There’s less than one month until the Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest, but fans will have to stomach a major shakeup to the competition. Sixteen-time winner Joey Chestnut will not be competing in the Coney Island competition this year.
The decision comes after Chestnut allegedly partnered with a competing brand to Nathan’s Famous.
Chestnut took to Instagram on June 11 with his version of what went down. The champion said in his post that he heard he wouldn’t be able to participate in the contest from the media rather than from MLE or Nathan’s Famous.