JFK assassination and the extinction of dinosaurs.

In 2011 a women’s division was created.

2016 was the year of the world record for Joey Chestnut, demolishing 73.5 hot dogs in a Nathan’s Famous qualifying event. He then beat his own record again in 2018 with 74 hot dogs.

Now look back at the results of that first 1942 competition. 14 hot dogs. Pathetic!

Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contests are where legends are made.

We mentioned “broadcasting” events earlier on in the article. Who would want to watch people eat? The answer is that LOADS of people do! The annual Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest is even broadcast on ESPN. 35,000 people were estimated to have attended the 2017 event in person and a further $1.1 million watched the craziness on television.

Competitive Eating: Who Are The Major Players?

We have already mentioned a couple of the competitive eating royalty. We will now take a look at them in a little more detail.

• Joey Chestnut – A more wholesome name you will struggle to find, “Chestnut” just conjures images of warmth and wood fires. If your memory only has room to save one name in the competitive eating scene, make it this one. Joey Chestnut is the reigning champion of the hot dog eating scene. This is their Muhammad Ali. The champ is here. The full list of achievements for Joey Chestnut is just too long to list, so instead here are a few highlights:
  • Current Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest world record holder, downing 74 hot dogs.
  • Beat Takeru Kobayashi in the 2007 Nathan’s Famous competition, consuming 66 hot dogs against Kobayashi’s 63. A close battle of warriors.
  • Has won every Nathan’s Famous contest from 2007 until present, with the exception of the 2015 competition where he was beaten by Matthew Stonie. Stonie beat Chestnut 62 hot dogs to 60. Stonie then dropped down the leaderboards in future years, never coming close to his 62 hot dog record.
  • In 2012 ate 7.61 lbs of buffalo chicken wings in 12 minutes.
  • In 2013 ate 141 hard boiled eggs in 8 minutes.
  • In 2016 ate 14.5 lbs of boysenberry pie in 8 minutes at Knotts Berry Farm.
  • In 2017 ate 55 glazed donuts in 8 minutes at the Salvation Army National Donut Day.
  • In 2017 ate 126 traditional 3-inch tortilla tacos in 12 minutes at the Mystic Lake Casino Hotel.

• Takeru Kobayashi (“The Tsunami”) – Although only born in 1978, it is fair to label Takeru Kobayashi as one of the grandfathers of modern day competitive eating. Born in Nagano, Japan, he took competitive eating to the next level when he competed in the 2001 Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest, doubling the previous record. Like Joey Chestnut, a full list of records for Takeru Kobayashi would also take up a whole article on Profit Pants, so instead we will look at just a few of the highlights here too:
  • Holder of 8 Guinness records.
  • Introduced the world of competitive hot dog eating to the “water dipping method”. Kobayashi dips the hotdog bun in water before consuming in order to make it easier to swallow quickly.
  • As well as hot dogs, also competitively eats basically anything, including sausages, dumplings, pork buns, meatballs, Twinkies, tacos, pizza, hamburgers, pasta, chicken wings and ice cream.
  • Won the 2001 Nathan’s Famous contest, downing 50 hot dogs. Taking into consideration that the 2000 record was 25.125 hot dogs, this was quite the achievement. Kobayashi was a true professional.
  • In a 2005 competition ate 83 vegetarian dumplings in 8 minutes and then reportedly the next day at 100 roasted pork buns in 12 minutes. This guy is just an animal.
  • At 97 hamburgers in the 2006 Krystal Square Off, winning the competition.
  • Announced in 2010 that he wouldn’t be competing in the Nathan’s contest reportedly due to contract disputes. He was contracted with MLE (Major League Eating) and it is believed that the contract had exclusive event restrictions, not allowing him to compete in events which were not sanctioned by the MLE. He turns up at the 2010 Nathan’s competition anyway, forced his way onto the stage and was then arrested. Charges were later thrown out by a judge.
  • At the 2012 Wing Bowl, held in the Wells Fargo Center Philadelphia he set a new record. 337 wings. Wow!
  • Making the most of his eating fame, in 2013 he released his own range of hot dogs, known as “Kobi Dogs”.
  • In 2014 ate 113 hot dogs (without buns) in a bun-less hot dog eating contest.
  • Also in 2014 he won the Canadian pizza eating contest “LET ‘EM EAT”. The Nagano Monster (I just gave him this title, I think that he would like it) ate 62 slices of pizza, the equivalent of 15.5 pizzas, in 12 minutes.

• Miki Sudo – The current Queen of competitive hot dog eating. Miki Sudo took the Nathan’s Famous pink belt from Sonya Thomas in 2014 and hasn’t handed it to anyone since. 5 consecutive titles and counting.
  • Beat Sonya Thomas in the 2014 Nathan’s Famous competition, consuming 34 hot dogs against 27.75 for Thomas. Imagine being the judge and measuring that 0.75, do they use a ruler?
  • In 2013 ate 8.5 lbs of Kimchi in 6 minutes at the Chicago Korean Festival.
  • In 2013 ate 7.5 lbs of San Joaquin Valley deep-fried asparagus in 10 minutes.
  • In 2017 ate 16.5 Pints of vanilla ice cream at the Indiana State Fair.
  • Also eats: Tater tots, oysters, turducken.

• Sonya Thomas – The first women’s title holder of the Nathan’s Famous competition. She completed a Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls style three-peat, winning the Nathan’s competition in 2011, 2012 and 2013. It was in 2014 when the reign of Miki Sudo would sweep through Coney Island and then run of Sonya Thomas would come to an end.
  • As well as being the first women’s division champion in 2011 there was an event that many consider an even more impressive achievement, she was second overall in the 2005 competition with an amazing 37 hot dogs. In 3rd place that year was a growing Joey Chestnut, the world would be his oyster in only a short 2 years.
  • Consumed 41 hot dogs in the Nathan’s Famous 2009 competition. Although this was only 6th place overall, 41 hot dogs for a female was not matched until 2017.
  • In 2003 ate 7 3/4 pounds of Turducken in 12 minutes.
  • In 2005 ate 8.31 lbs of Armour Vienna Sausage in 10 minutes at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Charlotte.
  • In 2006 at the Plaza Hotel Casino ate the 9 pound Big Daddy Burger in 27 minutes.

Have you noticed that in general these people aren’t overweight? A big appetite will only get you so far in this secret market. It is very easy to imagine that the competitive eating world would be filled with grossly obese people, however this isn’t the case at all. Reaching the top of the world stage takes dedication, training and discipline.

Competitive Eating: How Much Money?

You aren’t exactly going to be come rich from the prize money in competitive eating. Most do it for the glory, purely just bragging rights and a bit of fun.

The Nathan’s Famous hot dog contest, the most famous event on the competitive eating scene shows true gender equality, with equal prize money for both the men’s and women’s competitions.

• 1st place: $10,000
• 2nd place: $5,000
• 3rd place: $2,500
• 4th place: $1,500
• 5th place: $1,000
• Total prize pool = $20,000 x 2 = $40,000.

There are dozens of other events that run throughout the United States every year. Prize money for most events is in the range of $500-$2000. Other than the Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest, two others that offered big money for Takeru Kobayashi were the 2012 Crif Dog Classic and Wing Bowl 20. He took home $15,000 and $20,000 from these events.

Competitive eating website eatfeats.com tracks prize money for each competition and competitor. Their reported lifetime prize money totals as of mid-2018 are as follows for the major leaders of the pack:

• Joey Chestnut: $611,800
  • Data dating back to 2005, ere his first win was a lobster eating contest for $500
• Takeru Kobayashi: $218,500
  • Data dating back to 2001. There is no mention of the prize money attached to his 2001 Nathan’s Famous win.
  • It is important to remember that Kobayashi had long-running legal disputes with MLA, so was ineligible to enter several competitions.
• Carmen Cincotti: $49,150
• Eric Booker: $40,966*
  • *Data dating back to 1997, however many entries have unknown prize money amounts
• Sonya Thomas: $229,431
  • Data dating back to 2003 with a prize of $300 in the U.S Buffalo Wing Eating Championship, held in Buffalo, New York.
• Miki Sudo: $130,511
  • Data dating back to 2011 with a $1987 prize in a Pho (noodle soup) eating contest named the Phozilla Challenge, held in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Sponsorship money and appearance fees are the other obvious revenue streams for those at the very top of the game. MLE (Major League Eating) also sign contracts with many of the key figures.

As an example of the external partnerships that can be formed, Takeru Kobayashi has made a wide variety of media appearances. He has appeared in commercials for companies including Hewlett Packard, ESPN, MasterCard, Coors Light and the Western Canada Lottery Corporation. Other television appearances include on a celebrity edition of Fear Factor, Late Night with Jimmy Falon and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Joey Chestnut has also launched a condiment line, labelled Joey Chestnut Select. The line of condiments includes Boardwalk Coney Sauce, Chestnut’s Firecracker Mustard and Deli-Style Mustard.

For at least Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi, the money from their sponsorship and 3rd party deals is expected to far outweigh their prize money.

Competitive Eating: A Final Bite

The world of competitive eating is a real mystery, often viewed as humorous to those of us on the outside. But inside we find real people, real history, real world records, real competition and real money.

Personally, I prefer to stop eating before I feel like throwing up, but to each their own.

Everyone’s gotta earn a crust.

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