Who is Joey Chestnut and what world record did he just set?
Some legends of sport use their heads, while others use their feet, legs, arms and hands, but there are some who use their stomachs.
Laugh all you like, but it’s quite likely you’re not a world record holder and moreover, wouldn’t even come close to breaking this one.
Joey Chestnut is the chicken finger king
When it comes to competitive eating - yes that’s a thing - there aren’t many who can contend with Joey Chestnut. Just a few weeks after winning his 15th Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, Chestnut once again rocked the boat or rather table, on Wednesday. Indeed, the California native ate 44 Raising Cane’s chicken fingers in just five minutes and with that established a new world record. If you didn’t know, Wednesday, July 27th was in fact National Chicken Finger Day and so, Chestnut did what any star eater would do: He went to a new Raising Cane’s location on the Las Vegas Strip and ate himself into the history books.
How did Joey Chestnut’s world record...taste?
With regular dabs of the franchise’s famous sauce, Chestnut set out on a steady pace as chicken fingers disappeared from sight, while the crowd in attendance cheered him on. Speaking to TMZ, Chestnut gave the restaurant a rave review by saying, “The environment is as good as the food, and their chicken fingers are the best in the world.” What’s even more impressive, is that the legendary competitive eater continued to eat chicken fingers even after the time had run out.
Who is Joey Chestnut?
Born in Vallejo, California, the 38-year-old is a living and still competing, legend in the competitive eating arena. The winner of some 15 Mustard Belts, courtesy of wins in every Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest - except one - since 2007, Chestnut is quite frankly the best there is and has ever been. In his most recent Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, the now world record holder ate 63 hot dogs and buns. Crazy right? According to Major League Eating’s website, “Chestnut holds 55 World Records across 55 disciplines. That is a World Record of World Records.”
Yes, Major League Eating is a real thing
According to its website, Major League Eating describes itself as “...The world body that oversees all professional eating contests. The organization, which developed competitive eating and includes the sport’s governing body, the International Federation of Competitive Eating, helps sponsors to develop, publicize and execute world-class eating events in all varieties of food disciplines.” With over 70 annual events across the U.S.A. and and coverage from all major sports and news networks, the sport of professional eating is becoming increasingly popular. Be that as it may, one has to wonder what kind of ‘training’ the ‘athletes’ of the sport undergo.