Mendte in the Morning talks to George Shea about the hot dog eating contest that is held annually in Coney Island on the 4th of July and how it became so big.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, Coney Island is going to be the center of
global attention in a couple of days, because not only
are they holding the hot Dog Eating Championship again on Friday,
July fourth, but Joey Chestnut is back. So let's talk
to George Shay, who was co founder of the Major
(00:21):
League Eating and host of the annual Fourth of July
Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. And George, you are such
a confident guy. And I've had a chance, I've had
the pleasure of talking to you a couple of times before,
and you always seem so confident. I just heard you
talking to Natalie. What are you worried about? What are
(00:42):
you concerned about this weekend?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Well, I had not looked at the weather. And you
know I stopped looking at the weather a couple of
years ago when I looked and it looked great, and
I'm going, Okay, everything's going to be great, and then
the thunderstorm came through halfway through and just washed us out,
and I said, the weather, the weather is just fool's gold.
I'm just gonna do what I gotta do.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
So so you don't even look at a forecast looked.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
I have not looked at the forecast. I have not so,
but I'm glad to hear that it's supposed to be good. Yes,
supposed to be let's stick with that.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Yeah, it's supposed to be beautiful. So now it's going
to rain because we just talked about it. But no, no,
I'm kidding I it's not Don't let that. Don't let
that worry you. It is amazing, George. Let's just give
praise to you for a second. It's amazing what you've
done with a hot dog getting contest. I know there's
competitions around the world with other types of food. Nothing
(01:37):
has captured the world's imagination like this. So I don't
know how you did it, but man, you deserve a
lot of credit. And it is one of the best
promotion jobs in history.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Well I appreciate that, and I have I have two partners,
my brother Richard and Dave bare But also, you know
what is very true about this, Nathan's has been like,
you know, we do the pr and we did all
of the you know, the sort of promotion of this.
But Nathan's is a great is a great partner in
that sense. Like a lot of people, you go, I'd
like to try this and they go nope, and I'd
(02:13):
like to try this. We'll put it through the We'll
put it through the group and see what happens. It's
not like that. They're like old school in New York.
Let's do what's fun, let's let's do what will be interesting.
And that's always been the way it is. And then
I also think that a lot of this comes from
the fact that it's linked to Coney Island, and Coney
Island has its own myth, its own sort of momentum,
(02:35):
and all this sort of goodwill behind it, and a
lot of it is linked to that.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Let's talk about the competition and why it is so
exciting this year. It's it's funny when when Joey Chestnut
didn't take part, it was almost like a perfect storm
of setting up for a bigger story when he comes back.
So again, this has worked out perfect.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
We know. I would say I thought it was unfare
fortunate that he wasn't there last year. I wanted him
to be there, as we all did. But with that said,
from a public relations standpoint, it was fantastic. We got
more press than we have ever gotten before, and that's
how we get our buzz. It's all through earned media,
it's all through stories and and that sort of comes
(03:17):
out of that. It's not driven by advertising or you know,
social media. And then after a huge wave last year,
we've had an even bigger wave this year. So it's
really good and I think it sets everybody up for
a truly triumphant return to Coney Island, where previously he
was the element of it that fans wanted to see,
(03:38):
but it was a foregone conclusion that it was going
to win. So that now him coming back really provides
sort of a punctuation mark on, you know, an exclamation
point on the sort of effort.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
But there is sort of a competition this year. I mean,
he's expected to win, I get that, but there's other people,
especially with his absence last year, that have risen. So
talk about the competition.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Well, first of all, Mickey Pseudo, the female winner, will
be defending her title and her record of fifty one
the hot dogs and buns in ten minutes. Man, she
is she is equally dominant in that in that contest.
But you're you're quite right. Last year was a much
more competitive event and it was much more exciting from
the pure sports angle of it. And Patrick Bertoletti, who's
(04:25):
an old friend by the way of Joey Chestnut. They
sort of grew up on the circuit eating circuit together.
Patrick ate fifty eight hot dogs and buns, and he
is the reigning champion, so he's gonna They're both going
to be back. You know, I have heard on the
street that Patrick has upped his numbers considerably, But if
you think about it, fifty eight to seventy plus, that's
(04:48):
a pretty big deal.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
That's a big jump. So I guess the big question is,
since there may not be that much of a competition,
is will Joey Chestnut break the record?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
It's always that is always the question. Very dramatic year
in twenty twenty one when he came and only was racing, racing,
racing to break the record, and only did it in
the last bite, in the last second. Honestly, I was
I was counting it down, and that was seventy six
hot dogs and buns, and so he would have to
break that record seventy six and ten minutes. However, Vegas,
(05:24):
the odds have him going out sort of as an
over under of seventy one. So I'm not sure. You know,
I'm not a betting man and I can't, you know,
as the leader of the world body that governs all
stomach centric sports, I have to I have to refrain
from that, but that seems a little low.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Hey, thanks a lot for talking to us, Congratulations on
your success, and we'll all be watching this weekend. Thanks
a lot, George Shay co fauch and happy Fourth of July.
Same to you, Sir George sha, co founder of Major
League Eating and host of the annual Fourth of July
Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest.
Well, Coney Island is going to be the center of
global attention in a couple of days, because not only
are they holding the hot Dog Eating Championship again on Friday,
July fourth, but Joey Chestnut is back. So let's talk
to George Shay, who was co founder of the Major
(00:21):
League Eating and host of the annual Fourth of July
Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. And George, you are such
a confident guy. And I've had a chance, I've had
the pleasure of talking to you a couple of times before,
and you always seem so confident. I just heard you
talking to Natalie. What are you worried about? What are
(00:42):
you concerned about this weekend?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Well, I had not looked at the weather. And you
know I stopped looking at the weather a couple of
years ago when I looked and it looked great, and
I'm going, Okay, everything's going to be great, and then
the thunderstorm came through halfway through and just washed us out,
and I said, the weather, the weather is just fool's gold.
I'm just gonna do what I gotta do.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
So so you don't even look at a forecast looked.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
I have not looked at the forecast. I have not so,
but I'm glad to hear that it's supposed to be good. Yes,
supposed to be let's stick with that.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Yeah, it's supposed to be beautiful. So now it's going
to rain because we just talked about it. But no, no,
I'm kidding I it's not Don't let that. Don't let
that worry you. It is amazing, George. Let's just give
praise to you for a second. It's amazing what you've
done with a hot dog getting contest. I know there's
competitions around the world with other types of food. Nothing
(01:37):
has captured the world's imagination like this. So I don't
know how you did it, but man, you deserve a
lot of credit. And it is one of the best
promotion jobs in history.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Well I appreciate that, and I have I have two partners,
my brother Richard and Dave bare But also, you know
what is very true about this, Nathan's has been like,
you know, we do the pr and we did all
of the you know, the sort of promotion of this.
But Nathan's is a great is a great partner in
that sense. Like a lot of people, you go, I'd
like to try this and they go nope, and I'd
(02:13):
like to try this. We'll put it through the We'll
put it through the group and see what happens. It's
not like that. They're like old school in New York.
Let's do what's fun, let's let's do what will be interesting.
And that's always been the way it is. And then
I also think that a lot of this comes from
the fact that it's linked to Coney Island, and Coney
Island has its own myth, its own sort of momentum,
(02:35):
and all this sort of goodwill behind it, and a
lot of it is linked to that.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
Let's talk about the competition and why it is so
exciting this year. It's it's funny when when Joey Chestnut
didn't take part, it was almost like a perfect storm
of setting up for a bigger story when he comes back.
So again, this has worked out perfect.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
We know. I would say I thought it was unfare
fortunate that he wasn't there last year. I wanted him
to be there, as we all did. But with that said,
from a public relations standpoint, it was fantastic. We got
more press than we have ever gotten before, and that's
how we get our buzz. It's all through earned media,
it's all through stories and and that sort of comes
(03:17):
out of that. It's not driven by advertising or you know,
social media. And then after a huge wave last year,
we've had an even bigger wave this year. So it's
really good and I think it sets everybody up for
a truly triumphant return to Coney Island, where previously he
was the element of it that fans wanted to see,
(03:38):
but it was a foregone conclusion that it was going
to win. So that now him coming back really provides
sort of a punctuation mark on, you know, an exclamation
point on the sort of effort.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
But there is sort of a competition this year. I mean,
he's expected to win, I get that, but there's other people,
especially with his absence last year, that have risen. So
talk about the competition.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Well, first of all, Mickey Pseudo, the female winner, will
be defending her title and her record of fifty one
the hot dogs and buns in ten minutes. Man, she
is she is equally dominant in that in that contest.
But you're you're quite right. Last year was a much
more competitive event and it was much more exciting from
the pure sports angle of it. And Patrick Bertoletti, who's
(04:25):
an old friend by the way of Joey Chestnut. They
sort of grew up on the circuit eating circuit together.
Patrick ate fifty eight hot dogs and buns, and he
is the reigning champion, so he's gonna They're both going
to be back. You know, I have heard on the
street that Patrick has upped his numbers considerably, But if
you think about it, fifty eight to seventy plus, that's
(04:48):
a pretty big deal.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
That's a big jump. So I guess the big question is,
since there may not be that much of a competition,
is will Joey Chestnut break the record?
Speaker 2 (05:00):
It's always that is always the question. Very dramatic year
in twenty twenty one when he came and only was racing, racing,
racing to break the record, and only did it in
the last bite, in the last second. Honestly, I was
I was counting it down, and that was seventy six
hot dogs and buns, and so he would have to
break that record seventy six and ten minutes. However, Vegas,
(05:24):
the odds have him going out sort of as an
over under of seventy one. So I'm not sure. You know,
I'm not a betting man and I can't, you know,
as the leader of the world body that governs all
stomach centric sports, I have to I have to refrain
from that, but that seems a little low.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Hey, thanks a lot for talking to us, Congratulations on
your success, and we'll all be watching this weekend. Thanks
a lot, George Shay co fauch and happy Fourth of July.
Same to you, Sir George sha, co founder of Major
League Eating and host of the annual Fourth of July
Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest.
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