Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest prize money: How much will the winner make in 2022? | Sporting News (2024)

FAQs

Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest prize money: How much will the winner make in 2022? | Sporting News? ›

Major League Eating has typically given winners in the men's and women's competition a top prize of $10,000 each, with incrementally smaller prizes going to the remaining eaters in the top five. The total prize pool is $40,000.

The Hot Dog Eating Contest has a $40,000 pool split evenly between the men's and women's competitions. The winner of each receives $10,000, and the runner-up gets $5,000. The next three to place each receive $2,500, $1,500, and $1,000.

The men's and women's contests offer $20,000 in cash prizes — $10,000 to each winner for 10 minutes of eating. Like Chestnut, who has termed July Fourth “the best day of the year,” previous women's winner Miki Sudo fended off competitors to maintain her title on Tuesday.

Vomiting isn't a traditional part of the competitive eating process for many professionals. While there's no telling what might happen to amateurs, most professionals are able to expand their stomach capacity to the point that they are able to compete in contests without throwing up.

How much does a Professional Competitive Eater make? As of Apr 23, 2024, the average hourly pay for a Professional Competitive Eater in the United States is $18.85 an hour.

Eating all of those hot dogs comes with a price, but the best finishers receive money -- and a WWE-esque championship belt -- for their efforts. The total prize pool typically is $40,000, so here's how that purse is usually allocated among the top-five eaters: First place: $10,000. Second place: $5,000.

Joey Chestnut earns an annual salary of around $500,000. Joey Chestnut is worth a lot, but he's not eating alone. Well-known competitive eater Takeru Kobayashi signed a deal with Hoffman's, an NYC hot dog manufacturer. The company reportedly agreed to pay him $100,000 annually and two percent of grocery sales.

2014. On July 4, 2014, Chestnut ate more hot dogs and buns than any of his opponents, narrowly defeating competitor Matt Stonie. He successfully ate 61 hot dogs and buns to Stonie's 56, making this his eighth consecutive win. Prior to the event, Chestnut proposed to his longtime girlfriend, Neslie Ricasa.

Chestnut has been keeping in shape by hiking, jogging, and sticking to a low-carb diet. “The most important thing is my diet and practicing good habits,” he said. The 40-year-old has revealed how losing weight helps him in competitive eating contests.

World Champion Joey Chestnut currently holds the title of hot dog-eating world champion after setting a new world record of 76 hot dogs and buns in 2021. In 2023, Joey won his 16th Mustard Yellow Belt after eating 62 hot dogs and buns.

Do competitive eaters poop after? ›

It's always around four hours after the contest when 'nature starts taking its course' "It's natural," Chestnut said. "If you eat a lot of food, you're going to go to the bathroom."

Does Joey Chestnut Have Another Job Besides Professional Eating? Before becoming a household name, Chestnut worked with a construction management company in Northern California. However, in 2010 he decided to leave his day job behind to focus on being a professional eater full-time.

The high level of fat ingested could cause nausea, diarrhea and gastrointestinal distress, Petitpain said. During the annual contest, the competitors also eat the buns, which means a lot of carbs.

As of 2023, the most successful male competitor is Joey Chestnut, who has won Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest a total of sixteen times since 2007. Chestnut also holds the record for most hot dogs consumed in the contest, with 76 in 2021.

Competitive eating champ Joey Chestnut hasn't only been putting away hot dogs for almost two decades — he's also put a few million dollars under his belt, including more than $500,000 last year alone.

The International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOCE) doesn't do any sort of drug testing or have contestants certify that they haven't altered their bodies in any way.

All competitors must be over 18 years of age.