Joey Chestnut's calorie count at the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest revealed
Defending Champion Joey Chestnut competes during the 2021 Nathans Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island on July 04, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES - The Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest has been a 4th of July Tradition for decades, taking place outside the Nathan's restaurant on Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York.
This year, reigning men's champ Joey Chestnut will look to take home his eighth consecutive title and 16th total victory in the event. Chestnut first broke onto the Nathan's hot dog eating scene in 2005, but didn't take home his first win until 2007, taking down the legendary Takeru Kobayashi.
While it's no secret that competitive eating isn't the healthiest sport, calorically speaking, just how many calories are the big dogs like Chestnut eating in the roughly 10 minutes on Independence Day?
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Let's break it down:
We can assume that in the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, the contestants are eating Nathan's brand hot dogs and buns. According to FatSecret.com, each Nathan's hot dog has 140 calories, while each bun has 130 calories.
Since his debut, Chestnut has eaten 1,157 hot dogs and buns in the July 4 contest. That's nearly 314,000 calories' worth of hot dogs and buns in 18 years. In 2021, Chestnut set a Guinness World Record 76 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes.
In those 10 minutes, Chestnut consumed more than 20,000 calories, or more than eight times the daily recommended 2,500 calories.
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Those 76 dogs and buns are equal to roughly:
- 30 Burger King Whoppers
- 32 KFC Double Downs
- 20 Wendy's Baconators
- 24 Taco Bell XXL Grilled Stuffed Burritos
- 109 Krispy Kreme Glazed Donuts
- 6 large orders of Five Guys fries
Break that down over Chestnut's career and here are the eye-popping numbers
- 461 Whoppers
- 481 KFC Double Downs
- 309 Wendy's Baconators
- 369 XXL Taco Bell XXL Grilled Stuffed Burritos
- 1,644 Krispy Kreme Glazed Doughnuts
- 238 large orders of Five Guys fries
The 2023 Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest is on Tuesday, July 4. The women's competition will start at 10:45 a.m. ET and the men's competition will start at noon ET.