Among the special rules for the Joey Chestnut-Takeru Kobayashi hot dog eating contest Monday is no dunking hot dog buns in water.
But it’s another rule that has prompted concern from Chestnut.
Neither he nor Kobayashi will be permitted to separate the hot dog from the bun to pour water on the hot dog.
‘It worries me a little,’ Chestnut told USA TODAY Sports. ‘Sometimes the (hot dog) rolls out of the bun. It’s not clear if I have to put in back in or I can just grab ’em both at the same time.’
Although Chestnut tried to preserve dunking, he said he generally likes the rules.
In a news release Thursday, Netflix said penalties may be issued for breaking of rules, or regurgitation. It’s unclear what those penalties will be.
Though he lost the negotiations over dunking, Chestnut said he prevailed elsewhere. Such as the height of the table, which will be 36 inches rather than 30 inches when the competition takes place at HyperX Arena Las Vegas inside Luxor Hotel & Casino.
‘Instead of eating off a normal shorter table, I got counter height,’ said Chestnut, who at 6-1 is five inches taller than the 5-8 Kobayashi. ‘I won’t have to bend over as much.’
On the metaphorical table once sat a curious rule: The winner would be the first to eat 80 hot dogs rather the person who at the most hot dogs in 10 minutes. Kobayashi said he rejected it.
‘My managers pitched it to Netflix before asking me about it,’ Chestnut said. ‘They knew my goal was to eat 80 on the Fourth (before he was banned from competing at Nathan’s).’
They’re actually in agreement about something, too. The contest will be less messy than the other times they’ve devoured hot dogs.
Kobayashi said dunking hot dogs is ‘messy and filthy’ and he also had the viewers in mind with the rule barring it.
‘It is a lot cleaner,’ Chestnut said. ‘My fiancee says it’s less gross to watch.’
Joey Chestnut vs. Takeru Kobayashi undercard
Matt Stonie, who beat Chestnut at Nathan’s in 2015 and remains the last person to beat Chestnut there, will compete against a trio of medal-winning Olympians.
The trio is Ryan Lochte, a 12-time medalist with six golds; Ryan Murphy, a five-time gold medalist; and Max Irving, who won a bronze at the Paris Olympics.
They’ll be eating chicken wings. Which probably suits Lochte well.
In 2016, he told bonappetit.com that wings and pizza were two of his favorite foods when he was training and eating 7,500 to 8,000 calories a day.
But here’s what the swimmers should know: In 2015, Stonie ate 241 Hooters wings in 10 minutes. Best of luck, swimmers.
It’ll be watermelon for Leah Shutkever, a speed eater who will attempt to set a world record for watermelon consumed in three minutes.