Joey Chestnut received $10,000 for finishing first in the men's competition. Joey Chestnut added another chapter to his legendary competitive eating career by winning the 2026 Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4. The 42-year-old consumed 70½ hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes.Joey Chestnut received $10,000 for finishing first in the men's competition. REUTERS/Jordan Tovin (REUTERS)Chestnut received $10,000 for finishing first in the men's competition. Nathan's Famous awards equal prize money to the men's and women's champions, with a total purse of $40,000 divided among the top five finishers in each contest. According to USA Today, Chestnut effectively earned about $141.84 per hot dog consumed during this year's competition.Shirin Gupta is a content producer with the Hindustan Times. She covers everything between politics, entertainment and sports at the US desk. Shirin got interested in political journalism during her time as a web editor at her college newspaper NCC News in Syracuse when she first started seeing the effects of national politics in life of her fellow colleagues.
Shirin has worked on a wide range of fast-moving and developing stories locally when she was at NCC editing accessible reports for the audience.
