2008 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest: Joey Chestnut is the winner

2008 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest: Joey Chestnut is the winner American competitive eater Joey Chestnut retained his title after beating Japanese Takeru Kobayashi at the 2008 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. But the victory was far away from easy - the winner of the hot dog eating contests had to be decided via a "playoff", after the Chestnut and Kobayashi both ate 59 hot dogs in 10 minutes. To break the tie, judges made the two face another five hot dogs to determine a winner. Joey Chestnut managed to chow down the dogs in just 60 seconds, winning the 2008 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. And where would we be without the betting odds. At the online sportsbook BodogSports Chestnut opened with odds 4/5 yesterday but was quickly upgraded to favorite 20/29 right before the hot dog eating contest began. Takeru Kobayashi opened with odds 20/21 but was downgraded to underdog with odds 23/20, following the huge number of bets taken on Joey to be the winner.

The organizers of the event knocked two minutes off the regulation time this year after it was discovered the original 1916 event was only 10 minutes long. During the last year's hot dog eating contest, Joey Chestnut broke the world record with 66 hot dogs, however, the contestants were allowed 12 minutes.

Published on 07/04/2008