This summer season, probably the most elite athletes of their subject will compete head-to-head, every vying for fame and fortune because the ESPN cameras seize adorned rivals doing what they do greatest. Should you assume we’re speaking in regards to the Summer time Olympics, get your head Stateside, as a result of we’re speaking in regards to the Nathan’s Well-known Fourth of July Worldwide Scorching Canine Consuming Contest, held yearly at Coney Island.

However this yr, the game’s largest identify and best champion gained’t be on that stage in any respect. Joey Chestnut has been barred from the competition in 2024, and he’s making lemonade out of lemons by as an alternative going head-to-head together with his most storied opponent, Takeru Kobayashi, in a very separate occasion.

Even informal observers of the annual Nathan’s Well-known contest in all probability find out about Joey Chestnut, the 40-year-old Indiana resident who often breaks his personal report for many sizzling canines and buns eaten in 10 minutes. Chestnut burst onto the Main League Consuming (MLE) scene in 2005 at a time when Japanese champion Takeru Kobayashi was each defining and popularizing the sector of aggressive consuming throughout the globe; certainly, lots of as we speak’s highest ranked eaters credit score Kobayashi as their inspiration. In 2006 Chestnut got here inside two sizzling canines of Kobayashi; in 2007 Kobayashi’s years-long successful streak ended when Chestnut consumed 66 sizzling canines to Kobayashi’s 63. (Chestnut’s present report is 76.)

After his 2007 defeat, Kobayashi got here simply shy of Chestnut in a number of subsequent Nathan’s contests however defeated him in different occasions, together with pizza and burgers. Nonetheless, he finally parted methods with the MLE, partly as a result of the group positioned heavy restrictions on which competitions he might enter, how a lot cash he might earn from them, and the ancillary sponsorships and endorsements he might signal on to. 

These restrictions additionally clarify why Joey Chestnut gained’t be allowed to defend his title on the Nathan’s contest in 2024: He’s being paid by a sponsor that MLE doesn’t approve, In a press release this previous week, MLE wrote, “For practically 20 years we now have labored underneath the identical fundamental sizzling canine exclusivity provisions. Nonetheless, it appears that evidently Joey and his managers have prioritized a brand new partnership with a special sizzling canine model over our long-time relationship.”

Oddly, that “completely different sizzling canine model” is Inconceivable Meals — an organization identified for its unique dedication to animal-free meat options. One might argue that this model shouldn’t be thought of a Nathan’s rival in any respect, since Inconceivable’s flagship product just isn’t sizzling canines (these had been solely launched to the lineup in 2024). The truth is, the Nathan’s Fourth of July contest is often picketed by protesters who argue that Nathan’s ought to present a vegetarian canine possibility for rivals, which it has so far didn’t do. In a submit on X, Chestnut notes that the MLE is “trying to change the principles from previous years because it pertains to different companions I can work with.”

What’s extra, Kobayashi revealed in a brand new documentary that he’s totally retiring from the aggressive consuming circuit as a result of he has misplaced the flexibility to really feel both starvation or fullness. “I don’t really feel that pleasure about consuming anymore,” he mentioned in Netflix’s Hack Your Well being: The Secrets and techniques of Your Intestine, launched in Might 2024.

With each champions going through their very own kind of sizzling canine misfortune, Netflix has brokered a deal that capitalizes on their legend: a one-on-one sizzling canine consuming competitors, airing reside on Netflix on Labor Day. Based on Selection, Chestnut vs. Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef will reveal its setting in a later announcement, however will certainly be making use of all-beef sizzling canines. 

“Retiring for me will solely occur after I take him down one final time,” mentioned Kobayashi in a press release launched by Netflix. “This rivalry has been brewing for a very long time. Competing in opposition to Joey reside on Netflix means followers all around the world can watch me knock him out.”

This Netflix particular invitations a number of questions. If it will get ok scores, will MLE backtrack and renegotiate the restrictions on its largest star? Or will different top-ranked rivals begin in search of their very own solo specials? And if Kobayashi doesn’t win, will he keep un-retired till he can knock Chestnut off the pedestal?