Former Nathan’s Hot Dog Contest Champion Kobayashi Accuses Joey Chestnut of Cheating

No matter the sport, a pair of icons withstand the tests of time to become the face of their sport. Boxing has Sugar Ray and Ali, basketball has Jordan and James. Yet even then, fans could argue a handful of other athletes have a shot at being one of the greatest. You look at competitive eating, on the other hand, and there are two undisputed champions at the top — no questions asked.

Even though it’s far from a mainstream sport, the majority of you know their names — Takeru Kobayashi and Joey Chestnut. For the better part of two decades, the two have wowed a nation every July 4th and like any good sports rivalry, the two consider themselves far from friends.

In fact, the pair is making waves again, a week after the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Competition, as new accusations of cheating have surfaced in regards to the annual speed-eating contest. Kobayashi was approached by TMZ earlier in the weekend and asked about Chestnut’s latest victory in the tentpole eating competition. With the help of his translator, the former champ accused Chestnut of being nothing short of a fraud.

“I’ve personally, definitely witnessed some cheating, yes,” Kobayashi tells the gossip blog. “One example, we were eating for a pizza P’Zone competition years ago and he was throwing the hardest part to eat — the crust — into the box the whole time.”

On top of that, Kobayashi questioned the very existence of Chestnut’s world record 74 hot dogs eaten in 12 minutes, something set at last year’s competition. The latest claims are hot off the heels of ESPN’s The Good, The Bad, and The Hungry, a documentary looking at the rivalry between the two — and it’s certainly not the first time Kobayashi’s been in the spotlight for throwing shade at the Major League Eating (MLE)-sanctioned event and athlete.

In 2010, Kobayashi hosted an event of his own to coincide with the MLE’s main Nathan’s contest. While Kobayashi and his team, including an on-screen counter, claimed he finished 69 hot dogs in 10 minutes, something that would have broken Chestnut’s record set that year. After reviewing the video, however, it’d appear the speed eater only ended up eating 65 dogs, a few short of the world record at the time.

Kobayashi made his initial debut at Coney Island in 2001, setting a record for 50 hot dogs eaten. He then went on to win the mustard belt six straights years before being unseated by Chestnut in 2007. Chestnut’s won all but one year since losing to pro eater and YouTube sensation Matt Stonie in 2015.

Chestnut was unable to top his world record this summer, eating 71 hot dogs. Second place finisher Darron Breeden finished with 50 hot dogs eaten.

League officials with Major League Eating had no comment.