Joey Chestnut

Joey Chestnut
Chestnut at Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in 2009
Born	Joseph Christian Chestnut (1983-11-25) November 25, 1983 (age 33) Vallejo, California, U.S.
Alma mater	San Jose State University
Occupation	Professional Competitive Eater with Major League Eating/ Construction Engineer

Joseph "Joey" Christian Chestnut (born November 25, 1983) is an American competitive eater. The 6.1-foot-tall (1.9 m), 230-pound (100 kg) competitive eater is currently ranked first in the world by the Major League Eating. He is a Vallejo, California native who currently resides in San Jose, California.

On July 4, 2007, Chestnut won the 92nd Annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, beating six-time defending champion Takeru "Tsunami" Kobayashi by consuming 66 hot dogs and buns (HDB) in 12 minutes, which set a new world record. The following year, he successfully defended his title by winning a 5 hot dog eat-off after tying Kobayashi in consuming 59 HDB in 10 minutes. On July 4, 2009, Chestnut outlasted Kobayashi again, by consuming a new world record of 68 HDB and winning his third consecutive title. On July 4, 2010, Chestnut took home his 4th consecutive Mustard Belt eating 54 HDB. The 2010 contest was a runaway victory, as Kobayashi did not compete due to a contract dispute with Major League Eating. On July 4, 2011, he won his fifth-consecutive championship with 62 HDB. 2012 marked his sixth consecutive win, when Chestnut tied his own world record from 2009 by devouring 68 HDB. In 2013, Chestnut captured his seventh straight title, eating a total of 69 HDB, breaking his previous world record. In 2014, Chestnut captured his eighth straight title eating a total of 61 HDB.

Chestnut proposed to his longtime girlfriend Neslie Ricasa just before defending his title in the 2014 Nathan's competition. The couple split up in early 2015, prior to their scheduled wedding date. Chestnut lost the 2015 Hot Dog eating contest to Matt Stonie. On July 4, 2016, Chestnut regained the championship belt from Stonie by eating 70 hot dogs; 3.5 hot dogs short of his record-setting qualifying round.

Chestnut, a San Jose State University student, entered the competitive eating scene in 2005 with a break-out performance in the deep-fried asparagus eating championship, in which he beat high-ranked eater Rich LeFevre by eating 6.3 pounds of asparagus in 11.5 minutes. That same year, during Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest, he downed 32 dogs, placing third behind Takeru Kobayashi and Sonya Thomas.