Joey Chestnut will relish this victory.
In the much-anticipated “Chestnut vs. Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef” special on Netflix on Monday, Chestnut beat long-time hot dog-eating rival Takeru Kobayashi with a record performance.
Chestnut gobbled up 83 hot dogs in 10 minutes, 17 more than Kobayashi in their first battle in 15 years.
Chestnut’s previous record was 76 hot dogs.
Kobayashi came out of retirement this year for one more showdown with Chestnut.
“I was trying to get 80 hot dogs for years, and without Kobayashi, I was never able to do it,” Chestnut said, per NBC. “He drives me. We weren’t always nice to each other, but I love the way we push each other to be our best.”
Kobayashi said earlier this year on a Netflix documentary that was concerned about the damage he had done to his body over his career while crushing an estimated 10,000 hot dogs, convincing him to retire.
In their last clash in 2009, Chestnut ate 68 hot dogs while Kobayashi settled for 64.5.
On July 4, 2009, when he and Chestnut last competed against each other, Chestnut devoured 68 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes, lapping up a victory over Kobayashi’s 64½ hot dogs and buns. Chestnut would go on to become the contest’s pre-eminent champion, while Kobayashi stopped competing in that event in 2010 because of a contract dispute.
Monday’s contest had rules prohibiting dunking the hot-dog buns in water or separating the dogs from the bread.
