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Richard Shea joins The Sports Junkies to preview the 2026 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest.
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00:00Richard Shea, he's the co-founder and president of Major League Eating.
00:06Richard, thanks for joining us, man. We appreciate it.
00:09Hey, thanks for having me. It's a big weekend ahead for us.
00:12Oh, it's a massive weekend for you as you're preparing for the Nathan's Famous 4th of July
00:18International Hot Dog Eating Contest.
00:20It is quite a spectacle on ESPN. We've watched it over many, many years.
00:25Let's go back. How did ESPN get involved with competitive eating and airing the Nathan's Contest?
00:33How did that kind of germinate back in the day?
00:36Yeah, so my brother and I had been working on it as a labor of love.
00:39We do regular corporate PR back in the day, and we had Nathan's as a client.
00:43So we had this fun event every July 4th. We just kept leaning in because we enjoyed it.
00:48So that was probably late 90s, 97, 8, 9.
00:53And then it just kind of got bigger.
00:54I mean, our labor maybe paid off, and the eaters, we got more international eaters involved,
00:59and the attention went there, national attention, international attention.
01:03We got a call from ESPN, and they said, hey, we'd like to talk about possibly putting it on our
01:07air
01:07as part of a Great American Events series, and that was 2003.
01:12Was Kobayashi the first big star?
01:16Well, there was a guy named Nakajima before Kobayashi.
01:19So it was Ed Crotty, who was an American, Nakajima, who was Japanese,
01:24and then Kobayashi came in and dominated for six years.
01:28I feel like he was your first huge star.
01:31Yeah, he was definitely a huge star.
01:33So when he ate 50 hot dogs and buns, it really resonated with the world.
01:38And like the legend, there was a myth that he had two stomachs.
01:46That's right.
01:47Two stomachs, extra sharp teeth, all that stuff.
01:49Yeah, a lot of myths.
01:51Well, I mean, the latest legend, obviously, Joey Chestnut,
01:55who's won 17 Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest titles.
02:00Is that consecutive?
02:01And you know the belt he gets cakes, right?
02:02No, not consecutive, but world record 17 times.
02:04You know the belt he gets, right?
02:05He gets the mustard yellow belt.
02:06Of course he does.
02:08And he's the favorite again.
02:10How has he been so good for so long?
02:13And it's not only hot dog eating for Joey Chestnut.
02:17He holds 55 world records across 55 different disciplines,
02:21according to his Wikipedia.
02:23So he's just good at eating everything, not just Nathan's Famous Hot Dog.
02:27How does the guy do it physically?
02:28It's incredible.
02:29He's the most dominant eater.
02:30He focuses.
02:31He loses on occasion.
02:33But he's the most dominant eater we've ever seen.
02:36And when it comes to hot dogs, I mean, if you look at Kobayashi's 50,
02:39that was in 12 minutes.
02:40We actually repaired the contest to its original 10 minutes.
02:43And that year, Joey set a new world record of 66.
02:46He owns a world record of 76 in 10 minutes.
02:49And he always keeps saying he wants to break it.
02:52He's a machine.
02:53Like, how does he even have people that want to compete against him?
02:57Like, how does he even have any sort of competitors that come close?
03:01Like, he's so dominant.
03:03In hot dogs, the margin is like 10, 12, maybe 15.
03:07Meaning these guys cannot catch up.
03:09In other events, he might win by one or two units of food or half a pound of food.
03:14It's just his focus out there in Coney Island.
03:17You know, it's just a special place for him.
03:20Does he have...
03:21What does his endorsement portfolio look like?
03:24I mean, I'm sure there are definitely food items.
03:26Does he have any other products he endorses?
03:29Like, what sort of endorsement portfolio can you build as a competitive eater?
03:34Yeah, he does very well.
03:35Most of our competitors do have day jobs.
03:38You know, and they have them.
03:38They could be a doctor, lawyer, postman, whatever you might think.
03:41But Joey and Mickey, their sole profession pretty much is competitive eating.
03:46I know that this year, we're lucky to have Polymarket on board as the prediction market partner.
03:53And I know that Joey's dipping his beak there, I think.
03:55But, you know, he does things all across the world and all various brands, primarily food stuff, though.
04:01And you mentioned Mickey.
04:02Who is the all-time greatest female eater?
04:04And is she...
04:05I think last time she pummeled 33 hot dogs and buns?
04:09Yeah.
04:09Yeah, so she has a world record of 51.
04:11She actually fell off last year.
04:13And, in fact, if she does 33, she's exposed this Saturday.
04:17She's going to have to do more than that, or she might lose her belt.
04:20But she's won 11 belts.
04:22I think the most dominant eater she may be now, you know, Sonia Thomas from Alexandria, Virginia.
04:28Yeah, she was a dominant 16-time Nathan's appearances.
04:33And she won multiple, and she was a cross-discipline athlete.
04:37And Sonia, I think, would still hold that mantle as the most dominant eater because of the exposure and the
04:42time during which she was competing.
04:44We're joined by Richard Shea, he's the co-founder and president of Major League Eating.
04:49Of course, you have the Nathan's Famous 4th of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest on ESPN on July 4th.
04:58Another cool thing that's linked to...
05:00See what I did there?
05:02I didn't even mean to do that.
05:03Links for hot dogs.
05:04You're donating 100,000 Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs to the food bank for New York City prior to the event.
05:10So you have a charity component tied in as well.
05:13Yeah, thanks for mentioning that.
05:14In fact, I just sent a crew out to Brooklyn for a ceremony this morning.
05:19Each year, Nathan's donated 100,000 hot dogs to the food bank.
05:23You know, we're super lucky, obviously.
05:25Gas is $4 or $5 a gallon, and they still race NASCAR.
05:28You just have to be cognizant of how lucky we are to be able to do this when there's so
05:31much hunger in the world and in the country.
05:34Hey, Richard, when did the hot dog buns get introduced as you have to eat the bun along with the
05:40hot dog?
05:41Like, isn't that relatively new, or am I missing something?
05:45That's been there since day one?
05:47That's from day one, and the history goes back to 1916.
05:51There were four immigrants hanging around Coney Island, and Nathan Handwerk were at a hot dog stand,
05:55and they were arguing who was the most patriotic.
05:57And he said, whoever eats the most of my hot dogs, and this guy ate 13 in 10 minutes, Jim
06:02Mullen, an Irish immigrant.
06:03But it's always been the bun-dog combo.
06:06Kobayashi was separating dog from bun.
06:10Nakajima before him would crack dog and bun in half.
06:13You'll see Joey do two dogs and two buns, meaning two buns in one hand, two dogs in another, and
06:19dunk the buns.
06:20But basically, you have to eat both dog and bun.
06:23So if you eat an eighth of a hot dog and not the corresponding eighth of bun, that wouldn't count.
06:27Oh, I didn't realize there were so many rules.
06:30Yeah.
06:31Well, you're talking to somebody who, based on your contest on this radio show years ago, did 15 hot dogs
06:39on a bet,
06:39and he then had to quit eating hot dogs for a couple of years.
06:44Well, first of all, I did 15 hot dogs.
06:46I barely got it in in the 15 minutes without buns.
06:49But you won like two grand.
06:51No, I didn't win that much.
06:52I think it was $600.
06:52I was unpaid for that.
06:53And I've never felt worse for the three days following.
06:57It felt terrible.
06:58Does Joey Chestnut, after he downed 70 dogs, does he ever show any ill effects of it that day or
07:06a few days later?
07:07He's just built for this.
07:08He's built different.
07:09Well, he's sort of built for it.
07:10And he'll go out to the nighttime party with the other eaters.
07:13You can see the stress on his face after that one, though.
07:17And if you watch that ESPN broadcast afterwards, he hangs on the stage and does like 45 minutes of interviews.
07:23But, you know, the other thing is we've been – it's typically more hot than not out there.
07:28So this year is a classic year.
07:29We're going to be in the 90s, which is just another sort of like ding on these guys.
07:34So it'll be interesting to see if Joey – he wants to break his 76 record.
07:37But when you get to that temperature level, you know, I wonder, does your body say, I'm up by 10?
07:42Why don't I just coast?
07:43We'll see.
07:43Richard, how are these competitive eaters so skinny?
07:48You know, it's funny.
07:49That was a shift.
07:50I remember even like doing a call, like an ESPN call probably 2008, and I noticed that there was a
07:57–
07:57I built a stat that the average weight of the competitor had dropped by like 30%, 40%.
08:03So as we became more of a recognized sport, more traditional athletes sort of started coming onto the circuit.
08:10And, you know, these guys now, you'll see Nick Wehry, James Webb.
08:14They're all super fit.
08:16And there was a theory that if you have a fat stomach, that actually inhibits your stomach from expanding.
08:21I mean, the fat pushes against your belly and you can't compete.
08:24Maybe that theory has been borne out.
08:26Hey, Richard, how many people do you pack into Coney Island for this event?
08:30Because I watch it on ESPN, it looks like – I mean, it looks like 25,000 or 30,000
08:35people.
08:35Maybe I'm underestimating how big the crowds are.
08:38That's the number I would typically say.
08:40We don't have a gate, so it's not ticketed.
08:43That's what the sort of local authorities, the 60th precinct, always puts it around 25, 30.
08:48So when it's a sunny day and people are going to the beach, it's a good combo out there in
08:52Coney Island.
08:52But I think this year, if weather holds with the 250th and New York is kind of packed, we should
08:59hit some record numbers.
09:00Very nice.
09:01So the women's competition starts at 11 a.m.
09:04The men's competition starts at 12.30 p.m.
09:08So competitive eating.
09:09It is back and on center stage this weekend in Coney Island.
09:14Thanks for the time, man.
09:15We really appreciate it.
09:16Hey, guys.
09:17I really appreciate it.
09:17Have a lovely holiday.
09:18Thanks, man.
09:19You too.
09:19That's Richard Shays, the co-founder and president of Major League Eating.
09:23You've got the hot dog eating contest on July 4th, an American tradition.
09:28Jason, I think you're going to remember via the nickname.
09:31He mentioned Sonia Thomas.
09:32She was known as the Black Widow.
09:34Yeah, I do remember that.
09:35And the Black Widow used to actually take on Joey Chestnut.
09:39And I'm reading here, once in a wing eating contest, she ate 183 chicken wings in 12 minutes.
09:46Wow.
09:46Joey Chestnut ate 191.
09:49I had seven wings last night, and I was full.
09:52Well, you're no Jason Chestnut, because Joey Chestnut is the 17-time Nathan's Hot Dog Eating
10:00Contest champ.
10:01He's the nine-time world rib-eating champion, and he's the six-time U.S. chicken wing-eating
10:08champion as well.
10:09But I do see that...
10:09He's got a lot of pelts on the wall.
10:11I do see that the Black Widow did beat Joey Chestnut head-to-head.
10:15Now, this is years ago, in a turkey-eating contest where she put away 10 pounds and three
10:23ounces.
10:24Is that just, like, carved for, like, lunch meat turkey?
10:28Turkey.
10:28I mean, like...
10:30I think so.
10:31She's from here.
10:32Yeah.
10:33That's from Alexandria.
10:33I think she owned a Burger King?
10:36I mean, it sounds very on-brand.
10:39Yeah.
10:40I mean, it's crazy the amount of contests they have.
10:42Like, you can see their stats.
10:43It's how many waffles they ate in the waffle contest or a chicken wing contest.
10:49It's...
10:49Look, I guess you call them athletes because he can do something nobody else can do.
10:55He definitely has a skill.
10:56Well, the Black Widow, according to Wikipedia, trained by walking on an incline treadmill for
11:02two hours five times a week.
11:05That's a lot.
11:05That's a lot of cardio.
11:06I was walking on a treadmill for 30 minutes, 32 minutes yesterday, and I couldn't wait
11:10to finish.
11:11I couldn't wait to get off of it.
11:13So, it's Saturday, 11 a.m. for the women, 12.30 for Joey.
11:1912.30 for the guys.
11:20Yeah.
11:20Yeah.
11:20So, be sure to...
11:21I'm sure you're going to check it out.
11:23Oh, yeah.
11:24Surrounding my weekend.
11:25I do have a curiosity for it, but it is gross.
11:31I mean, yeah, it's...
11:33I'm curious...
11:33Hot dog and bun all over the place, all over their faces.
11:35I'm curious to see how many they eat at the end.
11:38I just don't want to watch it.
11:39Yeah.
11:40Well, Joey, you can chalk up Joey Chestnut for 70.
11:44Yeah.
11:44He's a big winner.
11:4570 plus.
11:45We should get Valdez to enter a crab cake eating contest.
11:48Well, he'd do well.
11:49Or a crab cracking contest.
11:52I can sit and do crabs for a long time.
11:54That is true.
11:55Crab cakes to Black Widow put away 46 three-ounce crab cakes in 10 minutes.
12:00Valdez?
12:01That's a lot.
12:02Can you challenge that?
12:02Three ounces?
12:04Nubs.
12:04Nubs.
12:05But 46 of them.
12:06Yeah, I bet they lined up 46.
12:08You wouldn't call it Nubs.
12:09You'd say, how am I going to eat all these?
12:11Maybe if it was all back then.
12:13Yeah.
12:15That has to be the case.
12:16All right.
12:16Coming up later in the show in the 8 o'clock hour, we'll be joined by one of the newest
12:20Washington Capitals, Alex Tuck.
12:22He'll join us coming up at 845 here on The Junks.
12:25I'll see you next time.
12:25Keep it up.
12:25All right.
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