One day after Joey Chestnut’s bombshell banishment from the 2024 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, Netflix has announced that the champion glizzy gobbler will finally face his longtime, but estranged rival, Takeru Kobayashi, in a special one-on-one match.
The aptly-titled bout, “Chestnut vs. Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef,” will stream live on Netflix on Labor Day, Sept. 2 (an exact time and location will be announced later). This will be the first time in 15 years that the two championship eaters will face each other in a hot dog eating contest. Kobayashi, who won the Nathan’s Contest six times in the early 2000s, notably has not competed in that hallmark competition since 2009 because of his refusal to sign an exclusive deal with Major League Eating.
Kobayashi’s long-simmering stand-off with MLE now has obvious echoes in the circumstances surrounding Chestnut’s ouster this year — specifically, Chestnut’s sponsorship deal with Impossible Foods, a rival purveyor of plant-based hot dogs.
“MLE and Nathan’s went to great lengths in recent months to accommodate Joey and his management team, agreeing to the appearance fee and allowing Joey to compete in a rival unbranded hot dog eating contest on Labor Day,” MLE’s statement read, alluding to the Netflix contest before it had been announced. “For nearly two decades, we have worked under the same basic hot dog exclusivity provisions. However, it seems that Joey and his managers have prioritized a new partnership with a different hot dog brand over our long-time partnership.”
Kobayashi’s early-2000s dominance at the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest was crucial to its rise in popularity at the turn of the millennium. He won the competition six years in a row, between 2001 and 2006, and set three different world records. Chestnut finally bested Kobayashi in 2007, and he’s won the contest every year since, except 2015, when he was beaten by Matt Stonie. Chestnut also holds the current world record for most hot dogs and buns eaten in 10 minutes, with 76 (set in 2021).
“Through all of my years in competitive eating, Kobayashi stands out as my fiercest rival,” Chestnut said in a statement for the “Unfinished Beef” contest. “Competing against him pushed me to be so much better. I know that fans have waited a long time for another chapter of our rivalry and I can’t wait for our massive showdown live on Netflix! It’s time to give the people what they want!”
“Retiring for me will only happen after I take him down one last time,” Kobayashi added. “This rivalry has been brewing for a long time. Competing against Joey live on Netflix means fans all over the world can watch me knock him out.”