Joey Chestnut wins Nathan's hot dog competition, takes down protester
Joey Chestnut wins 15th Nathan's hot dog eating competition, shares his secrets for how he wins the contest
"True American hero" Joey Chestnut is celebrating National Chicken Finger Day on Wednesday, July 27, by stuffing himself with a record amount of Raising Cane's delicious deep-fried fowl.
"Nobody has ever attempted to eat a mass quantity of chicken fingers like this before," Chestnut told Fox News Digital on Wednesday morning.
He hopes to consume up to 50 chicken fingers in just five minutes.
Chestnut's effort unfolds on Wednesday on Facebook Live from Raising Cane's in Las Vegas at 2 p.m. ET (11 a.m. PT).
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Raising Cane's "Caniac Club" members can join in the festivities with free chicken fingers at any of the poultry purveyor's 700 locations around the country — today through Saturday, July 30.
Chestnut, among his other honors, is the 15-time champion of the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest on Coney Island.
He set a world record by eating 72 hot dogs and buns at the 2021 competition.
Hot dog-eating champ Joey Chestnut helped subdue a protester, as a group interrupted the 2022 Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island, New York City, on July 4, 2022. Chestnut won his 15th title by eating 63 hot dogs in 10 minutes. (Bobby Bank/Getty Images)
He cemented his legacy in American lore this year when he quickly wrestled a protester to the ground on live national TV during the Independence Day contest.
Chestnut put the man in a headlock despite being on crutches and with a ruptured tendon in his right leg.
The chomp champ continued eating hot dogs the entire time.
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"I thought somebody fell on to me, then I realized he was holding a sign," Chestnut, 38, of Indiana, said during a "Fox & Friends" broadcast the following day.
Raising Cane's serves chicken tenders and not a lot else; the chicken sandwich shown is a bun with a few tenders (plus dressing) between it. (Nick Kindelsperger/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News)
"He wasn’t moving over, so I kind of moved him over," said Chestnut.
"You got him in a headlock!" enthused "Fox & Friends" co-host Steve Doocy.
"When faced with an unexpected obstacle, Joey handled it swiftly with dignity and aplomb," Rich Shea, president of Major League Eating, told Fox News Digital after the frankfurter fracas.
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"It proves that Joey Chestnut is the greatest athlete of all time and a true American hero."
Chestnut still wears a boot on his right foot, but is off the crutches now, he said.
Joey Chestnut won the men's title at Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island on July 4, 2022. (Kerry J. Byrne/Fox News Digital)
"It still hurts," he said. "But I'm slowly getting better."
The poultry assassin says eating fried chicken fingers might actually prove more difficult than eating hot dogs.
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"Fried food is a little bit harder because you can't water it down," he said.
"But I have a technique down for chicken fingers. I've been training," he said. "The chicken is delicious. So that makes it easier."
Raising Cane's, founded in Louisiana in 1996, boasts 700 eateries in 35 states and Guam.
Raising Cane's, founded in Louisiana in 1996, boasts 700 eateries in 35 states and Guam.
It's opening 100 new eateries across 10 new markets in 2022, including a trophy location in Times Square in New York City.
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"When the barren hills and the cracked earth and the once-proud oceans drain to sand, there will still be a monument to our existence," emcee and Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest host George Shea said of the reigning hot-dog champ.
"This man represents all that is eternal in the human spirit."
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