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.
Joey Chestnut Wins 2011 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest
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.
Tim “Eater X” Janus, who finished second to Chestnut in 2010, placed third with 43 hot dogs and buns consumed.
Chestnut earned $10,000 for his victory, and pulled within one win of Takeru Kobayashi’s records for all-time and consecutive Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest championships.
ESPN ran the results of a SportsNation poll during the contest: 81.3 percent of respondents asserted that competitive eating is not a sport. But on the Fourth of July, watching guys indulge in a bit of gustatory gluttony certainly feels American.
See More:
