The 14 time champion admits to still enjoying the snacks outside of training and competing
(Picture: Getty Images)Joey Chestnut secured his fourteenth triumph in Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest after chomping down 76 hot dogs and buns in just 10 minutes.
While victory is sweet, Chestnut reveals that the aftermath is ‘exhausting’ which forces the hot dog devourer to head straight to the hotel for a well-deserved nap.
Naturally, the contestant starts ‘sweating like a mad man’ – and in a gross twist, it apparently smells like hot dogs. “People have told me they can smell the hot dogs,” Chestnut told Insider. “I really can’t, but the sweat afterwards, it feels sticky and greasy. My girlfriend says it smells different.”
When asked what it feels like to eat such a copious amount of food in such a short space of time, he compares it to “feeling really bloated and tired after Thanksgiving – it’s kind of like that, except really, really bad.” He explained that around four hours later, nature takes its course. “If you eat a lot of food, you’re going to go to the bathroom”, he said, “It’s natural.”
Chestnut puts himself on a two-day cleanse in the build-up to competing, where he consumes just water and lemon juice.
He explains that there’s a method in the madness as the detox actually helps speed up the digestive process.: “Most people, when you eat food, it takes nine to 10 hours to really digest it. After I do a cleanse, things are moving quickly.” It takes the hot dog champion two full days to recover and “to really start to feel normal again.”
Chestnut admits to still enjoying the snacks outside of training and competing, despite wolfing down a sickening amount of hot dogs in ten minutes. “Runners, they look like they’re going to die at the end of a marathon, but they still love to run,” he said. “And I love a good hot dog.”
