Update: The 2008 Nathan’s Hotdog Eating Contest Result is now available. Contest was held at Nathan’s original restaurant in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York.

UPDATE: Congratulations to Joey Chestnut for successfully defending his title and winning the 2008 Nathan’s Mustard Belt. He won through a first-ever overtime “dog off” of the hot dog-eating contest. Thanks to Joey, the belt stays in the US for this year.

Background Information
Officially called the Nathan’s International July Fourth Hot Dog Eating Contest, it has attracted contestants from all over the world. The 2008 result will see if former six time champion Takeru Kobayashi can get the crown back from Joey Chestnut who defeated him in last year’s competition.

Nathan’s Hotdog Eating Prizes
Winners receive a trophy, two cases of Nathan’s Famous hot dogs, and in some years a non-cash prize donated by a sponsor. But most of all, they are awarded the famous Nathans Mustard Belt.

In 2007, for the first time, cash prizes were awarded to the winners, as a total of $20,000 (US) was awarded as follows:
1st Place: $10,000
2nd Place: $5,000
3rd Place: $2,500
4th Place: $1,500
5th Place: $1,000

List of Competitors (from Ifoce.com)
Joey “JAWS” Chestnut
Takeru “The Tsunami” Kobayashi
Pat “Deep Dish” Bertoletti
Tim “Eater X” Janus
Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas
“Humble” Bob Shoudt
Hall “Hoover” Hunt
Tim “Gravy” Brown
Rich “The Locust” LeFevre
“Patrick “Vandam” Vandam
“The Lovely” Juliet Lee
Juris “Dr. Bigtime” Shibayama
Eric “Badlands” Booker
Erik “The Red” Denmark
Arturo Rios “Grande”
Pat “From Moonachie” Philbin
Allen “Shredder” Goldstein
Crazy Legs Conti
“Nasty” Nate Biller
“Pretty Boy” Pete Davekos
“Double-0″ Kevin Ross

Nathan’s Hotdog Eating Contest Result and Winners
Year Winner Number of Hotdogs Eaten
2008 Joey Chestnut
2007 Joey Chestnut 66
2006 Takeru Kobayashi 53¾
2005 Takeru Kobayashi 49
2004 Takeru Kobayashi 53½
2003 Takeru Kobayashi 44½
2002 Takeru Kobayashi 50½
2001 Takeru Kobayashi 50
2000 Kazutoyo Arai 25 1/8
1999 Steve Keiner 20¼
1998 Hirofumi Nakajima 19
1997 Hirofumi Nakajima 24½
1996 Edward Krachie 22¼
1995 Edward Krachie 19½
1994 Mike DeVito 20
1993 Mike DeVito 17
1992 Frank Dellarosa 19
1991 Frank Dellarosa 21½
1990 Mike DeVito 16
1989 Jay Green 13
1988 Jay Green 14
1987 Don Wolfman 12
1986 Mark Heller 15½
1985 Oscar Rodriguez 11¾
1984 Birgit Felden 9½
1983 Luis Llamas 19½
1982 Steven Abrams 11
1981 Thomas DeBerry 11
1980 Paul Siederman & Joe Baldini 9+
1978 Walter Paul 17
1974 Roberto Muriel 10
1972 Jason Schechter 14
1916 James Mullen 13
(above was taken from wiki and is incomplete)

Thanks to ESPN for the live coverage of the Nathan’s Hot dog Eating Contest.

Happy 4th of July to all of our American friends! Specially to those who are currently serving in the Armed Forces and are fighting the war on terror on foreign soil. Today is America's Independence Day and I wish you

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