Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Contest to Have Competition July 4th

We are a world of voyeurs. We like to watch stuff; crazy stuff, weird stuff, bizarre stuff, sexy stuff--stuff. Ever since 1916 there have been people gathering on Coney Island to witness some rather bizarre stuff'; people trying to consume more hot dogs in a few minutes than most people eat all year.

That's what they do at Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest. They eat hot dogs--lots of them. Now there is competition.

Former six-time hot dog eating champion and former world record holder Takeru Kobayashi has decided to hold his own competition, the Crif Dog Classic, rather than to bow down to the Man and sign his contract (even though he did for nine years).

Kobayashi helped put competitive eating on the map with his exploits at the annual Fourth of July contest. In 2010 he decided not to sign his contract with the International Federation of Competitive Eating (don't laugh; it's real; on second thought go ahead and laugh). Without signing he could not compete in the contest and regain his title from Joey Chestnut.

Now Chestnut is on the verge of tying Kobayashi with six titles in a row if he is able to win the contest this year.

Last year Kobayashi held his own private contest where he claimed to have eaten 69 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes, one more than Chestnut's record set at the 2009 Nathan's competition. However, since it was in an unsanctioned event it did not count.

Had there been anyone that qualified for the Nathan's contest that agreed to go to Kobayashi's instead I'm sure we would have heard about it. Oh wait--that's assuming we actually follow skinny guys that have a talent for consuming insane numbers of hot dogs.

(Press play. You know you want to watch.)