Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi settled their rivalry once and for all.
The hot dog eating champions faced off in the live Netflix contest “Unfinished Beef,” co-hosted by Rob Riggle and Nikki Garcia on Labor Day, Sept. 2.
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This marked the competitive eaters' first hot dog face-off in 15 years. Chestnut, 40, and Kobayashi, 46, have faced off multiple times at Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest.
They competed to see who could eat the most hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes. The winner took home $100,000 and was crowned the champion.
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Chestnut holds the world record for eating 76 hot dogs in 10 minutes, while Kobayashi's personal best is 64.5 in 2009.
Before going up against each other, competitive eater Matt Stonie went up against Olympians Ryan Murphy, Max Irving, and Ryan Lochte in a chicken wing eating showdown.
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After three minutes, Stonie took home the win 53 wings to the three Olympians 36 wings.
Their contest was followed up by 24-time Guinness World Record holder Leah Shutkever trying to set the record for most watermelon eaten in one minute. She set another record by eating 2,400 grams of watermelon in under three minutes.
'Chestnut vs. Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef' who won?
It all came down to the final event: Chestnut versus Kobayashi.
At the two-minute mark, Chestnut had taken down 25 hot dogs, which at three-minutes Kobayashi was at 31. At the five-minute mark, Chestnut was at 51 to Kobayashi's 45.
After an intense contest, Chestnut was crowned the winner.
2001 was Kobayashi’s first year competing in an eating contest.
Chestnut's first contest was 2005, with Kobayashi coming in first place. In 2007, Chestnut beat Kobayashi for the first time — and the rivalry continued.
Chestnut is a 16-time Nathan’s hot dog eating champion, while Kobayashi is a six-time winner. However, it should be noted that in 2020 Kobayashi was banned from Nathan's contest because of a contract dispute.
Earlier this year, Chestnut claimed he was banned from the competition after signing an endorsement deal. While the Major League Eating (MLE) told TODAY.com there was no ban, Chestnut did not participate in the 2024 annual Fourth of July contest.
“There is no ban,” Richard Shea, MLE co-founder, told TODAY.com of Chestnut. “Major League Eating wants him there. The fans want him there. Nathan’s wants him there.”
How many hot dogs did Chestnut and Kobayashi eat?
Chestnut, the crowned champion, broke his own record and took down 83 hot dogs in a 10 minute span.
Kobayashi also broke his own personal best with 66 hot dogs.
Following the contest, Chestnut said that he had always wanted to eat 80 hot dogs and couldn't have done it without Kobayashi.
“This is amazing. I’ve been trying to hit 80 hot dogs for years, and without Kobayashi, I was never able to do it,” he said. “He drives me. We weren’t always nice to each other, but I love (that) we push each other to be our best.”
Kobayashi, on his end, said with the help of an interpreter, “I feel like I did everything I could.”
This article first appeared on TODAY.com. Read more from TODAY here:
