Chestnut wins 18th Mustard Belt with 66 hot dogs
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- Joey Chestnut claimed his 18th Mustard Belt by downing 66 hot dogs at the Nathan's Famous contest on Coney Island, hosted to mark the US's 250th birthday.
- Miki Sudo won her record 12th women's title with 38.75 hot dogs, then watched her husband compete in the men's event after the women's final.
- Patrick Bertoletti finished second in the men's field with 50 dogs; the 13 competitors came from the US, Czech Republic, Australia, and South Korea.
- Chestnut fell short of his 76-dog personal record, citing heat-wave conditions and noting "there's room for improvement."
- Nathan's Famous was sold in January to packaged-meat giant Smithfield Foods, months before this year's contest.
- Major League Eating deemed Chestnut eligible to compete despite his April guilty plea to a misdemeanor battery charge stemming from an alleged bar slapping in Indiana.
Why it matters: Now owned by Smithfield Foods after January's sale, the 1972-vintage spectacle survived both a corporate handover and Chestnut's battery conviction — yet the defending champion still claimed his 18th belt on the US's 250th birthday.
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