Two titans of competitive eating, Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi, will go face-to-face in a live hot dog eating contest in Netflix’s Chestnut vs. Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef.
The marquee event will be streamed on Netflix on September 2 and was made possible by Kobayashi coming out of retirement and Chestnut not participating in this year’s July 4 Nathan’s competition. Known as the “Godfather of Competitive Eating,” Kobayashi last took on Chestnut head-to-head in Nathan’s Competition in 2009, where the American prevailed in a five-hotdog sudden death eat-off.
Kobayashi has won Nathan’s July 4 contest six times, while Chestnut has been victorious on 16 occasions. Chestnut has been on a streak of wins since 2007, with 2015 being the only exception, when Matt Stonie created history by denying him a ninth straight win. Chestnut lost to Kobayashi in 2005 and 2006 but went to improve his record and is now considered the “greatest of all time” in competitive eating.
The reason behind Chestnut’s absence from this year’s July 4 competition is because he inked a deal with Impossible Foods, which is a Nathan’s competitor. Impossible makes plant-based substitutes for meat products and was in the news recently for releasing a plant-based dog. Meanwhile, Kobayashi went through something similar in 2010, when he was banned from the contest after a contract dispute with Major League Eating.
There was a massive ruckus after Kobayashi attended the 2010 event as a part of the audience, as he was escorted off the stage by police officers after his attempt to congratulate Chestnut (the 2010 competition winner) was misinterpreted. Charges were pressed against him and later dismissed by a Brooklyn court, and Nathan’s removed him from their “Wall of Fame.”
The Kobayashi and Chestnut face-off is the latest in a series of Netflix attempts to enter the live sports sphere, the other examples being the Netflix Cup, the Netflix Slam, and the highly anticipated Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson boxing event that will take place on November 15.
