If, 20 years ago, you would have said one of the most recognizable athletes in America would be a competitive eater, you may have been laughed out of the room. But most everyone has heard of Joey Chestnut, the person who helped turn this sport into one of the biggest draws in the world.
Joey is the 16-time Nathan's Famous hot dog eating champion, and he was the only winner of the St. Elmo shrimp cocktail eating championship here in Indy until last year. Joey is also a Hoosier – he lives in Westfield, and he spoke to WFYI’s Ray Steele ahead of his effort to regain his shrimp cocktail title.
JOEY CHESTNUT: Thank you for bringing up that loss.
RAY STEELE: Well, we have to talk about that eventually. But for people who don't know your full story, what the world would cause you to want to do something like eating contests in the first place, much less make a living at it?
CHESTNUT: It wasn't my plan. Growing up, I was doing everything right, getting the engineering degree. And I got signed up to a contest when I was 21. And I fell in love with it. I remember growing up, I was always kind of like a self conscious about eating. That I was never full or if I'd eat fast, I was worried that I get made fun of. And then it was it was the craziest thing. When I when I finally did that first contest, I was like, oh my God, I was made for this. And I became a weekend warrior. And it just, I got really lucky.
STEELE: The St. Elmo shrimp cocktail eating championship is now in its 10th year. What's the difference between chugging hotdogs or any other food and putting away the famous heat of the shrimp cocktail?
CHESTNUT: There is a different kind of heat to it. It's that horseradish. It's intense. It's explosive. And it's something I took a while for me to build a tolerance for it. And I, I'm hoping that I still have that tolerance. It’s different hot dogs. You grew up eating hot dogs. It's very natural. So, this one, this contest is a little bit different. And it's special.
STEELE: You're we were so used to seeing you win everything. And then last year happened.
CHESTNUT: Last year happened. Last year was a rough year in general, I had a bunch of injuries. And my leg -- I had an infection in my leg for a long time. And those are excuses. I had a bad year last year, and I was slow. And I actually didn't even get second or third. I think I got fourth. And so, this year, I'm hoping to just find my happy place. Get into my rhythm and put down some shrimp cocktail.
STEELE: You're kind of the hometown favorite now living in Central Indiana, living in Westfield. You could live anywhere you wanted to as big as you have become in this sport. Why do you live here?
CHESTNUT: Oh my gosh. Like you said 10 years ago, I came here for the first time and I fell in love with Indiana. And every time I'd come here, I'd meet new people and just realized like, oh my god, I could live here and it just got over the years it got stronger and stronger. And eventually I was ready to make a move, and the Indianapolis area was calling out to me.
In case you’re wondering, yes – I did eat head to head against Joey Chestnut. And lost. He downed a regular plate of shrimp cocktail in about 15 seconds – I did so in about a minute and 20 seconds.
Joey Chestnut competes in the St. Elmo shrimp cocktail eating championships Saturday on South Street in Indianapolis as part of Big Ten Championship weekend. Information is at MajorLeagueEating.com.
