Things have gone from bad to wurst for the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest.
A competitive eater who scarfed down dozens of dogs at the annual competition in New York City’s Coney Island earlier this month is now being eyed for his gameplay, with two sources alleging to the New York Post on Tuesday that he may have cheated to get ahead of a krauted pack.
Nick Wehry finished fourth in this year’s contest, with an impressive score of 51.75 listed on Major League Eating’s official ranking. But, according to the Post, which cited “footage and reports” from the day of competition, Wehry actually only swallowed 46.75 links.
From whence did these five mystery franks originate? According to the Post’s sources, Wehry may have performed a sticky-fingered maneuver after the 10-minute contest, lifting a plate from another competitor’s pile and shifting it over to his own. (The contest’s judges tally up empty plates to determine scores, with each plate equating to five hot dogs.)
“100% he cheated,” one of the sources said.
The alleged gambit did not change Wehry’s place in the rankings, but it did lift him above 50 dogs—a rare feat, even among the world’s best eaters.
“For someone to have on the record that they ate more than 50, makes you part of a very small elite club of competitive eaters,” another source told the Post.
Wehry fiercely denied the allegations in a text to the Post, saying he “stole nothing” during the contest.
“If MLE determines I was miscounted then fix my number. My placing did not change if this was the case. I would never want to take a placing or number I didn’t earn,” he wrote. “I would never cheat at a contest, regardless of why. People that know me know that.”
Video of the competition viewed by the Post appears to show Wehry loitering around the competition table after the clock hit zero, picking up and twirling a plate before putting it back down.
“I guess the video looks like I was mis-plated,” Wehry acknowledged to the Post. “Genuinely sorry if it was the case.”
Major League Eating said it launched an investigation after the cheating accusations came to light.
“MLE investigated, carefully considering the complaint and reviewing video provided to us,” it said. “Like many other professional sports leagues, it is our policy to not overturn judges’ decisions after the final results have been recorded.”
The league did not share further details. It was not immediately clear whether the inquiry had been closed, nor what its findings had been.
Wehry, one half of the so-called “Hungry Couple,” is married to fellow competitive eater Miki Sudo, a 10-time champion who downed 51 dogs this year to win the women’s division once again.
Sudo told the Post in a brief phone conversation that she’d been watching her husband “the entire time” and that there was “no way the judges got it wrong.”
The men’s contest was won by Patrick “Deep Dish” Bertoletti, who swallowed 58 franks to clinch this year’s Mustard Belt.
“With Joey not here, I knew I had a shot,” he told the Associated Press. “I was able to unlock something that I don’t know where it came from.”
The Chicagoan was referring to Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, the legendary eater who planned to burnish his record—16 out of the last 17 Nathan’s contests—once more this summer until his plans were derailed by a dispute over sponsorships.
Chestnut, who said he was “gutted” to learn that Major League Eating had banned him from the contest, instead went south this Fourth of July to a U.S. Army base in El Paso, Texas, where he bolted a stunning 57 hot dogs in five minutes.
With his hunger apparently not yet sated, the Jaws has hardly taken a break in the days since, and chowed down on 200 boneless Buffalo Wild Wings in 38 minutes on Monday.
