2 rookies from the Kansas City area will compete in Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest
Competitive eaters worldwide are headed to Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York, this Fourth of July weekend to compete in the annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest.
Located in front of the original Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs & Restaurant at the corner of Surf and Stillwell, the contest will host about 20 individuals to compete this year, including 16-time champion and world famous competitive eater Joey Chestnut, as well as the women’s competitive eating champion, Miki Sudo.
Included in the competitors are a few with ties to the Kansas City area, where for the first time ever, Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs brought their infamous competition.
Nathan’s Famous hot dog contest comes to Kansas
Kansas kicked off the summer season with their Old Shawnee Days festival on Thursday, June 5. The four-day fair consisted of live music, entertainment, vendors and more at Shawnee Town 1929.
A traditional weekend of celebration for Johnson County residents since 1968, the festival implemented a new event for the very first time — Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating competition.
On Saturday, June 7, the pre-qualifying match for the international competition drew 13 eaters, consisting of nine men and four women from various states and the Czech Republic.
Taking home the first place prize for the women’s competition was 43-year-old Texas native Jocelyn Young. Young secured her spot at the Coney Island finals by consuming 11 ¾ hot dogs in 10 minutes.
Grabbing the first place prize for the men’s competition was 33-year-old Radim Dvoracek from the Czech Republic, who consumed 29 ½ hot dogs in 10 minutes.
However, attention was drawn to the second place champion of the men’s contest.
Cameron Meade, a 21-year-old originally from Shawnee, consumed 25 hot dogs in the span of 10 minutes, jumping from foot to foot while eating. It turned out to be enough to earn him a wild card invite to the Coney Island finals.
Shawnee resident qualifies for finals
For Cameron Meade, the Old Shawnee Days pre-qualifier was the first time the recent college graduate had ever participated in competitive eating.
While attending Indiana University Bloomington, Meade says his friends were shocked when they saw how much food the young man could consume. Upon their recommendation, Meade hit up local restaurants, buffets and all-you-can-eats in Bloomington to see just how far he could go.
“My friends actually started a TikTok page for me called Cam Eatz, and we filmed videos of me eating insane amounts of food,” said Meade.
“Restaurant owners would have me come in and they’d compensate me for some huge meals. We made some really fun videos to the point where we started offering $500 to anyone who would come try to out-eat me at a restaurant. I think we got around eight different people to message me but no one came even close.”
While the friendly competitions in his town of Valparaiso, Indiana, were all fun in games, Meade and his friends wanted to take things to the next level.
“As I was nearing graduation, my friends said ‘You gotta try to make it to the big show on the Fourth of July,’” Meade said. “Nathan’s Famous, I mean, there’s nothing bigger than that for competitive eating.
Preparation and motivation: Meade’s methods
In preparation for the finals, Meade has taken a four-day fast, drinking only water to expand his stomach.
While exercising, fasting and stomach expansion have been helpful practices for the upcoming contest, having Miki Sudo, the undefeated women’s champion of Nathan’s Famous contest as a mentor has been crucial in helping Meade prepare.
“The big piece of advice from Miki has been to do what feels right for you,” said Meade.
“Everyone has their own strategy. You’ll see James Webb up there doing three dogs at once, which is pretty unheard of. Knowing what’s comfortable for you is so important because people will be like ‘Joey Chestnut does this and this,’ but you’re not Joey Chestnut and everyone does things differently.
“You can still be really talented and be competing for that top spot. Learning yourself and your body has been really, really important and the key, I believe, to success.”
Meade also shared his feelings on going up against record-breaking champion Joey Chestnut.
“He (Chestnut) knows I’m going to bring it on Friday. He’s a great guy and it’ll be fun to share the stage with him,” said Meade. “He’s a legend and I fully expect him to go out and crush it this year after not participating last year in the Nathan’s contest. I think he’ll only just add to his collection of mustard belts this year and bring home the No. 1 prize.”
Looking ahead to his career as a professional competitive eater, Meade has signed a three-year contract with Major League Eating, which means entering more national contests.
Meade is not the only competitor representing the KC metro in Coney Island this holiday weekend. Another Kansas resident is in the women’s competition.
Kansas’ Kelly Lewis headed to finals in Coney Island
An Overland Park woman advanced for the women’s competition in the Cleveland pre-qualifiers.
Kelly Lewis, 32, took the stage June 5 for Nathan’s Famous qualifiers event in Cleveland, Ohio.
After consuming 10 ¼ hot dogs in 10 minutes, Lewis took home the first-place prize, qualifying her for the finals in New York.
“I’m looking forward to it, definitely as my first time out,” said Lewis. “I’m going in just to have fun, eat as much as I can and see how it goes.”
While attending college in New York and continuing to live there for a decade before returning to the Kansas City area, Lewis got into competitive eating after watching legends Takeru Kobayashi and Sonya Thomas take on infamous eating contests in the Big Apple.
After being waitlisted for two years, Lewis got the call to compete in the Cleveland contest.
“I just came in ready to give it my best shot,” said Lewis. “I had never done anything like this before, so I didn’t really know what my ceiling would be. I can’t even project how many I’ll eat this weekend, hopefully more than 10. But I haven’t done enough of these to really have a sense of more than just the one time in 10 minutes.”
And Lewis hopes it’s not her last time spending Fourth of July weekend on one of the biggest stages for competitive eating.
