← Pablo Torre Finds Out
Pablo Torre Finds Out
“Fifty Shades of Brown”: The Ins and Outs of Competitive Eating, with Joey Chestnut
00:42:36
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- [00:01]
A
Welcome to Pablo Torre finds out. I am Pablo Torre, and today we're gonna find out what this sound is.
- [00:06]
B
Fifty shades of brown, brother. Fifty shades of brown.
- [00:11]
A
Right after this ad. You're listening to Giraffe Kings. How vividly do you remember the 2006 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest?
- [00:35]
B
I was 22 years old, and that was the year I lost.
- [00:41]
A
That is the voice of Joey Chestnut, the greatest competitive eater of all time. Also the very first person I ever interviewed as a Sports Illustrated Internet, 18 years ago.
- [00:57]
B
I've been doing good in practice, going into it, and I just. I got nervous. As we approach the halfway point. Six minutes, seven seconds to go. Joey is pushing himself right now. You can see he's got a little bit of a shake, perhaps the synaptic misfiring. But he is a trained eater. There is a lot of eating to go. We are at the wall. He's.
- [01:20]
A
I was sitting 10ft away from you, watching you on stage.
- [01:25]
B
Joey Chestnut doing everything he can, continuing with his style, continuing to shovel it down. Somewhat. Somewhat maniacal jaw movement. But Kobayashi again, realizing that he has a little bit of a lead and it's all about the win. He's obviously not looking to prove something.
- [01:42]
A
You lost by two.
- [01:43]
B
I want to say 54. And I did 52. Four, three, two, one. Look at America. And Kobayashi takes it again. Unbelievable.
- [01:57]
A
But Joey Chestnut, dude, do you remember I just the. The emotions you felt after you realized that you were two HDBs hot dogs plus buns short.
- [02:08]
B
I remember eating next to him and feeling like, oh, my God, I'm not catching him. It's a terrible feeling knowing that, like, you're just not. You don't have it that day. I know I should be eating faster. And I'm sure other athletes, whether they're runners or whether. Whether they're pitchers, where they're throwing a ball is just not going where they want it to go. And my swallows weren't working right.
- [02:32]
A
I mean, everything was pouring out of you in some form, I assume as soon as this thing was over, but just tears. I just remember seeing your. Your face. The pain seemed emotional as opposed to the physical one that I might have assumed, having never seen a thing like this before.
- [02:48]
B
It's something that I have to remember also. I don't want to get complacent. Just because I'm breaking records in practice doesn't mean that my competitor isn't. And he's going to be pushing hard, too. I have to keep pushing hard. It's actually really good to remember the times where my body didn't cooperate. So I need to reinforce all the things I've done throughout the years. Okay?
- [03:34]
A
So you should just be aware that in the years since I watched Joey Chestnut compete at that Nathan's hot dog Contest back in 2006, the guy has achieved a truly horrifying level of gastrointestinal dominance. In 2007, for instance, the very next year, Joey dethroned the incumbent champion, his rival, the legendary Takeru Kobayashi of Japan. And then he proceeded to break 55 different world eating records. But on July 4th of this year, as you may have noticed, neither Joey nor Kobayashi was in the Nathan's contest in their usual place on the corner of Surf and Stillwell avenues in Coney Island. The whole controversy being a thing we'll get into just in a bit here. But what you should know right now is that both men have agreed to a duel. A hot dog Eat off Live on Netflix this Labor Day one on one, September 2nd. Which has had the effect of reviving another even older form of controversy about whether major league eaters are even athletes at all. And so what I wanted to do here, as the host of a technically sports show, is begin by finding out what how Joey chestnut, who's now 40 years old and now weighing in at a jarringly normal 230 pounds, made this his full time job in the first place.
- [05:12]
B
When I fell in love with it, I did the first contest, and I didn't even want to do the first contest. I was shy about eating in front of people. I was trying to get an engineering degree and it was never my goal to be in the public eye. One of the guys we'll be watching is Joey Chestnut. So when I started, I was like a deer in headlights.
- [05:31]
A
What was scary about it to you back then?
- [05:33]
B
Well, my whole life, like you're taught to kind of hold back. You got to eat with manners. I remember growing up, I'd almost get in trouble for eating too quick or being the first one to finish or when I was in college, like, all right, don't make a fool of myself. Don't be the first one to finish and get seconds. I'm self conscious of it. It was weird. Like, the first contest, it was like I loved it. I didn't have to hold back. My little brother signed me at my first contest when I was 21 and it just kind of snowballed. I was like, oh my God, they're paying me to eat. I didn't even win the first contest. The lobster eating contest. I tied for third and I was like, oh, I knew I loved it. And two weeks later there was an asparagus contest. And I put some thought into it and I got the win. I was a weekend warrior. I continued school and I started working construction management. And I'd leave work early on Fridays, eat on Saturday, go back home on Sunday, then back to a normal day job and eventually eating just. It grew to a point where I was able to make it my jobby job.
- [06:41]
A
Can you name off the top of your head all of the foods you've competitively eaten?
- [06:46]
B
There's a world chili eating contest. 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Stop, stop, stop. Two and a quarter gallons of chili.
- [07:00]
A
Jesus Christ.
- [07:01]
B
There's bagel, Bagel mania. They're actually really big bagels. I only think I did 11 or 12 of those bagels in eight minutes. There's hot dogs. They're waiting to see if he finishes.
- [07:21]
A
It off and does it again.
- [07:24]
B
Looking to become a four time 70 dog consumer. Nobody has done it better. Nobody has done it with greater consumption. Nobody's stomach has lasted as long as Joey's. It's a dirty dozen for chestnut number 12 at Nathan Katz's Deli. I think it was an eight minute contest. And I did, I want to say equivalent, like 14 of their whole sandwiches, which are, oh, they're amazing sandwiches.
- [07:56]
A
Oh, so wait, so this is okay, so immediately though, I'm wondering, like, how often are you doing a competitive eating contest and thinking to yourself, this tastes good.
- [08:06]
B
Oh, and that's the best. It's so much better. Like I, I naturally love hot dogs. I love an all beef hot dog. The hardest part for me than that contest is having to dunk the bun in water. Oh, it's so hard. And a chili.
- [08:22]
A
Good.
- [08:22]
B
Chili is good. Like some years with the chili contest, they, they, there was like kind of a weird chili where they put cinnamon in it. And that was, that would never agreed with me. And I was never breaking a record on those years. But when it's good chili, I definitely dominate. Good food is always easier to eat. I hear that people like, people like, oh, do you even taste the food? I was like, of course I taste it. If I, if there's, it's like a race car driver in a bad road. If the road is bad, everything they're, it's gonna, they're gonna hit a bump and it's gonna be even worse. And like, if there's a bad taste, I'm gonna be hitting it again and again and it's gonna. It's gonna irritate me.
- [08:59]
A
Okay, so as the engineer and you is sort of assessing why you are so good at all of this, how much of it do you think is psychological, mental, versus some physical gift that you can't quite explain? How do you sort of see that pie chart?
- [09:17]
B
Yeah, there's. There's definitely a little bit of a physical gift. I've always been a big eater. I. I'm really good at solving problems. And I. I'm competitive. And I've gotten a lot better over the. Over the years. I've run into competitive eaters who have amazing, absolutely amazing raw and natural talent. But competitive eating is a smaller thing. There's no books written about it. There's no trainers who can give you a wealth of knowledge. And I give people hints every now and then, like how to. How to push themselves and just find that right rhythm. You have to be able to control all your breathing through your nose, little breaths. And also, like, block breathing is. Just because you exhale doesn't mean you have to inhale right away. You can exhale, and then your lungs are empty, so then it's easier to swallow what's in your mouth. And then you sneak in a breath through your nose and you find that rhythm of the swallows and bites in between these breaths. And you can keep this amazing rhythm up for quite a while. Same way as runners. Runners count their breaths in between their steps. It's silly just to just eat until you run out of breath and then breathe.
- [10:28]
A
I remember watching a YouTube video about. I don't know if you've seen them, but, like, throat singers, people who are, like, using their breathing and also, like, alternating the ability to make sounds with their, like, throat muscles while also doing, like, this very strange circular breathing technique. I'm realizing that, like, I think you might just have been on your own parallel path to that, except instead of, like, music and song, it's crystal hamburgers.
- [10:55]
B
Yeah. I used to play trumpet and circular breathing, you could use almost use your throat. You could use your throat to hold. Bra hold. Hold a little bit of air and then use your throat to push it out while. While breathing in through your nose. I had to perfect everything. Swallowing, going from empty to full. Almost embarrassed how much thought I put into eating.
- [11:17]
A
The. The strategy, the methodology, the training for all of this. You mentioned full and empty and just the way that you sort of strategize. Can you explain that in a sort of like, competitive eating 101, way to me? Like, what do you mean by full and empty and all that stuff.
- [11:33]
B
Empty means that not only is there no food in my stomach, but there's like no food in my whole digestive tract. I've done a cleanse for about a day and a half and I can suck in my stomach. I'm like, oh, yeah, things are going to settle deep and it's easier when you're absolutely empty. It's weird. Like these, do these muscles do get.
- [11:53]
A
Tired, your throat muscles, the muscles in.
- [11:55]
B
A throat esophagus, the peristalsis muscles that move the food from your mouth to your stomach when they're slow, like that year 2006, there's nothing you can do about it. Even if you have the, even if you have the tolerance, you have the capacity, if these muscles are just not working for you, you're just, you're out of luck. So, so it takes a long time to figure out how to train those muscles to be able to move 15, 16, 17 pounds of food in eight, eight or 10 minutes. Whereas, like a normal meal is about a pound and a half, two pounds with water, and people eat that over 30 minutes. During the contest, I have to change the way I'm eating because certain muscles get tired and I, I can't eat the same way I did in minute one, like minute eight. I'm not eating the same way as I did in minute one. So I have to practice when I'm changing certain things, when I'm taking, taking smaller bites, when I'm swallowing a little bit less, when I'm leaning on the water a little bit, taking a little bit more water in. I've been really lucky that I, I love it. It's only like solving a problem and I can enjoy, enjoy pushing it.
- [13:03]
A
How do you learn all of the things you just described? Is that trial and error? Is that just like testing, writing it down?
- [13:12]
B
For a long, long time, I kept a food journal and I'll still. When I start training, I start writing down my whole daily routine and my weight, how I'm feeling, what I'm eating, and the jaw and throat exercises I'm doing. Sometimes I try things and they're. They don't help and sometimes they, they help. So that's why there's, there are different exercises over the years I've learned that help quite a bit. And I'm a believer in practice, I don't leave it up to chance. I break records in practice. I enjoy every bit of it. Everything from the fasting, the cleanse beforehand, to the actual practice, to the being bloated Afterwards and feeling like, I don't know. I wouldn't say I don't know. I enjoy it. I enjoyed being gross and disgusting afterwards.
- [14:02]
A
Yeah. What are you putting in your body during like normal times between contests? What are you eating?
- [14:08]
B
Yeah, as soon as I can eat after practice, I'm, it's super high fiber. I have as lettuce, cucumber, lemon dressing. It's pretty, it'll change, but it's very, very low carb, no sugar. And then I'll, then I'll introduce protein. I can do a practice about every six or seven days, maybe five if I lose the weight, if things are moving great. Some days I don't, I don't have a normal day of eating at all. But it. So then I just go back into cleanse mode, cleansing mode. It's just lemon juice, water and a little bit of protein supplement. But I do crazy detoxes and where I do coffee enemas and weird like to make sure that my body is getting rid of things. I put a lot of stuff in my body. So I put in some work to make sure that I'm getting rid of it. And you'll hear doctors say that, oh, those things don't do anything. I was like, well, I've seen things come out clearly. Clearly weren't coming out on their own. And so I think you have to be willing to think outside the box a little bit.
- [15:23]
A
So I'm just going to jump in here to officially posit something which is that no normal person should be willing to think outside the box like Joey Chestnut does. I mean, look, if it wasn't clear already, great competitive eaters strategically adopt what amounts to an inadvisable cycle of extreme eating disorders, even beyond all of the throat muscle workouts and the hours upon hours upon hours of deeply methodical practice. This degree of self endangerment actually speaks directly to the debate that I mentioned at the outset of this episode. Because you may refuse to view competitive eating as a sport and you are by no means alone, but Joey Chestnut made a very intentional choice to go the other way.
- [16:23]
B
In order to put that much time into it, I had to consider a sport. Not, not a hobby, not just something that I was having fun with. In order to put that much time into it, I had to consider the sport. And when I did, it paid off. Just like a football player, they go into a game, they're going and knowing they're going to get hurt, they're going to finish that game and be in pain. A Bankfield baseball player they know their arm is going to be sore after the game. They go in knowing there's going to be pain. A lot of people go into these eating contests thinking they're gonna eat. It'll be fun. Like, no, no. I go in knowing I'm gonna be uncomfortable, I'm gonna be bloated, I'm gonna be paying for it for days. I had to look at it like other, other athletes. And once, once you go in knowing it's gonna be uncomfortable, you can push yourself a little bit harder.
- [17:22]
A
What won't you eat at this point? What things are you like, I'm not doing that. That's, that's too gross for me.
- [17:29]
B
If they do it in a weird way, like, I'll eat, I'll eat something. Like, just recently, somebody wanted me to do a spam eating contest. Like, how do you, how are you serving Spam? Like, they just wanted to see, like, can like all gelatinous Spam.
- [17:42]
A
Wet, wet Spam.
- [17:44]
B
Yeah. Like, if they try to make it a gross contest, that's not fun. Like, I, I did a brain taco eating contest and they, the way they cooked them up, they didn't taste that bad, but I mean, they looked like brains, so it was a little bit rough.
- [18:01]
A
The most disgusting thing you, you regret having competed in, food wise, is what.
- [18:08]
B
So I love ribs. I did this, this rib eating contest. The ribs were dry. I couldn't tell the difference between bone and meat, and it tasted like an ashtray. So that goes. I hate to be picky, but, yeah, when they do it, when there's a food I naturally love, I hold the record for ribs. Like 13 pounds of meat.
- [18:28]
A
Right. Help me help you is what you're thinking to yourself.
- [18:31]
B
I love to eat and I, I love to push myself, but why would you give us garbage food?
- [18:37]
A
I didn't realize I hate to be picky would be a thing that you would say when talking about your, your eating strategy. But it makes sense. It makes sense that you would have standards. How dare I suppose that you're just down to. Just prove that you can do any of this, no matter how it tastes.
- [18:56]
B
It's just a little bit of thought. People, you watch the Olympics, their conditions, conditions have a. Affect everything. And the, the food is a condition that if it's good food, those are good conditions.
- [19:08]
A
How often are you done with the contest and you physically feel unwell these days?
- [19:18]
B
I'm. Well, like my body's rejecting the food. There's something wrong. When was the last time I was physically unwell? It was a smaller contest where it was hot as heck outside, but it was about three years ago.
- [19:31]
A
What was the food?
- [19:33]
B
It was mutton sliders or mutton sandwiches. And I didn't even break the record. It happens. And, and you try to figure out what it is like, whether it was the heat, the water tolerance of the food. But these days with hot dogs and any major food, I have enough of a tolerance. And I'm so regimented with making sure that I'm hydrated enough, it's not even a risk anymore. I need to be able to push harder.
- [20:04]
A
So speaking of pushing, Joey Chestnut, tell me about your poop.
- [20:09]
B
Oh, my God. Which ones?
- [20:13]
A
What comes to mind?
- [20:15]
B
Fifty shades of brown, brother. Fifty shades of brown.
- [20:34]
A
So the day after, is it the day after, is it the night after the contest? How long does it take? You're smiling and laughing already at my naivete as to how this all works inside of you.
- [20:44]
B
Oh, my God, we're gonna get. We're gonna get censored for this.
- [20:48]
A
No, this is. This is a free speech platform.
- [20:51]
B
Sometimes the first urge, I'm like, oh, my God, I pushed one out. It's coming now. I wasn't as empty as I thought I was. And I'm standing up and it usually like the greasier the food is, the more that grease is running through you. I'm drinking warm water during the, during the event. And it's. And that's to help things keep moving. About five hours later, that's contest is working. And it's. It's going to come in waves and your body. And that's. That's part of the whole not, wouldn't say trick. But being absolutely empty makes it easier to move. And then also your body can only absorb so many calories. It's. Without getting graphic. And slowly things settle down and it's more and more normal.
- [21:47]
A
I like how you attempted to be discreet by saying, without being graphic. I'm here to be graphic. Is your post contest life just hanging around the toilet? Like, when do you regain the ability to move freely around the cabin, as it were?
- [22:03]
B
And it's about eight hours later. I'm starting to feel better. And when I say feeling better, I'm still bloated, I'm still lethargic. I'm still going to get a look in the eye like, oh, I gotta run. Yeah, there's about four hours after. Then the four hours after that that are, you know, every athlete, when you're pushing it to the limit, there's a little ugliness. If you see the marathon runners after the marathon, they look like they're dead. And yeah, my mind afterwards is a little bit. A little rough as well.
- [22:38]
A
Do you ever just like look down at the bowl and feel impressed with what you've just done?
- [22:46]
B
Pablo, there have been times where I feel so good afterwards. I'm like, wow, feels too damn good. I'll leave it at that.
- [23:02]
A
I do want to just follow up though on the first thing you said, which is I believe you said that sometimes you're mid contest and you realize I have just pooped while standing up.
- [23:11]
B
No, no, no, I didn't say that, did I?
- [23:14]
A
I sounded like you did.
- [23:16]
B
I said at the end of the contest that the first feeling I have is to take. And so there's nothing wrong with that.
- [23:26]
A
No, hold, hold on. There is nothing wrong with any of this. This is a judgment free zone. I merely want to inquire whether when you are getting the mustard yellow belt placed atop your body, you simultaneously are thinking, I need to take a right now.
- [23:43]
B
I mean, we're adults. Just because we can take a. Doesn't mean you have to take. Just cause you are tired doesn't mean you need to take a nap. You know what I mean? I go back to runners a lot. You think their body's telling them to keep running? No, their body's telling them to stop. They're in control of their body. They're making it run. We're talking little, little things in the body. I just got to ignore certain feelings you had.
- [24:11]
A
I don't know if you still have a roommate.
- [24:14]
B
No, no. I have three dogs now and a fiance.
- [24:18]
A
Oh, okay. Fantastic.
- [24:19]
B
Not really a roommate.
- [24:21]
A
Well, technically. Technically the most. The most intimate of roommates. How would you say it's like to be your roommate? Whether it was back in the day or now with your fiance? What's it like to be around you in the aftermath?
- [24:40]
B
I feel bad for him. I feel bad for him. I must have some redeeming qualities because they put up with a lot.
- [24:49]
A
What's the worst part of being cohabitating with Joey Chestnut after he has just won yet another title?
- [24:58]
B
We've talked about a little bit of the big one, but everything. Like when I'm on a crazy diet, I don't keep any bread in the house. And no sugars. I can't have it in the house, otherwise I'll eat it.
- [25:13]
A
You know the thing that was most shocking to me when I first saw you and Kobayashi. Takaro Kobayashi, of course, on that stage in 06, surfing Stillwell. Nathan's Hot dog eating contest, Coney Island. It was that you guys looked just in terms of stature, like fairly normal, if not fit people. And the, the sport trends that way. When did it get that way? Are you, who's responsible for that? Like, it's just one of the more surprising things if you've never seen competitive eating before, that guys look like you and Kobayashi and which is to say you have like muscles, you're working out.
- [25:51]
B
You'Re like, kobayashi is ripped right now, dude. He's the one who made it. Like, oh, it's not just the 400 pound guys. It's not 500 pound guys. You have to be able to push yourself. You have to be healthy. I mean, I, I'm, I've never been super healthy. I love to eat too much. I'm fit enough to push myself in eating, not, not too much else. But over the last decade, you'll look at a lot of the top guys. They're former bodybuilders, they're CrossFit guys. Jeff Esper used to be a powerlifter. They enjoy pushing themselves and enjoy making their body work for them. This year at Nathan's, I wasn't there, but I think there were. There were three guys who did over 50 hot dogs.
- [26:43]
A
And so now we arrive at the point where we should probably explain why Joey Chestnut, of all people, was not at Nathan's last month despite being the reigning champion and despite having 16 mustard yellow belts to his name. And the reason is because Joey Chestnut was exiled, allegedly exiled by Nathan's and Major League Eating and its chairman, Master of ceremonies, George Shea, all because Joey Chestnut had done the unthinkable. He had signed an endorsement deal with the brand Impossible Foods, a maker of vegan hot dogs. Last night on X, Chestnut said he was gutted to learn that after 19 years, he has been banned from the contest. To set the record straight, I do not have a contract with Major League Eating or Nathan's.
- [27:42]
B
And they are looking to change the.
- [27:43]
A
Rules from past years as it relates to other partners I can work with, he wrote. All of which left Joey with this terrible mutton sandwich level taste in his mouth. And so neither he nor his arch rival, Takeru Kobayashi, was in attendance at this event that they, more than anybody else ever made famous. Kobayashi, by the way, has had his own famously fractured business relationship with Major League Eating. Earlier this year, in fact, Kobayashi had announced his retirement from, from the sport due to what he called health concerns. But as for the whereabouts of Joey Chestnut, on July 4, 2024, it is safe to say that he had a different set of concerns.
- [28:36]
B
I didn't watch it. I was, I was in Texas getting ready for a contest against some soldiers. So they're there for their four soldiers versus me.
- [28:53]
A
That is 16 time champion of the nation's famous hot dog eating contest, Joey Chestnut. But he was at Fort Bliss in El Paso for this event last night. Joey the Jaws Chestnut was doing what he does best, and that is eating hot dogs. He downed a whopping 56, 57 in just five and a half minutes. That's like half of the time that he normally does it with the Nathan's eating contest. And get this, he beat out a team of four soldiers.
- [29:21]
B
A team of them who could only.
- [29:22]
A
Stomach a combined total of 49 hot dogs themselves. You defeated America's military. Their combined might. Eating, demolishing them eating hot dogs. But, but the feeling of, of not being there must have been strange.
- [29:40]
B
I, I look at it as a loss almost. Then when I lost in 2015, I came back. I annihilated everybody. I, I broke records. And that's what, that's the way I'm looking at, at this contest with Kobayashi. I'm, I'm just super angry that I, I couldn't go. And I'm gonna, I'm going to take it out on this contest.
- [30:20]
A
The emotion that you have in talking about this is unsurprising to me given that I saw you 18 years ago crying after that first loss. And now when I sort of get a sense of how deeply you care about this, I just wonder how this has sort of shaped your relationship with Kobayashi. Because it's been almost 20 years of rivalry and I imagine the relationship has sort of evolved over time. How. Where is it now?
- [30:57]
B
We're not as friendly as you'd expect.
- [30:59]
A
Tell me more.
- [31:01]
B
There's a language barrier. There's. He holds a grudge. I hold a grudge. There's no real communication on social media. He's blocked me.
- [31:11]
A
And wait, when. When did Takeru Kobayashi block you?
- [31:15]
B
Oh, years ago. Years ago.
- [31:18]
A
What did you do?
- [31:20]
B
I would probably say not nice things. So I was young and competitive, but he blocked me. I think it's good. If he was my friend, I, I probably wouldn't be pushing myself as hard.
- [31:34]
A
You know, I'm thinking back to, I guess this was 2010 now. And just one of the things you may have said to Kobayashi or about Kobayashi that may have bothered Kobayashi, it was when he did not appear in the contest. And you're smiling already. You maybe remember this Quote, if he were a man, he'd be here now. End quote. And the reason, of course, Joey, as you continue to grin, is that the reason he wasn't there was because he was banned by the contest, by George Shea, by major league eating, because he refused to sign this exclusivity deal. And now, who would have thunk it? You and him, 14 years later, you kind of have seen exactly what he was going through.
- [32:18]
B
I. I probably shouldn't have questioned his masculinity or manhood. I was young.
- [32:27]
A
I went back and watched the video. Yo, that was crazy, though.
- [32:32]
B
It was insane.
- [32:33]
A
So for people who don't remember, can you remind people, Joey, what happened with him in the crowd and then what.
- [32:39]
B
Happened from there after the contest? The year. So a year he didn't compete.
- [32:44]
A
2010.
- [32:45]
B
Yeah, 2010. He tries to get on stage. They're like, no, you can't get on stage. And, like, the cops are, like, saying, no, get off stage. He's, like, holding on. He has this crazy look in his eye. He was like, oh, I thought the cops were gonna tase him or something. And they ended up arresting him.
- [33:04]
A
He got arrested. He was charged with, like, a multitude of things because he refused to loosen his grip on, like, the. The fence. It was one of the most surreal things I've ever seen.
- [33:16]
B
He had the crazy eye, though, and I respect that. I get the crazy eye.
- [33:21]
A
I didn't realize that both of you were this crazy.
- [33:24]
B
Oh, dude, did you see when that protester came on the stage? Oh, I had the crazy eye when. When I. When I grabbed him by the neck.
- [33:32]
A
Chestnut briefly choked an animal rights protester who got up on stage during the contest and shoved him while he was in the middle of downing hot dogs. Seconds later, Chestnut resumes like nothing even happened.
- [33:45]
B
Then I was like, then I gotta go back to eating.
- [33:48]
A
The craziest part was that you were, like, mid chew. Like, you were still, like, eating.
- [33:57]
B
I still had hot dogs in my left hand. No, I don't like being aggressive. I felt. I felt bad about that.
- [34:03]
A
But the crazy eye took over.
- [34:05]
B
I just had to keep going.
- [34:07]
A
George Shea in all of this, you know, I remember marveling at his introductions of you guys. It's the voice that you hear at the top of every Nathan's Contest champion.
- [34:17]
B
Of the Fourth of July. And he will fight until he is the last man standing on the dirt cupboard covered surface of the earth. For his cause is the cause of victory. His cause is the cause of one nation under God, indivisible.
- [34:35]
A
And I just wonder all these years later, now, having gone through all of this, how do you feel about that guy at this point?
- [34:42]
B
He does an amazing job on the microphone. His goal when he's on that stage is to convince everybody watching that there's. They're watching something amazing. Look on his works, ye Mighty and Despair. He has surpassed the kings of Egypt. There is nothing in this earth that is not now a monument to this man. With 71 hot dogs and buns, 12 victories in Coney island, the champion of the world, Joey Chestna. Yeah, I have nothing but respect for the way he. He announces contests.
- [35:28]
A
That's a very specific scouting report, of course, because he does not simply announce contests. He seems to also be a very prominent hand in the business of major league eating.
- [35:40]
B
No, I don't know. I mean, his name's on a lot of things, but there. There's other people involved. I don't. I really don't think he's a bad guy. I. I think contract issues sometimes. There's probably ways I could have done things different and he could have done things different or. Or other. Or Nathan's or other. Other. Other parties, but I don't. I don't. He's not evil by any means, but. But he. He. He's a. He's a businessman.
- [36:09]
A
There are few signs more. More convincing that competitive eating has become a real sport than the fact that you have all of these business now. Stalemates, stare downs, conflicts like that is the sign that this is real business now, Joey. And it feels like you starting a thing with Netflix as an alternate business opportunity, it all feels like the product of what you've been working really hard for. I wonder if it feels that way to you. I don't.
- [36:38]
B
It was never a goal. The way I look at it is like I got on this weird wave and I. I mean, I loved it. It's been a fun, fun ride, and I didn't know where it was going to take me. I know it was. The wave got bigger and some. Sometimes it got smaller, but I've been on this crazy wave, and I've been really, really lucky. The whole thing.
- [37:20]
A
But before we let Joey Chestnut go here, there was yet another impossible controversy you might say that I needed to find out about. This is a controversy that I believe Joey Chestnut is singularly qualified to fact check. Because while substitute hosting the Dan Levatart show last month, I had the occasion to wonder aloud about a very prominent scientific theory. Is it actually possible to drink a gallon of milk in an hour without vomiting?
- [37:54]
B
No. That's Impossible.
- [37:58]
A
And the guy who very immediately said no there, with a noticeable degree of pretty personal conviction, happens to be a former Florida Marlins bat boy named Nick Cirillo. And what you should know about Nick Cirillo is that in 2005, Nick Cirillo was fired by former Marlins president and noted friend of ptfo, David Sampson. All because former Marlins pitcher Brad Penny bet Nick Cirillo $500 that the bad boy could not drink a gallon of milk in an hour without throwing up.
- [38:39]
B
So the kitchen was tiny. It couldn't have been any more than like a 10 by 10 little room. And I was sitting on the counter and I had to sit there the whole time. That was part of the deal. I couldn't move or do anything or go to the bathroom. I sat in the corner by the coffee machine and drank milk for an hour.
- [39:00]
A
As Brad Penny himself also exclusively confirmed.
- [39:06]
B
I can't even explain to you how hard he threw up.
- [39:09]
A
Please try. And so what I wanted to do was ask the greatest competitive eater of all time whether former Marlins bat boy Nick Cirillo was in fact correct in his estimation that winning that bet is impossible.
- [39:30]
B
I can do it. I can do it in like 11 seconds. I could probably do two gallons, one gallon. You digest it pretty easily for me, at least, because my stomach's big enough and holds onto it and can produce enough of the acid to digest it. But a lot of people there, they got those little baby stomachs.
- [39:51]
A
We had a person we interviewed here who was a bad boy for the Florida Marlins, as they were known back then, 57 minutes.
- [39:59]
B
Ish. And I threw up all over the place.
- [40:01]
A
He was fired because he barfed all over the Marlins clubhouse. Just pure white and like, just super, super strong vomit stream. Projectile, I believe is the term. So I don't know if. If your advice to him is gonna. Is gonna sort of make him feel any better.
- [40:24]
B
Ali, he's gotta stay calm. You know, your body's saying things you gotta, like, no, no, no, you can do it. No negative energy. The biggest thing is stay calm, you know? He did not stay calm.
- [40:38]
A
Truly. The last question, and I'll get out of your life. The happiest you've ever been is.
- [40:46]
B
Oh, my gosh, the happiest I've ever been. Probably my first date with my fiance.
- [40:53]
A
Did she know what she was in for on that first date?
- [40:56]
B
She didn't know what she was in for? No, not at all. It's like the first contest, my love, at first bite. The first time I did that, the lobster contest. Like, oh, my God, I love this. I was made for this. I'm with Bri and first day I was like, oh, my God, we're connecting. Hey, we're fitting together. That was I was made for this. And it's those, those days stand out. There aren't too many, too many times in your life where you feel like you're made for something or somebody.
- [41:31]
A
I believe that that is the most romantic comparison to a lobster eating contest in human history.
- [41:40]
B
Yeah.
- [41:41]
A
Joey Chestnut, thank you for letting me inside of your, your house, your intestines, and also your heart. Thank you.
- [41:51]
B
Thank you. Great to talk to you again.
- [41:54]
A
Likewise, man Pablo Torre finds out is produced by Michael Antonucci, Walter Averoma, Ryan Cortez, Sam Dawig, Juan Galindo, Patrick Kim, neely Loman, Rob McRae, Rachel Miller, Howard Ethan Schreier, Carl Scott, Matt Sullivan, Chris Tuminello and Juliet Warren Steel. Engineering by RG Systems Sound design by NGW Post. Our theme song by John Bravo. All of us will see you on Tuesday.
- [42:30]
B
It.