Hot dog-eating contest to take place at Times Square’s hot dog sculpture
On Friday, the World’s Largest Hot Dog Sculpture will host a world’s famous hot dog-eating competition.
In preparation for Nathan’s Famous 4th of July Hot Dog Eating Contest, hopefuls will square off in a preliminary competition at the 65-foot-long frankfurter attraction in Times Square on Broadway and 46th St.
Competitors from countries including Canada, England, South Korea, Japan, Australia and Brazil will go bun-to-bun with 2023 winners Joey “Jaws” Chestnut and Miki Sudo.
Last year, Chestnut devoured 62 hot dogs in 10 minutes, while Sudo forced down 39.5.
Nathan’s first recorded contest was in 1972, though the competition has long been rumored to have started more than a century ago when Ida and Nathan Handwerker opened their iconic eatery on Surf Ave. in Brooklyn.
In 2011, the Nathan’s women’s championship was established to recognize the growing number of female competitors. Sudo won her ninth championship last year and currently holds the world record, having eaten 48.5 hot dogs in the 2020 contest.
Reigning king Chestnut has won all but one contest since 2007. He lost in 2015 to Matt Stonie, who downed 62 hot dogs to Chestnut’s 60.
Top male and female finishers at this year’s qualifying event — produced in partnership with Major League Eating — will then head to Coney Island for their chance to take home the coveted Mustard Belt during a live televised event on ESPN.
Brooklyn-based conceptual art duo Jen Catron and Paul Outlaw created the sculpture, which is currently on view to the public for free through June 13.
“Like us, the hot dog is an absurd mass of mashed-up fragments masquerading as one remarkable product, a Trojan Horse of individual narratives and sordid histories,” the artists shared in a statement. “When you boil it down, there’s no symbol that better relishes the American conglomerate than our audacious, record-breaking hot dog…unless that hot dog is also in Times Square.”
