2011 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest: Joey Chestnut, Sonya Thomas Prevail

Joey Chestnut engulfed 62 hot dogs and buns to win the 2011 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest on Monday. It was a huge coup for Nathans and the Major League Eating folks. And for Joey Chestnut as well.

Chestnut earned $10,000 for winning the contest, which comes out to $161.29 per hot dog.

Did you happen to have something better to do today than watching people shove steamed hot dogs and water-logged buns down their throat? Luckily for you, we have the video evidence to document just what you missed when Joey Chestnut won his fifth straight July Fourth hot dog-eating contest on New York’s Coney Island by consuming 62 wieners in 10 minutes.

The 62 wieners fell short of his own record, but were still nine dogs more than second-place finisher Pat Bertoletti. In 2009, Chestnut scarfed down 68 wieners.

Joey Chestnut polished off 62 hot dogs and buns to win the 2011 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, but may not have pulled off the greatest competitive eating feat of the day. According to the Wall Street Journal live blog of both competitions, Takeru Kobayashi may have topped both Chestnut’s feat on this Fourth of July and his all-time hot dog eating record.

But wait - in Manhattan, Kobayashi has eaten 69 hot dogs in ten minutes, tying the world record. Strike that - BREAKING the world record.Kobayashi was competing in a sort of self-imposed exile this year. He missed the 2010 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest after a contract dispute with Major League Eating, which runs the contest, then was jailed after a bizarre appearance at the contest itself.

The 2011 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest ended the way the last four years of the contest have: Joey Chestnut won, and a lot of viewers were suddenly not so interested in having hot dogs at their Fourth of July cookouts. Chestnut ate 62 hot dogs and buns, failing to break his own record of 68 hot dogs and buns, set in 2009.

Chestnut beat second place finisher Pat “Deep Dish” Bertoletti — introduced as “American by birth, Italian by name, and Irish by the grace of God” — by seven hot dogs and buns. Bertoletti briefly led Chestnut in the third minute of the contest, but was outpaced late by the man who has dominated this contest in recent years.

The first annual Women’s Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest has come and gone, and Sonya Thomas is the first ever Women’s Hot Dog Eating Champion. Thomas came in as the women’s record holder, having eaten 41 hot dogs and buns in 2009, and nearly matched that number, finishing with 40 hot dogs and buns eaten in the 10-minute competition.

Thomas had a chance at the record, as she moved into the final few minutes of the competition with about 35 hot dogs and buns already consumed. But her pace slowed in the closing moments of the contest.

Interested in celebrating the Fourth of July by paying homage to America’s world-beating skills in the arena of gluttony? The 2011 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest will be broadcast live on ESPN at noon, giving viewers a chance to catch Joey Chestnut trying to defend his title and run his streak of consecutive victories to five, one shy of Takeru Kobayashi’s record six straight wins.

Chestnut emerged with a nine-dog victory over Tim Janus, also known as Eater X, in 2010. Kobayashi, who did not sign a contract with Major League Eating, attended but did not compete in the contest, later being involved in a scuffle with police and jailed. Kobayashi will once again not be part of the Major League Eating-affilated Nathan’s contest, instead choosing to have a parallel contest from the rooftop of a Manhattan bar, according to Deadspin.