"There is nothing in this earth that is not now a monument to this man. With 71 hotdogs and buns, 12 victories in Coney Island, the champion of the world … Joey Chestnut!" 

*****

Hey there. Welcome back to episode number 67. As you probably guessed from that introduction, which was taken from ESPN’s YouTube channel, today, we’ll be talking about competitive eating. I know, it’s a little bit of an interesting topic, but the timing is right.

The famous Nathan’s Hotdog Eating competition is an annual event that takes place on Independence Day or July 4th. That’s this Saturday.

So normally the event is not small. In fact, it’s the largest nationally televised eating event in the U.S. with over one million viewers. As many as 50,000 supporters have come in the past and stood out in the blazing heat to see the event go down in person.