Nathan’s Hot Dog Contest marred by alleged cheating scandal

This year, the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Contest was hotly contested on the 4th of July. With longtime champ Joey Chestnut banned from the event, the other competitors saw their chance to snatch the vacant throne. Sadly, contestant Nick Wehry’s eyes were too big for his stomach, and he wound up accused of cheating to try and pump his numbers up.

The Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Contest’s sterling reputation appears to be tarnished by Nick Wehry’s cheating scandal:

Today's cover: Nick Wehry, husband of women’s Nathan’s hot dog contest winner Miki Sudo, accused of cheating to join ‘elite’ class of competitive eaters https://t.co/VSlqoYkVda pic.twitter.com/30TcQi4dIF

— New York Post (@nypost) July 10, 2024

The competitive eating world has been rocked by hard-to-swallow claims that a contender in this year’s Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest cheated to beef up his score.

Nick Wehry — husband of women’s division champion Miki Sudo — is being accused of using sleight of hand trickery during the July Fourth contest in order to inflate his tally of eaten hot dogs and falsely place himself among the sport’s elite contenders, according to two sources closely involved in the competition.

“100% he cheated,” one source told The Post Tuesday. 

On the day of the competition, Wehry’s score was a respectable 46.75 hot dogs when they called it out at Coney Island, good enough for a fourth-place finish, according to footage and reports, including by The Post and ESPN. 

But that figure later jumped to 51.75 on the official Major League Eating (MLE) results website, allegedly giving him credit for five full wieners more than he was actually served during the competition, the sources said. …

Wehry has been accused of “stealing plates” from another competitor’s stack and putting them on his own place setting to raise his score above 50. …

One source suggested that Wehry asked for a recount after the initial judge’s tallying took place, concerned his true total wouldn’t cut the mustard in the highly competitive field of contenders.

“I can only assume he demanded a recount after stealing the plate,” the source claimed.

Woah, hold up. You’re telling me this guy got credit for five whole extra wieners after requesting a recount? I’m not an expert in the judging process, but I have to assume the judges are experienced enough not to miss five hotdogs, especially on the biggest stage of them all.

At the same time, I understand where the desperation might come from. I’m not saying I agree with it, but society has conditioned many men to try to be more successful than their partners.

With his wife being the women’s division champ, he probably felt insecure and wanted to prove that he was worthy of being a champion as well. Imagine being a middling pro tennis player and being married to Serena Williams, for example.

Sadly, cheating simply isn’t the way to get that done. If anything, if he can cheat in their chosen profession, where else will he cheat?

Food for thought, Miki.

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