Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest

Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest
Nathan's Wall of Fame of contest winners, 2006.
Status	Active
Genre	Hot dog competitive eating competition
Date(s)	July 4th
Frequency	Annually
Venue	Nathan's Famous Corporation
Location(s)	Brooklyn, New York City
Country	United States
Inaugurated	July 4, 1916 (1916-07-04)

The Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest is an annual American hot dog competitive eating competition. It is held each year on Independence Day at Nathan's Famous Corporation's original, and best-known restaurant at the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues in Coney Island, a neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City.

The contest has gained public attention in recent years due to the stardom of Takeru Kobayashi and Joey Chestnut. The current champion is Joey Chestnut, at 70 hotdogs in the 2016 championship. He beat out 2015 champ Matt Stonie.

Major League Eating (MLE), formerly known as the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE), has sanctioned the event since 1997. Today, only entrants currently under contract by the MLE can compete in the contest.

The field of about 20 contestants typically includes the following:

The competitors stand on a raised platform behind a long table with drinks and Nathan's Famous hot dogs in buns. Most contestants have water on hand, but other kinds of drinks can and have been used. Condiments are allowed, but are usually not used. The hot dogs are allowed to cool slightly after grilling to prevent possible mouth burns. The contestant that consumes (and keeps down) the most hot dogs and buns (HDB) in ten minutes is declared the winner. The length of the contest has changed over the years, previously 12 minutes, and in some years, only three and a half minutes; since 2008, 10 minutes.

Spectators watch and cheer the eaters on from close proximity. A designated scorekeeper is paired with each contestant, flipping a number board counting each hot dog consumed. Partially eaten hot dogs count and the granularity of measurement is eighths of a length. Hot dogs still in the mouth at the end of regulation count if they are subsequently swallowed. Yellow penalty cards can be issued for "messy eating," and red penalty cards can be issued for "reversal of fortune", which results in disqualification. If there's a tie the contestants go to a 5-hot-dog eat-off to see who can eat that many quickly. Further ties will result in a sudden-death eat-off of eating 1 more hot dog the fastest.