Netflix will settle 15 years of Chestnut vs. Kobayashi with a live hot dog-eating contest
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With live NFL games, WWE, and celebrity boxing already on the schedule, Netflix has set up a face-off between the competitive eating champs.
By Richard Lawler, a senior editor following news across tech, culture, policy, and entertainment. He joined The Verge in 2021 after several years covering news at Engadget.
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Netflix has scheduled Chestnut vs. Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef on September 2nd as another one of its live events, along with Christmas Day NFL games, WWE Monday Night Raw, and the delayed Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight.
A press release from Netflix takes the whole thing very seriously, quoting Kobayashi saying, “Retiring for me will only happen after I take him down one last time… Competing against Joey live on Netflix means fans all over the world can watch me knock him out.” Chestnut, meanwhile, says, “It’s time to give the people what they want!”
The competition will have extra intrigue because Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi will both have to skip the annual July 4th Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest that made their rivalry famous. A six-time winner, Kobayashi was banned from the contest in 2010 over a contract dispute. Then, on June 11th, Major League Eating announced a ban on Chestnut, a 16-time winner and the world record holder for most hot dogs, related to his deal with Impossible Foods.
And now Netflix, which is now looking a lot more like the “Blue Sky” days of the USA Network than HBO, has another curiosity to tout — location and specific timing to be announced later.
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