Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest 2023 LIVE — Joey Chestnut wins for 16th time as Miki Sudo defends title after delay

Records broken, milestones reached

Top contenders have eaten 16 pounds of hot dogs, which is an incredible (and probably astonishing) performance.

This, according to different estimates, equates to about 20,000 calories ingested in just 10 minutes, BBC reports.

History of the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest,

Matz and his public relations colleague, Max Rosey, planned to sell the competition as a classic American narrative that dated back to the company's inception.

A Nathan's spokesperson told the New York Times in 2010 that the firm had no proof of the contest until Matz and Rosey got engaged in the early 1970s.

Despite its murky origins, the hot dog-eating competition has evolved to be larger than life.

History of the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, continued

According to the International Federation of Competitive Eating archives, Irish immigrant Jim Mullen won after eating 13 hot dogs. Thus was founded the yearly competition.

However, according to Nathan's Famous' website, the first known event took place more than 50 years later in 1972. But the site also tells the narrative of what it calls the "legend" of the contest's origins.

Mortimer Matz, a press agent, subsequently informed the New York Times in 2010 that the contest's founding narrative was a fabrication.

"In Coney Island pitchman style, we made it up," Matz said.

History of the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest

The tournament dubbed the "Olympics of competitive eating," draws fans from all around the country.

Each Independence Day, the competition takes place in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York City, near the site of the first Nathan's Famous hot dog stand.

Part of that relationship stems from the tale surrounding the contest's origins, which is still recounted even though it has been debunked.

According to legend, on July 4, 1916, the year Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs was born, four European immigrants were squabbling about who was more American.

They decided to resolve the dispute by holding a hot dog eating contest.