NEW YORK (AP) — Eleven-time champion Joey Chestnut says he expects this year’s Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest to be “a battle.”
But the 35-year-old Chestnut said Wednesday that he’ll “find a rhythm and do what it takes” to win the Fourth of July eat-off in Brooklyn’s beachside Coney Island neighborhood.
Chestnut joined other competitors at the Empire State Building for the weigh-in for Thursday’s contest.
Chestnut weighed in at 216.5 pounds (98 kilos), while defending women’s champion Miki Sudo weighed 114 pounds (52 kilos).
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Chestnut ate 74 wieners and buns to claim the 2018 title. Sudo ate 37 to triumph on the women’s side.
Thursday’s top five winners of each gender will split $40,000. The two first-place winners will each earn $10,000.