Unfinished Beef: Joey Chestnut And Kobayashi Are Going Head-To-Head One Last Time To Decide Who The True Hot Dog Hero Is On Labor Day
Bobby Bank. Getty Images.Variety -- Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi, two of the world’s most famous competitive eaters, will participate in the ultimate hot dog-eating contest live on Netflix on Labor Day. The location and specific timing for the Sept. 2 event will be announced at a later date.
Titled “Chestnut vs. Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef,” the two eaters will embark in a rematch “that will determine the ultimate hot-dog-eating champion — in which the competitors will fight to eat the most all-beef hot dogs,” Netflix said in a release Wednesday.
The moment the news came out that Joey Chestnut would be banned from the 2024 Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, most people's brains immediately went to the potential for a Jaws vs Kobi showdown.
It only makes sense. The two greatest eaters in the history of humans eating food for sustenance. Both eaters now banned by Major League Eating. Imagine if the NBA decided to kick Larry Bird and Magic Johnson out of the league in the 80s. The entire reason why the hot dog eating contest is relevant today is because Kobayashi put it on the map. The only reason why people still care is because of Joey Chestnut's quest for greatness. I get that Major League Eating has a business to run, but maybe Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest should be treated like a major tournament in golf. It shouldn't matter if you're under contract with MLE or not. The world deserves to watch the best eaters in the world in that contest.
Those 5 years from '05-'09 where we got to watch Joey Chestnut vs Takeru Kobayashi go head-to-head at Coney Island is what made the Hot Dog Eating Contest so special. You had to two greatest eaters in the world facing off against each other. You had USA vs Japan. There was drama. There was intrigue. But then MLE got greedy and stripped that away from us. Luckily for them, Joey Chestnut was such a star on his own that it didn't matter. Because just as electric as that matchup was, it was equally as compelling watching Joey Chestnut vs Joey Chestnut from the year prior. Constantly trying to better himself. Constantly pushing the envelop for what the human stomach can handle. Major League Eating is going to learn the hard way that nobody will care about the Hot Dog Eating Contest without either of those two in the mix.
Luckily Netflix is here to do the right thing and give the people what they want. One final showdown between the greatest to ever do it. For the first time since 2009, we'll have 6x Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Champion Takeru Kobayashi coming out of retirement to take on 16x Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest Champion Joey Chestnut on Labor Day. Obviously it sucks we don't get this on Fourth of July, but what a showdown this is going to be to close out the summer. It'll be the biggest international matchup of the summer, in the same summer that includes the Paris Olympics.
Sidenote: Another "major" in the competitive eating season needs to be the Wing Bowl in Philadelphia. Bring it back!