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Competitive eater Joey Chesnut eats up the chance for some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby ahead of the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest on Sunday, which Chesnut has won 16 times.
Q: What is so great about a Nathan’s hot dog?
A: Oh my gosh, it’s a 100-year-old recipe — more than that now — it’s good from the start. There’s no reason to change something that isn’t broken. It really is a unique taste, an all-beef hot dog, natural tasting … it’s simple, but it’s delicious.
Q: How would you describe your mentality on game day?
A: I’m hungry. That’s all it is. I’m staying hungry no matter what. I’m expecting to eat uncomfortable and bloated and I’m ignoring whatever feelings it takes to get there.
Q: Right before the first at bite, what is going through your gut?
A: I think the hardest part of the contest is the first one. Stay calm, don’t try to swallow the hot dogs whole. My first instinct is to try to swallow whole, which is not a good thing, your muscles are not stretched out yet, I don’t want to cough, right? Stay calm, take a normal bite and work into the rhythm, which is hard. Sometimes I over-attack the food, my muscles aren’t ready to work for me right away. Stay calm, and don’t shove too much in at once.
Q: Who is your biggest threat?
A: My biggest threat is myself if I get in my own head, if I let something bother me, that’s when I can make mistakes. … There’s a guy from Montreal [James Webb], I think he is amazing, he’s young, he’s fit. This guy likes to work out so he’s gonna be pushing himself really hard. If I let myself mess up, he’s the only one that could really catch me.
Q: Do you feel any pressure?
A: I wouldn’t say pressure, it’s more of support. Every once in a while you get a little bit of pressure from people who are betting. Like, “Oh, you need to get this Over.” I’m like, “Oh my god, the Over’s really high this year (laugh).”
Q: What is the Over?
A: I think some people are putting the Over at 74, or 72. That’s high. Even though the record’s 76, it’s gonna be hard for me to push myself. I know like minute six if I have a chance at the record. I have a tendency to get lazy if I don’t think I can get the record. I would love to get the Over. I’m gonna really try hard.
Q: Which one has been your sweetest victory?
A: The first one was really, really amazing. Beating [Takeru] Kobayashi for the first time was awesome. I go back three years ago, I had a broken leg, I had a cast on, and like 2 ¹/₂ weeks before my mom passed away, and less than a week later my dog died. And during the contest there was like a protestor who got in front of me — everything was going wrong that year. It was like **** the ***** worst year, I was still able to get it done.
Q: After the competition, do you actually have dinner that night?
A: No, no, usually I’m in bed. Sometimes I’m going for a walk if I get up from sleeping. If I can, maybe some yogurt, maybe a little salad. I don’t really have much until the next day. Even if I’m not hungry, I’m trying to eat salad, just trying to keep things moving.
Q: How about the sickest you ever got?
A: Oh my god, there’s been a couple of times. When I talk about heat, it’s because of those hot days. If I’m devastated before the contest, I can tell like right after if the food’s not settling and if my body’s gonna reject it. The only way you get better is by getting your body to accept it. That’s something I don’t necessarily practice for is to be dehydrated. I want to say 2006 was probably my worst time getting sick. But it’s been a while.
Q: What would you say about the New York sports crowd at Coney Island and you being a fan favorite?
A: The audience at Coney Island, you feel like you’re at the center of the world. It really feels amazing. There’s energy, electricity like no other place.
Q: What is your mindset the night before the competition?
A: Stay calm. I usually watch some old practices, almost kind of simulated contests just swallowing air, go through the motions. Usually I’m in bed before 9 p.m., wake up about 5 a.m. and start doing stretches and yoga and burping exercises to get my stomach loose and stretched after sleeping.
Q: What do you mean by swallowing air?
A: I do burping exercises where I swallow air and burp it up just to get those muscles used to being stretched.
Q: You drink a concoction of liquids the night before?
A: There’s aloe vera juice and things to make sure that I’m hydrated, and also empty, I’m finishing up my cleanse.
Q: I read that you drink milk to stretch out your stomach.
A: I do drink milk like a big baby. I’m a believer that if your body can digest milk, it’s great for you. Every now and then I’ll drink half a gallon of milk in the morning with some water. That’s a nice healthy stretch.
Q: What is the last food you eat the night before?
A: The day before I usually have to eat a hot dog at the weigh-in. Before that, I usually have some eggs for breakfast. Maybe a little bit of protein, like protein shake that day. I go in really, really empty the day of the contest.
Q: Why eat one hot dog at the weigh in?
A: [Co-founder of Major League Eating] George Shea likes to make the eaters do a faceoff and eat one hot dog (laugh). He’s kind of the boss, and I kind of do what I’m told.
Q: What’s the purpose of the weigh-in?
A: Competitive eaters, we’re sizing each other up.
Q: When you say sizing each other up, what do you mean?
A: We’re friends, but we also talk trash … we’re posturing (laugh). I like the weigh-in because it’s my last chance to really get in the other eater’s heads a little bit.
Q: What makes you so good about psyching the other opponents out?
A: I don’t know … I convince myself that there’s only one outcome this contest. Once I think they can see that I’m convinced, and the audience is convinced, it’s really hard for them to overcome. If I convince myself, then everybody else falls in line.
Q: What are the strengths of your game?
A: I love to eat. I’m a natural eater. It’s one of the hardest things for me to control. I need to make sure that I control my eating so that I’m not heavy. I’m competitive, that’s another strength. I’m really good at problem solving. Where a lot of athletes, they have coaches, competitive eaters don’t have coaches. It’s all kind of self-taught. I had to figure things out trial and error. It’s been a really good combination being able to push myself.
Q: Any area you need to improve that you consider a weakness?
A: I wish I liked to work out (laugh). My cardiovascular, I’ve noticed it more and more as I’m getting older, where I’m slowing down not because I’m full, it’s because I haven’t been hitting the gym like I should. If I’m running more, if I’m cycling more, if I’m lifting weights more, I can push my body harder. I’m so jealous of people that love to get up early and work every day. That’s life. Some people don’t like the feeling of being bloated after eating, and I don’t mind that. I hate running, even though I have great respect for it.
Q: Do you like it hot on July Fourth?
A: No, I don’t like it hot, Jesus! Oh my god, I’m nervous, I’ve been seeing the weather you guys are having over there, and I’m like, “Dang it.” The last time I made a record it was 75 degrees, and it was like a perfect day. When it’s warmer, my body just runs out of steam towards the end. I’m really hoping a cold front comes in. And you know whatever happens, I’m gonna eat like a beast.
Q: When do you get to New York?
A: I get in [July 1].
Q: Who are you coming in with?
A: My fiancée, two sisters are coming out, one of my buddies.
Q: Does your fiancée, Brie, cook for you?
A: Of course (laugh). She loves to cook, and she’s great. I’m super, super lucky. It worked out perfect.
Q: How did you meet her?
A: I was at a bar drinking in San Francisco and this guy sees me from outside as he’s walking by, and he comes in and starts talking to me. And we were talking for like 20 minutes and then all of a sudden the girl and a dog come in — “Hey, you left me outside.” So I was like, “You left her outside?” The guy was an idiot. So then I went out and took a picture with her, and met the dog, Zeus, and a year later we matched on Tinder.
Q: How does she feel about your career?
A: She knows I love it a lot (laugh). She knows it’s me. When I’m in training, we do all these little low-carb meals. … She has all these homemade salad dressings. She’s awesome. She works with my crazy diet so that I can keep doing it.
Q: Any marriage plans?
A: It’ll happen. We’re both in our 40s. No children, we just got dogs, and a garden. Eventually just get a little courthouse wedding and have a party maybe.
Q: Did you watch the event last year, when you were banned because of a sponsorship conflict?
A: Yeah, I watched it. I told people I didn’t, but I watched it (laugh). It was hard, but it was good practice ’cause I know one of these days I’m gonna be either older or somebody’s gonna be beating me, and I’m gonna have to retire. It was good practice for when that day comes. It made me appreciate that … if I can do it, I want to be there.
Q: As you’ve gotten older, have you made any changes to your training?
A: Definitely, I train a little bit less. It takes me a little more time to get back to my normal weight. When I was younger, I could just be a beast, like practicing every third day. Now it’s like every five or six days, maybe even a week between them. It takes a little more time to recover. You gotta find a way to do it. There’s no other option.
Q: Do you eat hot dogs when you’re not competing?
A: Yeah! Baseball games, and at home. If I’m going on my diet, I actually have a lot of willpower not to get a hot dog
five minutes at the Pop Goes the Fort eating
contest on Fort Bliss, Texas on July 4, 2024. Justin Hamel for the NY Post
Q: Do you put mustard, relish or ketchup on your hot dog?
A: Always mustard. I definitely put raw onions on. Baseball games, I usually want to get mustard. At home, I put everything on it.
Q: Growing up, did your parents put hot dogs on the grill?
A: My dad was big on hot dogs. He called them tube steaks (laugh).
Q: What is the biggest adversity you had to overcome?
A: I remember when I had that broken leg. There were infections, it healed crooked, now it’s about a half an inch shorter than the other leg, but I’m finally walking without pain.
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: My mom; Babe Ruth — hot dogs, he had a good time; Winston Churchill.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: “Inglorious Basterds.”
Q: Favorite actor?
A: Leonardo DiCaprio.
Q: Favorite actress?
A: Nicole Kidman.
Q: Favorite singer/entertainer?
A: One of my biggest regrets, had a chance to go see Tom Petty live, and I had to go to a burrito contest that day.
Q: Favorite meal?
A: I get cravings — some days it’s prime rib, if I’m at a baseball game, I love hot dogs. I get a lot of cravings for tacos.
Q: Do you have a favorite team to watch?
A: I live in [Westfield] Indiana, so I go to this minor league team in Indianapolis, and this year I went to Opening Day in Cincinnati.
The 40/40 Club in partnership with Fanatics
Sportsbook at the center of Fanatics Fest NYC at Javits Center
on June 20, 2025. Getty Images for Fanatics
Q: Are you recognized by the hot dog vendors?
A: I’m sure they do, but the baseball fans recognize me like crazy. Throughout the game, I’m eating hot dogs and chugging beers with baseball fans, which is not a bad deal.
Q: What’s your second-favorite competition?
A: I haven’t done a rib contest in a while. I’m craving a rib contest. A good rib contest, where they’re cooked right, I have a really great technique. I lost this one recently, last couple of years in Buffalo, there’s wing fest, I really love that contest. Buffalo’s a great city. Hopefully, this year I can go to that contest and get the win. That city is an amazing city. It’s one of the most underrated cities. It’s open till 4 a.m., all the bars have great food. I overdo it a little bit.
Q: Boyhood idol?
A: Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, the Bash Brothers.
Q: You didn’t play baseball, did you?
A: Just Little League. My dad made me try the marching band in high school.
against the Fever game on June 3, 2025 at
Gainbridge Fieldhouse. NBAE via Getty Images
Q: What did you play?
A: Trumpet.
Q: Boyhood dream?
A: I remember I was playing with a fire engine, and my mom asked me if I want to be a firefighter when I grew up. I was like, “No, I want to be the dog on the back of the fire engine (laugh).”
Q: What drives you?
A: I think I have perspective. I know how lucky I am. I used to have a normal job in construction management, and now I get to travel, eat, make other people happy, meet people. It’s a really good gig, and as long as I’m healthy and having fun, I’m gonna keep doing it.
Q: How long do you want to do this?
A: I think Tom Brady won his last Super Bowl when he was [43], right? Getting older and pushing your body it gets harder, but it’s really satisfying if you can still do it.
Q: Goals?
A: Stay healthy and treat people the way I want to be treated.
Q: What are you most proud of about your career?
A: Really that first victory. People said it couldn’t be done.
Q: Why did they think it couldn’t be done?
A: Kobayashi had such a lock. He had everybody convinced that he was special. I refused to believe it. That’s why it’s so important for me to convince myself and convince the other people. Once everybody’s convinced, it’s hard for the other eaters to convince themselves.
Q: Broadway Joe Namath guaranteed a Super Bowl. Will you guarantee a victory on July Fourth?
A: I can’t guarantee it, but I can guarantee it’s gonna be really, really hard for somebody to beat me. If somebody beats me, they will have had to earn it. I can guarantee if my body works for me even 80 percent, I’m gonna blow everybody away.
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