Editor’s Note: The video in this story is from a previous report.
The Mustard Belt is coming to Chicago.
Local competitive eater Patrick “Deep Dish” Bertoletti won the 2024 Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest on Thursday with an impressive 58 hot dogs eaten in 10 minutes.
That’s just four hot dogs short of Joey Chestnut’s record from last year.
“Bertoletti brings the passion of youth, and a strong jaw, to every contest he enters,” his Major League Eating profile says. “But he is always respectful of the elder eaters, quietly watching them to learn their secrets and the way of this world.”
This is the first Mustard Belt for Bertoletti, but he has 32 other competitive eating records to his name, including earning records for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, key lime pie, Rocky Mountain Oysters and Mars Bars.
The the annual competition held on July 4, marked the end of an era after 16-time winner Joey Chestnut’s falling out with the event’s organizer, Major League Eating.
MLE announced last month that it was parting ways with Chestnut, citing a rule that participants cannot strike endorsement deals with rivals of hot dog maker Nathan’s, according to an article from CNBC. MLE alleged at the time that Chestnut had partnered with a plant-based meat alternative company. Chestnut, also known as “Jaws,” has recently begun posting images on Instagram that feature Impossible Foods.
“For nearly two decades we have worked under the same basic hot dog exclusivity provisions,” the MLE said in a statement in June. “However, it seems that Joey and his managers have prioritized a new partnership with a different hot dog brand over our long-time relationship.”
Chestnut responded in a statement at the time that he was “gutted to learn from the media” of his banishment after 19 years.
Winning the women’s division for the 2024 contest was Dental hygiene student, Miki Sudo of Florida.