- 6/27/2025
The commissioner of Major League Eating - George Shea - joins the show for details behind the return of Joey Chestnut returning to the 4th of July stage next Friday.
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00:00Joey Chestnut and Major League Eating and Nathan's, there was a lot of frayed feelings
00:06and frayed relationships. Take us behind the scenes. How did you, Major League Eating,
00:13Nathan's, Joey Chestnut, his sponsors, how did you patch it up so that he is back for the hot
00:20dog eating contest? Well, you know, it was really well reported in the media and covered extensively.
00:28And what the media said was, you know, that there was a contract dispute over, you know,
00:35a rival sponsor and, you know, a back and forth and this and that. So, you know, I think the media
00:43was largely accurate. The one thing that people probably don't know is that all parties were
00:50talking until the very last moment, until the 4th of July. We didn't get it together last year,
00:56but the conversations continued and Joey continued to compete in Major League Eating events.
01:03And we just, we just kept sort of talking and talking and it really actually took a long time.
01:08But, you know, I guess it was about two weeks ago, we were all able to come together and he is going
01:14to be there. And I have to say, the fans and media are extremely excited as am I. And it's,
01:22it's, it's sort of sets up a very dramatic and triumphant return.
01:27And George, as like the thing with Ace Bailey, recently in the NBA draft, he didn't want to go
01:33to certain teams and his team was, you know, they're trying to manipulate the draft. And then
01:38Shador Sanders with him trying to impress, not impress NFL teams, they think they should impress him.
01:44Athletes are changing. Are you seeing, are you seeing athletes change in your sport as well?
01:49A hundred percent. And I think, I think it comes down to the point where even in competitive eating,
01:56which is not, you know, as longstanding a sport as football, baseball, basketball, et cetera,
02:01you, you have a star culture, I think everywhere, perhaps in the world, but certainly in the United
02:07States. And the eaters recognize that when they gain this position, that, that they need to be paid
02:14for that. And, you know, so there is no one in our world. And I think even culturally in the United
02:21States, who's really gained the position that Joey has in particular, I would say that literally in
02:27the United States, an athletic figure, a sports figure, cultural figure who has become associated
02:33with the 4th of July. I mean, there's, you know, Nathan's is, has been long associated with the 4th of
02:39July, but Joey is now the 4th of July. And that has value. But even if you take it a step further,
02:46is there anyone in sport who dominates their particular sport, the way that Joey Chestnut has
02:53dominated competitive eating? I think the answer to that is no. And I think, I think that, you know,
03:01a lot of comparisons made with Tom Brady and, and, you know, his championship rings and et cetera,
03:06et cetera, but there's no one as dominant as Joey in their individual sport. And as I said, you know,
03:13Tom Brady, you know, Michael Jordan, I mean, just go on and on. There are tons and tons of sports
03:20heroes, but they are not necessarily American heroes, right? So maybe Simone Biles or, you know,
03:29some of the other sort of Olympic athletes, but Joey's connection to the United States of America,
03:35I think is very powerful.
03:37So is he the immediate, uh, favorite for next Friday? Like he comes back, the announcement is
03:44made and the odds just go off the board for, uh, for him to win it again.
03:49You know, yes, he's without any question, the odds on favorite to win Patrick Bertoletti,
03:56a good friend of his eight 58 hot dogs and buns last year that the rumor on the street is that he
04:03has upped that number, but has he upped it into the seventies? I don't know about that,
04:08but the Vegas odds right now on Joey, the over under is 71, which I think personally,
04:15I cannot as chair of major league eating the world body that governs all stomach centric sport,
04:20I cannot weigh in or wager. But to me, that seems like a very conservative number on that. Um,
04:26I suspect a lot of people will be taking the over George, you mentioned, you know,
04:30fans and major league eating are thrilled that Joey's coming back next Friday, but what about
04:36his competitors? You know, are, are they just excited for the fact that they're going to go up
04:41against the best and they want to take down the best or are they bummed out because now,
04:47you know, the, the, the goat is back. Well, I think there's a reality factor. I don't know if
04:53they would like literally sort of be, uh, down about that or bummed out, but, but last year,
05:01these are the, all these folks are friends with Joey and, and as are we, um, but you know, he was gone
05:08that opened up the contest and it became extremely competitive. So I think you have a situation this
05:13year where they begin to think, I just don't know that I'm getting into the seventies. Um, so it
05:19changes slightly the disposition of their performance. So, I mean, I do think it has an
05:24impact on them. Um, but I do think also kind of, as you say, they will be involved in this sort of
05:31semi-historic moment when Joey comes back, right? Like, so we've been very fortunate and some would say
05:38that there's been a lot of sort of machinations behind the scenes, but we've been very fortunate
05:43to have a scandal or issue or controversy almost every year. And that drives the media. So last year
05:51was deeply unfortunate that he couldn't be there. But on the other hand, we got more press than we
05:57had in about 15 years. Right. And then, you know, great viewership, you know, great audience.
06:03It's going to be much more this year, right? You're going to, you're going to really boost
06:07it because we've got all this momentum from his return. So I think the, the, the event benefits
06:13ultimately, but doesn't the other competitors like with the sports, you know, rest rust argument,
06:19George, where hell he made it. He he's a year out of Nathan's. Maybe he can't do what he did.
06:25Well, but he did the competition against Kobayashi though. He was up against maybe even tougher
06:30competition. He hasn't been rusty.
06:33Yeah. I don't actually think Kobayashi would be Pat Bertoletti, but I think it's a very good
06:38point. He has been competing even in hot dogs. I was with him. I would just like to, to let you
06:44guys know in Knoxville just about a month ago when he won the dead end barbecue bologna eating
06:52championship with 14 pounds of bologna in 10 minutes, which was nothing short of poetic.
06:58Really? It was spectacular. Is there an avocado toast, uh, record? Because I think I'd like to,
07:04uh, to enter some sort of competition there. Well, no, but perhaps for you, the poke bowl,
07:10the poke bowl, uh, uh, uh, contest. They, you know, we, we have almost every kitchen cabinet food,
07:16but avocado toast has not happened yet. Oh really? So maybe I could, uh, maybe I could start that and do
07:22it under the umbrella of major league eating some sort of rev share here, George.
07:27I, we're, we're always open to ideas like that. And, and I would be very pleased to hold your arm
07:34up as champion of the avocado, the avocado toast eating champion of the world.
07:40Wow. Yeah. That you say, perhaps when I'm in Florida next, we should do something. We should,
07:46we should do it. Cause when I hear that come out of your mouth, raise your arm as the avocado toast
07:51eating champion of the world. And it's coming out of the mouth of George Shea, the commissioner of
07:56major league eating the face and the voice of the Nathan's hot dog eating contest. It gives me chills.
08:02I'm not even going to lie. I mean, maybe this is something that we can pursue. I mean,
08:06I'm 55, but it's never too old to live out a dream. Is it George?
08:10It is not, you know, it was the day he heard the solemn call to heed the, the, the needs of a
08:17nation and, um, and, and, and, and, and, and advance the purpose of the United States. Yes. I would
08:24like that very much. And along those lines, I would like to say this, it's a little bit of a departure,
08:29but I am hosting and major league eating is sanctioning the first ever all goat, like,
08:37like actual goat animal eating contest. They will be eating invasive weeds. And that's the week after
08:43the fourth. And you can imagine my excitement because think of this from a franchise perspective,
08:49if we can get beyond the human species into the animal kingdom, think of the opportunity that that
08:54creates for us. So, so we will, we, you know, not only the 4th of July, but the next week,
08:59the first ever all animal, a goat invasive eating. And that would, and that would be so much better
09:05for you as the commissioner of a league. Cause then you don't have to deal with the personalities
09:10like Joey Chestnut and Kobayashi. I mean, you're dealing with animals. They can't voice, uh, concerns
09:15over the pay or whatever. That's, that's exactly right. And, and I think they're domesticated animals.
09:23And if we get into the wild animals, which obviously just logistically is more difficult,
09:28but, but, but, you know, then, then I think we'll have, we'll have trouble. Um, so I'm very excited
09:34about that. And I would remind you guys, I know that you, you recall this, but in 2011, we had the
09:40first ever elephant versus human, um, hot dog bun eating contest. And we were, we were destroyed by
09:47the elephants. They didn't even know they were in a contest and they destroyed us.
09:51So like, so like gray house racing or horse racing, where now we can bet on the big black
10:01goat. So yes. Well, yes. There's one goat called butter ball who seems to have the edge. I don't
10:09know if goats are like cows where they have multiple stomachs, but if that's the case, then obviously
10:14they have an advantage over humans. Like you, I don't think you should be eating against
10:18competition though. Shouldn't you know the, the digestive system of the animals competing?
10:24Well, that presumes that I'm a responsible individual who focuses on detail. Um, I'm going
10:32to roll up to the goat eating contest with my hat and think about what I say on the subway.
10:36That's, that's like, it's a very, it's a very, it's a very good cause because it's for Riverside
10:46Park in New York city, which is a great park. And so it's pro bono in which case that that's
10:51Latin for less preparation on my part. I can confirm by the way, goats do have multiple stomachs,
11:00George. They, they do in fact have multiple, even less work that you have to do now.
11:06Thank you. I don't know whether that was chat GPT or Google, but that's very helpful.
11:11Less work. Consider that my resume, my, uh, me turning my resume for the research department
11:16at major league eating. Yes. Who's the George, who's the biggest, who's the, who's the biggest
11:21breakout crossover star in competitive eating history? Is it Joey Chestnut? I guess,
11:30Kobayashi, you could make an argument because he was under your umbrella or is it Badlands Booker
11:36who is at this level of subscriptions on YouTube and he was on America's Got Talent and he seems to
11:44be all over the place as well. Who's the biggest breakout star who was ever currently or once under
11:51the major league eating umbrella? So Badlands is certainly up there. It would be Matt Stoney,
11:59who was a young man. Um, it started at 18 in our sport and I was with him. We were in a layover.
12:06We were both going to a contest in some, in the hinterland somewhere. And he said to me,
12:10we were hanging out at the airport, young, young guys, sweet guy. And he said, I may start, um,
12:15like a YouTube channel. And if I could get like a hundred thousand followers, I can make some real
12:20money. And I said, you know, that sounds great. Good luck on that. Like, you know, you know,
12:23heartfelt and then now he has 16.5 million followers on, on, um, YouTube and obviously
12:33yes, 16.5. Um, and he makes millions of dollars a year. Badlands has 3.5, 3.6 million. He's making
12:42a significant amount of money. He's well known. I was with Badlands in Coney Island. Um, we were doing
12:49like a rap video. It was, it's of course my rapping is atrocious and embarrassing, but we,
12:54that's what we were doing. So a kid came up to us. He was shaking, literally shaking. He was so
13:01excited to meet Badlands. Now Badlands has made his real fame. Um, he's been eating since 1997,
13:08but his fame came in chugging and he is the chugging champion of the world this year. And this is breaking
13:15news. I don't know if you have like a ticker sound or something, but this is breaking news.
13:19We do. We don't know how to play it, but we do just rest assured that we have one.
13:23Okay. Very good. Well, nonetheless, breaking news, Badlands will be trying, attempting to chug
13:30two gallons of Nathan's lemonade, which has never been done. And I don't believe it could be done
13:36whether your stomach is human or goat. I mean, it's just going to require a lot of capacity.
13:41You know, I was thinking about this when I was preparing and I use the term preparing loosely,
13:47uh, for your appearance today, because I was going to ask about avocado toast for myself.
13:52What about some sort of chugging competition for Alfredo sauce, which is where Crowder could come in
13:58because he loves Alfredo sauce. And I wonder has Badlands ever, you know, chugged a gallon of
14:04Alfredo sauce and how would that, uh, how would that work out?
14:07Well, Badlands has not, but, but I think it's just a matter of not having the opportunity.
14:13He would absolutely do that. And, and I fear Crowder that he would, that he would beat you
14:19soundly. Like I've seen him just down, like just enormous amounts of fluid. It doesn't have to be
14:27actually a drink or a water. Um, but also you, you, you bring up something where we touch on
14:32the eating style used for baked beans, which is not chewing and not eating, but actually
14:39to pour the baked beans into your mouth and essentially drink them. And, um, I believe the,
14:46the record is 10 pounds held by Gideon Oji, 10 pounds of baked beans in one minute and 45 seconds.
14:52Oh, almost, almost like a boba tea, right? That would have the consistency of just downing a,
14:58uh, those boba pellets. Well, this, this is, you'd be in the arena of Alfredo sauce. That,
15:04that is a little bit more viscous. I'm gonna start practicing. Yeah, you should. Well,
15:09I mean, you eat plenty of Alfredo sauce, so consider yourself already training for this.
15:14The underdogs went all the time with Russia, US and the Olympics. Come on now.
15:17You never know what can happen. No. Yeah. Um, George, tell everybody how they can watch
15:22the Nathan's hot dog eating contest next Friday. So it will be on ESPN. The women's
15:30will be on ESPN three live. Then they will recap that on the men's, which takes place at 12 noon
15:36Eastern. And, um, it will be on various different, um, ESPN channels at that time. And then, um,
15:43they re air that two or three times, um, that day. And then again, the next day, but if you want
15:49to come in off the beach or from wherever you are and watch it at three or four o'clock, five o'clock,
15:53they're re airing it. Mickey Sudo, still the, uh, odds on women's favorite
15:5851 hot dogs and buns, which, which was more than Kobayashi ate when he first, uh, broke the record in
16:06the U S and astounded our country. Um, she's going to be trying to break that record. Last
16:12year, when Joey was out, Patrick Bertoletti ate 50, 58, she wanted to compete against the men
16:19because she would have come in like third. She thought she might be able to win. Um,
16:23she still, she would still come in third or fourth in the men's contest. That's how good she is.
16:28Will the goats contest be separated by gender? No, the goats eat at the, uh, at the table, just like
16:38a family, men and women alike. And are there male and female goats or is one? I don't know why are
16:46you going to yell at me Crowder? Well, cause they make babies. Well, no, but don't they call like a
16:51cow or something in a steer is the other or whatever. Like, so I thought maybe a goat was the male and,
16:57and a, uh, a mule was the, there may be something that we, we should be on Google right now because
17:03I think you're quite right. Like there's a, there's a name for, for like a, for a male goat,
17:09but right there will be male and female goats. It is my understanding. And my understanding is
17:16superficial that the female goat is bigger than the male goat, just like a spider or something like
17:23that. Interesting. That is really, it is truly fascinating. I just, I love the inner workings.
17:30I love the, I love, I love the fact that he's got time for the Nathan's hot dog eating contest,
17:36which is a national event. I mean, it really signifies summer and 4th of July yet. He's also
17:42got enough time to devote to these goats eating. And what are they eating again? The goats
17:47they'll be eating invasive weeds. And I want to point out that I'm giving back. I'm giving back
17:54in this case. And, and I always appreciate, I like to give back because I can determine how much I give
17:59and, and, and it's not often that much. And, and so, so it's really my, my job in life. It's,
18:07it's, it's really a ministry. It's, it's really a public service and that's what I'm trying to do.
18:12Right. Fantastic. Will the goats have names? Like, will I, or will I just be pointing at a goat?
18:19The problem with the goat arena, the goat sector of our sport is that people are indulging in cute
18:27names like Malamar and Butterball. And that's like, it's the nicknames, unless you have a really good
18:34nickname, like for instance, one I made up for the eaters, the red horse of death. I'm not going to use
18:40those on the 4th of July, like Joe, the, the stomach Manchetti or something, not going to happen,
18:48not going to happen. But, but in the, I cannot do anything unless I were to rename the goats,
18:53because it's not a nickname. It is the name Malamar. So, so I'm not, I'm not really sure. That's just where
18:59we are. That's just where we are. Right. Well, it's at the nascent stages of this goat eating contest,
19:05but 10 years from now, I mean, we'll be talking about the red goat of death and, uh, and it could be,
19:10uh, combat sport, who knows, uh, George Shea. He is the commissioner of major league eating.
19:16I feel like he is just kindred spirit when it comes to the tenor of this show, but I really
19:23am excited one week from today, the Nathan's hot dog eating contest on Coney Island. You can watch
19:29it on ESPN and it is the return after a one year absence of Joey Chestnut, a true American hero,
19:38George, good luck with the contest. And as always, we appreciate your time.
19:43I would be very fun to talk to you guys and I look forward to talking to you in the future.
19:49Yeah. When's the goat thing? Cause I want to have you on before and after that. I really want to,
19:53I really want to get into that. When is that?
19:56The goat is the Saturday after the 4th of July, but I will hit you with any breaking news. We have,
20:02you will be the first to know you got some today, but I'll keep you posted.
20:07Please appreciate that. Thank you, George. Thank you. All right. George Shea from major
20:13league eating. I mean, just, I want, I, I love living in that world, his world.
20:20There's a species of animal. It's that's what it's called. Well, no, if I say,
20:26is it a male bull or a female bull, you would go, no, no, there is no female bull.
20:32A bull is a male cow. Is it a cow's a male cow? It's like deer. There's deer, there's bucks and
20:40does, but they're both. We know that for sure. Yes, we know it, but I'm telling you this fact.
20:46Because there's horses, there's fillies, there's mares. No, they're horses. Are they?
20:55There's also species that can turn into another sex in order to reproduce. I believe the seahorse
21:03is one of them in the ocean, Crowder. So maybe the goat is similar in that fact.
21:08Parrot fish can do it too. Goats aren't changing their sex. Says who?
21:13Says the god. Well, we'll see what raw, we'll see what George, we'll see what George J has to say
21:21after the, uh, the Saturday, after the, uh, the Nathan's hot dog eating contest.
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