Eating 141 hardboiled eggs in eight minutes is a weird way to earn a buck. As is eating 390 shrimp wontons in eight minutes, 165 pierogi in eight minutes, or 257 Hostess donettes in six minutes.
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Those are just a few of Joey Chestnut’s world records, and those bucks add up. The Michael Jordan of demolishing ridiculous portions of ridiculous things, Joey Chestnut has eaten his way into fame and fortune.
On July 4, Chestnut will defend his title on ESPN at the Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney, Island, N.Y. Last year, he broke his own world record by eating 75 hot dogs in 10 minutes. That’s about 16 pounds worth, which is the equivalent of 42 billiards balls — or one great, big pile of money.
Joey Chestnut Munched His Way to Millions
Joey Chestnut has a net worth of $2 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth, an impressive feat for a competitive eater. The sport is, after all, a niche and a novelty where big bucks don’t come easy.
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Just look at Nathan’s, which hosts the most famous competitive eating event in the world by far. The Major League Eating website states that “the Nathan’s Famous finals are our Masters, our World Cup, our Super Bowl.”
But even the most esteemed contest in the world pays a grand prize of only $10,000. That’s less than 50 cents per calorie for the 21,750 calories the man known as Jaws consumed in 2020. In fact, the event’s entire purse is only $40,000, and that’s spread out across 10 combined placing competitors in the men’s and women’s divisions. Last year’s women’s champion, Miki Sudo, set a world record of her own with 48.5 hot dogs eaten for her record-breaking seventh straight title. It was Chestnut’s 13th.
Jaws Didn’t Get To Quit His Day Job Right Away
Chestnut was a student at San Jose University when he became a competitive eater in 2005. He won his first contest that year when he downed six-and-a-half pounds of asparagus in 11.5 minutes. He also socked away 32 dogs after qualifying for Nathan’s for the first time during that same rookie-year run.
For context as to how hard it is for competitive eaters to earn a living, Chestnut — despite competing in the sport’s most revered event — wasn’t able to quit his construction management job and compete full time for six more years in 2011.
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