The History of Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest

Hot dog eating contests take place all over America each year. Nathan's is one of the most famous competitions of all time. The contest is said to have began when two immigrants were standing at a Nathan's hot dog stand, in the year 1916. The two people were trying to decide who was the most patriotic. The hot dog stand was situated in Coney Island, the deal was settled when James Mullen had eaten 13 hot dogs in 12 minutes, which was more than his participant. The hot dog eating contest has been held at the same place every year since the date the two men had the first competition. The date for the contest is on Independence Day every year.

A mustard colored yellow, bejeweled belt is awarded to the winner of the contest. The belt has been on display in the Imperial Palace, in Saitama, Japan, due to the amount of Japanese winners. Nobody knows the value, or how old the belt seems to be. The belt will now be moved to the US, as American, Joey Chestnut was the competition winner, in 2007.

Birgit Felden won the contest in 1984 when she was 17 years old. However, today the rules have changed, and no minors are allowed to participate in the contest. The contestants stand behind a 30 foot table, on a platform, with the Nathan's hot dogs in buns in front of them. The hot dogs are allowed to cool, and the contestants may have a drink, which is usually water. They can have condiments on the hot dogs, but most choose not to. There is a "Bunnette" who keeps the score of each contestant as they try to eat as many hot dogs as they can in 12 minutes. There may be some hot dogs taken away from the total if it is determined that the contestant has left too much debris. Along with the mustard belt, winners have been known to win a trophy, two cases of Nathan's hot dogs, and sometimes a sponsor will give a prize to the contestants too. In the year 2007 cash was awarded from 1st to 5th place winners. 1st prize is 10,000, second is 5,000, 3rd is 2,500, 4th is 1,500, with the 5th being 1,000 USD.

The prize for the winner in the past was 40 extra hot dogs. Joe Baldini and Paul Siederman had a draw when they competed, in 1980. They both consumed 9 plus part of a tenth in 10 minutes. They were asked to eat a further 3 hot dogs, but both managed to eat them in the same amount of time, therefore they were regarded as joint winners. Don Wolfman had eaten a total of 17 hot dogs, and was the record winner going into the year 1987. The world record was broken in 1996 by Hirofumi Nakajima who ate 23 and a quarter hot dogs. In contests such as this there is always going to be some controversy. In 1999, it was said that Steve Keiner was declared the winner, but it was later noted that he had eaten half a hot dog before the start of the contest. Joey Chestnut is todays leader, he ate 66 hot dogs in order to claim the title.

Source: Wikipedia