U.S. champion retains hot dog eating title

Defending champ Joey Chestnut, from the U.S., won the annual Nathan's famous hot dog eating contest on Friday by eating 64 weiners.

On Friday Joey Chestnut won the contest after he managed to eat 64 hot dogs and the contest stretched into a first-ever overtime. Chestnut, of San Jose California, defeated six-time champion Takeru Kobayashi of Japan in the annual event that is held at New York's Coney Island beach. A sudden death overtime round went into effect after the two men were tied at 59 hot dogs a piece at the end of the regulation ten minutes. The man who wanted to win it the most in the overtime round had to eat five more hot dogs faster than the other guy. According to organizers, this was the first overtime in the contest's history. Chestnut beat Kobayashi in the overtime round and this marks his second consecutive victory over Kobayashi. Kobayashi won the contest six straight times but last year he lost the title in an upset to Chestnut. Nathan's has staged the contest since 1916 and this year thousands of onlookers attended the Fourth of July Independence day event. Chesnut received $10,000, a mustard yellow belt and a year's supply of hot dogs from Nathan's. Nathan's started in 1916 with a small Coney island hot dog stand and now sells food globally.