The 2025 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest is upon us.
Every July 4th, Major League Eating hosts the annual competition from Brooklyn's Coney Island—awarding the "Mustard Belt" to one man and one woman who can muscle down more hot dogs than their peers. This year, perennial male champion Joey "Jaws" Chestnut will be back in action after serving a one-year suspension for accepting a sponsorship with Impossible Foods, a Nathan's competitor.
Chestnut is a surefire legend of the game, winning the hot dog eating contest 16 times while holding the record for most dogs and buns eaten with 76(!) in 2021.
You may be asking yourself: After taking down all of these hot dogs, how do the contestants keep them down? It's a good question, actually—and it leads to the point of this very article.
Here's how you can be disqualified from the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest:
How Can You Be Disqualified from the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest?
Taking down as many hot dogs as these professional eaters do is a tall task. What makes it even harder is that they are required to keep the food down. If they do vomit—or have a "reversal of fortune", as MLE calls it—they are issued a red penalty card and are subsequently disqualified from the event.
The most notable potential disqualification at the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest came in 2007 when the competition's results were delayed due to a review of whether or not Takeru Kobayashi vomited down the stretch. It was ultimately ruled that he didn't upchuck, and was given the win.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as The One (Gross) Way Contestants Can Be Disqualified From Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest.
