Let’s be frank, competitive eating is not for those with a weak stomach. The hard-to-swallow challenge takes practice and skill if you want to be a weiner – er, winner. Sorry, I’ll stop it with the puns (no, I won't). Allegedly, Nick Wehry, who is married to women’s Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest champ Miki Sudo, cheated in order to join an elite class of competitive eaters.
How does one cheat in an eating contest, you ask? That’s a good question and something that I wondered myself. After all, it’s not like you can make the food just disappear, especially when there are so many spectators around.
According to the New York Post, while participating in the popular Fourth of July contest, Nick Wehry used hand trickery in a desperate attempt to join the sport’s top dogs. Two people “closely involved” in the competition have come forward with this information, the source states.
Nick Wehry finished in fourth place after gulping down 46.75 hot dogs. So yeah, if the allegations are true, Wehry cheated to not even win the contest. Still, his score was good enough to rank as one of the best in the game. But it gets better! The source continues to share that Wehry’s score later changed to 51.75, which is a total of more hot dogs than Wehry was actually served to begin with. Each plate holds five hot dogs, so every empty basket on a participant’s table at the end of the contest counts as five consumed dogs. At their discretion, judges determine how much any leftover hot dog pieces and crumbs count for, which explains the .75 in Wehry's score. Wehry is also accused of stealing empty plates from fellow competitors.
In this sport, eating 40 hot dogs is impressive, but chowing down 50? That earns you a spot in the books of competitive eating as there are not many people who have accomplished this. This is the group of elite competitive eaters Wehry was hoping to join. A club that Wehry's wife, Miki Sudo, is already a part of, in the women's division. Sudo has a record of eating 51 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes.
This year’s winner was Patrick Bertoletti, who mustard up the courage to eat 58 hot dogs. Geoff Esper came in second with 53 hot dogs, James Webb came in third with 52 hot dogs, and alleged cheater Wehry walked away with $1,500, the prize given to fourth place.