# Nathans Hot Dog eating contest **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [July 5, 2015, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nathans-hot-dog-eating-contest/724293 "2015-07-05T03:23:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2015, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nathans-hot-dog-eating-contest/724293/1 "2015-07-05T03:23:18Z")
just watched this disgusting tradition today, and the sound was down on the tv. So if they mentioned this, I didn’t hear it. However, what are the rules on regurgitation? I know that if you puke during the contest, you lose. But these people don’t actually leave with all that food in ther stomachs, do they? The winner, Matt Stonie, ate 62 hot dogs in 10 minutes, beating 8-time champ Joey Chestnut’s 60. (I don’t follow this “sport” at all, and only remembered Chestnut because he beat that kid Kobayashi, the lawyer from The Usual Suspects). Anyway, for all these eating contests, do the contestants get to purge all that food without digesting it? Say 10 minutes after the contest is over? Because I can’t imagine eating that many hotdogs (or bacon, or mayo, or any other food) would be good for anyone’s digestive system if it was actually processed the entire way through. ---
**Author:** ![kk\_fusion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kk_fusion/32/15276_2.png) [@kk\_fusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kk_fusion)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2015, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nathans-hot-dog-eating-contest/724293/2 "2015-07-05T17:44:52Z")
According to interviews, they generally keep it down after a contest or training session. If the stomach can hold it, it’s no problem for the rest of the digestive system. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nathans-hot-dog-eating-contest/724293/3 "2015-07-06T00:05:00Z")
> [@kk\_fusion](#): > > According to interviews, they generally keep it down after a contest or training session. If the stomach can hold it, it’s no problem for the rest of the digestive system. I’ve actually been doing a bit of research on this, and it would appear that many (if not all) contestants throw up before the food goes through the digestive system. Here is a quote from one person who claims to know: > [@](#): > > As the friend of a girl that dates one of the top three finishers and having attended the Nathan’s private after party every year I can tell you that they all puke it up 100% of the time. Every contest, no matter the food. The euphemism is “vacating.” I also found an interview of a former eating champion (can’t find the article again now I am looking for it, but he is no longer a part of the contests because he wouldn’t join the one professional organization that now runs most of these contests) who said the same thing. He claimed that most if not all competitors throw up sometime after the contest, but they all seem to like to perpetuate the “myth” that everyone just digests it. Vomiting DOES make the most sense… I can’t imagine what 60 hot dogs at once (or any of the other foods consumed in bulk) would do to a human’s body. And there is no reason to force your body to deal with all of the fat, calories, sugar, sodium, etc. once the contest is over. I will post the article if I find it again. ETA: Found it. [http://www.avclub.com/article/competitive-eater-patrick-bertoletti-hot-dogs-vomi-206454](http://www.avclub.com/article/competitive-eater-patrick-bertoletti-hot-dogs-vomi-206454) ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nathans-hot-dog-eating-contest/724293/4 "2015-07-06T13:55:17Z")
What I want to know is, are the hot dogs the same size as before? Seriously - the Nathan’s hot dogs sold in stores have reduced in size (from 2 oz each to I think 1.5, and the 4 oz “dinner franks” seem to have been replaced with 2.4 oz “jumbo franks”). ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nathans-hot-dog-eating-contest/724293/5 "2015-07-06T15:45:11Z")
You’re better to leave the sound on and just avoid looking at the TV. Some of the competitor intros were brilliant! One of the best was for the guy who "broke up with his longtime girlfriend this week, leaving an emotional void inside that he plans to fill with hot dogs. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2015, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nathans-hot-dog-eating-contest/724293/6 "2015-07-06T17:15:26Z")
> [@Casey1505](#): > > You’re better to leave the sound on and just avoid looking at the TV. Some of the competitor intros were brilliant! One of the best was for the guy who "broke up with his longtime girlfriend this week, leaving an emotional void inside that he plans to fill with hot dogs. Don’t forget - he _also_ had his pet dog euthanized!