Joey ‘Jaws’ Chestnut hopes for a comeback victory in annual Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest

NEW YORK AP The Nathan s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest is back and famed competitive eater Joey Jaws Chestnut is hoping for a comeback th win on Friday The -year-old from Westfield Indiana was not in last year s event due to a contract dispute involving a deal he struck with a competing brand the plant-based meat company Impossible Foods But now he s back saying things have been ironed out Patrick Bertoletti of Chicago won the title in Chestnut s absence and is the defending men s champion Defending champion Miki Sudo of Tampa Florida won the women s competition and her th title on Friday downing dogs and buns Last year she consumed a record dogs I feel like I let the fans down a little bit I heard people in the crowd saying Go for Sudo communicated ESPN Obviously I m dependably setting my goals high but the hot dogs weren t cooperating For certain reason the buns felt larger in the current era The annual gastronomic battle which dates back to is held in front of the original Nathan s Famous restaurant at New York s Coney Island and draws large crowds of fans countless in foam hot dog hats Competitors in the men s and women s categories chow down as a multitude of hot dogs as manageable in minutes They are allowed to dunk the dogs in cups of water to soften them up creating a stomach-churning spectacle The men in the competition hail from across the U S and internationally including Australia Czech Republic Canada England and Brazil The women competitors are all Americans Chestnut set the world record of eating wieners and buns in minutes on July He has won a record Mustard Belts Instead of appearing in New York last year Chestnut ate dogs in only five minutes in an exhibition with soldiers in El Paso Texas Chestnut narrated The Associated Press last month that while he was happy to compete at that event he was really happy to be back at Coney Island Chestnut noted he had never appeared in any commercials for Impossible Foods vegan hot dogs and that Nathan s is the only hot dog company he has worked with But he acknowledged he should have made that more clear with Nathan s