The 2024 Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating competition had a shocking twist when new winners in the men’s and women’s divisions were named. In ten minutes, Chicago’s Patrick Bertoletti won the men’s division with 58 hot dogs consumed, and Miki Sudo, the reigning champion, won with a record-breaking 51 hot dogs.
Longtime champion Joey “Jaws” Chestnut withdrew from the men’s competition due to a sponsorship dispute, making him a notable absence. Rather, at a U.S. Army base in El Paso, Texas, Chestnut demonstrated his competitive eating skills by consuming 57 hot dogs in a just five minutes.
After defeating 16-time champion Chestnut, Bertoletti’s victory marks a change in the competitive eating scene. The Chicago native’s meticulous training—which included losing weight and three months of nonstop training—paid off in a suspenseful competition where the lead changed hands several times.
In the women’s division, Sudo had a similarly impressive performance. As she won her tenth championship, she set a new world record for women, confirming her place among the best players in the sport.
Held annually at Coney Island in New York, the competition gathered thousands of spectators and athletes from all over the world, continuing to be a well-liked Fourth of July custom.
Profiles of Competitors
Patrick Bertoletti
In 2024, Chicagoan Patrick Bertoletti, then 39, won his first Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest championship. Bertoletti, who is renowned for his dedication and calculated approach, underwent a rigorous three-month regimen of preparation, which included weight loss to maximize his performance. In addition to taking home the coveted mustard belt, he broke his own record of 55 hot dogs in 10 minutes by finishing with 58 hot dogs. With his victory, Bertoletti achieved a major turning point in his competitive eating career. He was able to take advantage of the absence of longtime champion Joey Chestnut and win one of the most famous eating events in the world.
Joey “Jaws” Chestnut
For almost twenty years, Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, an Indiana native and competitive eater at forty, has dominated the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest. In 2021, Chestnut—who has an incredible 16 championship titles—broke a world record by ingesting 76 hot dogs and buns in less than ten minutes. Due to a sponsorship agreement with Impossible Foods, he was unable to compete in the 2024 Coney Island event, which caused a dramatic change in the competition’s dynamics. While not competing in the main event, Chestnut demonstrated his unmatched culinary skills in a separate competition against U.S. Army personnel at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, where he downed 57 hot dogs in only five minutes. Chestnut continues to leave an unrivalled history in competitive eating, and his future participation in the Nathan’s contest remains a topic of speculation.
Miki Sudo
The 38-year-old Florida competitor eater Miki Sudo maintained her position as the clear winner of the women’s class in the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest. In 2024, Sudo won the championship for the tenth time in a row and broke the record for the number of hot dogs consumed in ten minutes by a woman. Her achievement of 39.5 hot dogs from the previous year was topped by this amazing effort, proving her continuous supremacy and improvement in the sport. Sudo’s reputation as one of the best competition eaters of all time has been cemented by her yearly improvements and consistency. In addition to her culinary skills, Sudo is renowned for her commitment to oral hygiene. She manages to combine her education as a dental hygiene student with her competitive eating career.
