Joey Chestnut and Miki Sudo received the lads’s and girls’s editions, respectively, of the 2025 Nathan’s Famous Worldwide Hot Dog Eating Contest.

Chestnut ate 70.5 scorching canine and buns in 10 minutes, and Sudo downed 33 scorching canine and buns.

Each Chestnut and Sudo are previous winners and the highest male and feminine champions of all time, successful their seventeenth and eleventh titles general with their victories this yr. Whereas Sudo was defending her prime end from final yr, Chestnut returned after he was banned from final yr’s occasion over a sponsorship with Not possible Meals.

Chestnut’s absence from the 2024 occasion, his first in almost 20 years, got here after the aggressive eater signed a deal to be a spokesperson for Not possible Meals, which launched a plant-based scorching canine final yr. The deal, Main League Eating claimed, went towards the model’s exclusivity guidelines for the competitors.

“For almost twenty years we have now labored below the identical fundamental scorching canine exclusivity provisions,” Main League Eating stated in a press release in June 2024. “Nevertheless, evidently Joey and his managers have prioritized a brand new partnership with a distinct scorching canine model over our long-time relationship.”

Chestnut stated he was “gutted” to study he wouldn’t have the ability to compete final yr.

“To set the report straight, I should not have a contract with MLE or Nathans and they want to change the principles from previous years because it pertains to different companions I can work with,” Chestnut wrote on X at the time. “Sadly, that is the choice Nathan’s and Main League Eating are making, and it would deprive the nice followers of the vacation’s traditional pleasure and leisure.”

As an alternative, Chestnut competed in a July 4 contest at an Military base in El Paso, Texas, with Patrick Bertoletti, who got here in second on this yr’s competitors, successful the 2024 Nathan’s Famous Worldwide Hot Dog Eating Contest.

Chestnut later confronted off towards longtime nemesis Takeru Kobayashi, and emerged victorious, in a Netflix live-streamed Labor Day aggressive consuming contest.

However in June 2025, Chestnut introduced that he’d be returning to Coney Island for the Nathan’s occasion.

“This occasion means the world to me. It’s a cherished custom, a celebration of American tradition and an enormous a part of my life,” Chestnut stated in his social media announcement. “I’m excited to be again on the Coney Island stage, doing what I dwell to do, and celebrating the Fourth of July with scorching canine in my fingers!”

As for what introduced Chestnut again, he stated on social media that there have been “variations in interpretation” however that he and organizers have been in a position to “discover widespread floor.”

“Whereas I’ve and proceed to companion with quite a lot of corporations, together with some within the plant-based house, these relationships have been by no means a battle with my love for decent canine,” he wrote. “To be clear: Nathan’s is the one scorching canine firm I’ve ever labored with.”

Main League Eating confirmed that Chestnut could be again on the Nathan’s Famous occasion, and its cofounder and emcee George Shea told NPR, “we have been in a position to come collectively and I feel everyone was all in favour of that.” He declined to touch upon particulars of the settlement.

“Main League Eating is extraordinarily excited that Joey shall be returning to the 4th of July occasion this yr, and it actually would be the biggest sporting occasion within the historical past of sports activities,” Shea stated. “We’re excited, the followers are excited and it was form of all methods go for the 4th.”

Chestnut, in the meantime, told the Associated Press, that although he by no means appeared in any commercials for Not possible Meals’ plant-based canine, he “ought to have made that extra clear with Nathan’s.”

In a pre-taped interview that aired on ESPN as a part of its annual protection of the recent canine consuming contest, Chestnut stated it “took just a little little bit of speaking” and referenced some “egos” and communication that introduced him again to the Coney Island stage. However, he stated, he by no means gave up hope he’d be again.

Each Chestnut and Sudo instructed ESPN they felt they might’ve accomplished higher, regardless of their victories.

“I want I ate a hell of much more, sorry guys, however I’ll be again subsequent yr,” Chestnut stated on ESPN after his win.

Later he famous that he was “nervous” and stated, “The primary couple scorching canine I used to be fumbling just a little.”

However in the end, he “discovered a rhythm” and whereas his purpose was to eat “between 70 and 77,” he “wished a bit extra.”

“Exhibiting up is the toughest half typically,” he stated. “I really like doing it and pushing myself.”

Sudo’s whole in the meantime was down from the 51 scorching canine and buns she ate final yr.

“I really feel like I let the followers down just a little bit. I heard individuals within the crowd saying, ‘Go for 52,’” Sudo instructed ESPN. “Clearly, I’m at all times setting my objectives excessive, however the scorching canine weren’t cooperating. For some purpose, the buns felt bigger immediately.”

The overall prize for the competition is $40,000, break up between the lads’s and girls’s divisions. The primary place finisher will get $10,000, second place will get $5,000 and third place will get $2,500.

This yr’s occasion came about, as traditional, exterior the unique Nathan’s location in Coney Island, New York, and aired on ESPN2 and ESPN3. Followers who missed seeing who grew to become the highest canine of each contests can try replays at 2 and 6 p.m.

ESPN’s platforms have aired the recent canine consuming contest since 2004 and inked a brand new cope with the Worldwide Federation of Aggressive Eating in 2022, extending the partnership by way of 2029.

This yr, Ryan Reynolds additionally received in on the motion, starring in an advert that aired a number of occasions throughout the Nathan’s competitors on ESPN2. Within the business, the Deadpool star joined scorching canine world celeb Richard Galanti, the previous CFO of Costco, which has offered a $1.50 scorching canine and soda meal for the previous 40 years, with out elevating the value. Galanti was one of many Costco executives who helped preserve the value down. The advert, which introduces Galanti as Mint Cell’s Chief Anti-Inflation Officer, highlights how plans from the wi-fi firm that was offered to T-Cell two years in the past have stayed at $15 since launch.

The business aired in no less than two prime slots, the primary break of ESPN’s hourlong broadcast and the break earlier than the winner within the males’s competitors was introduced.