World Champion Joey Chestnut during the weigh-in ceremony ahead of the 2023 Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York, on July 3, 2023.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Netflix is preparing for a showdown on Labor Day. The company announced Wednesday that it will live stream a hot dog eating competition with rival champions Joey “Jaws” Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi in an event titled “Chestnut vs. Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef.”
World record holder for eating 76 hot dogs in 10 minutes and 16-time Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest champion Chestnut will face off his “fiercest rival,” six-time winner Kobayashi, for the first time since Chestnut beat Kobayashi back in 2009, the company said in a press release.
“I know that fans have waited a long time for another chapter of our rivalry, and I can’t wait for our massive showdown live on Netflix! It’s time to give the people what they want!” Chestnut said in the press release.
Kobayashi had recently revealed in a Netflix documentary that he was retiring from competitive eating over health concerns.
“Retiring for me will only happen after I take him down one last time,” said Kobayashi. “This rivalry has been brewing for a long time. Competing against Joey live on Netflix means fans all over the world can watch me knock him out.”
Chestnut recently made headlines after getting disqualified from this year’s annual Fourth of July hot dog eating contest hosted by Nathan’s Famous in Coney Island, over what Major League Eating said was his decision to partner with Impossible Foods’ plant-based hot dog instead.
This is the latest installment in Netflix’s foray into live sports programming. The entertainment giant has been leaning into what it calls “sports entertainment” with a roughly $5 billion 10-year deal to stream World Wrestling Entertainment’s weekly flagship program Raw starting in 2025 and the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson boxing matchup in November that is making waves as Tyson’s first matchup in 19 years.
The company is also set to live stream Christmas Day National Football League games for the next three years.
