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Wounded Wiener Warrior Joey Chestnut rose to a new level of American fame on Independence Day – and people are still talking about it on Tuesday and probably will be for some time to come.
“He’s a hero,” Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean said Tuesday morning as she greeted the holiday hot dog champ during an appearance on “Fox & Friends.”
Chestnut helped save Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest – a July 4 show in Coney Island, Brooklyn – when he quickly knocked a protester to the ground on live national television.
JOEY CHESTNUT EAT 63 HOT DOGS WINS NATHAN’S FAMOUS CONTEST FOR THE 15TH TIME
He did so despite being hampered by a tendon rupture and is currently wearing a cast on his right leg.
Chestnut continued to eat hot dogs all the time on his way to his 15th Nathan’s Famous Holiday crown.
Hot dog eating champion Joey Chestnut helped subdue a protester, as a group disrupted Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest 2022 in Coney Island on July 4, 2022. Chestnut won his 15th title by eating 63 hot- dogs in 10 minutes.
(Bobby Bank/Getty Images)
Dean was one of the judges. Thousands of sun-drenched revelers cheered on the demonstration of American abdominal muscles.
“I thought someone had fallen on me, then I realized he was holding a sign,” Chestnut, 38, from Indiana, said on the “Fox & Friends” show. .
“He wasn’t moving, so I kind of moved him.”
“You got it in a headache!” said co-host Steve Doocy.
“He wasn’t moving, so I kind of moved him.”
“I didn’t drop any hot dogs,” boasted the champion chomp, who hobbled on crutches before the competition.
About halfway through the event, protesters rushed to the stage – at least one wearing a Darth Vader mask – while carrying signs that read “Expose Smithfield Deathstar”.
Smithfield is a major food processing company in Smithfield, Virginia specializing in pork products. Nathan’s Famous is straight beef.
Joey Chestnut won the men’s title at Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island on July 4, 2022.
(Kerry J. Byrne/Fox News Digital)
Three men were arrested, according to the NYPD: Scott Gilbertson, 21, of Berkeley, Calif., Joshua Marxen, 31, of Santa Clara, Calif., and Robert Yamada, 42, of Phoenix.
The men are charged with criminal trespass and disorderly conduct. Gilbertson is also accused of harassment.
“Faced with an unexpected obstacle, Joey handled it quickly with dignity and aplomb,” Rich Shea, president of Major League Eating, told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.
“Faced with an unexpected obstacle, Joey handled it quickly with dignity and aplomb.”
“It proves that Joey Chestnut is the greatest athlete of all time and a true American hero.”
Chestnut said his leg injury nearly sidelined him from the event he has now dominated for nearly two decades.
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“Three weeks ago I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to compete,'” Chestnut told “Fox & Friends.”
“But the doctor put me in there,” he said, referring to the cast around his right leg.
“I don’t eat with my foot. I just got over the pain.”
A person holds three hot dogs during Nathan’s famous hot dog eating contest in Coney Island on July 4, 2022.
(Kerry J. Byrne/Fox News Digital)
On July 4, 2022, Chestnut’s total of 63 hot dogs and buns consumed was well below the record 76 frankfurters he ate last year.
But it was enough to easily snack on no. 2 eater Geoffrey Esper of Massachusetts, who downed 47.5 hot dogs and buns.
Chestnut revealed some of the curious mechanics of the championship power supply. He goes through a two-day lemon juice and water cure before the competition, which allows him to eat about 15 pounds and 20,000 calories worth of hot dogs in just 10 minutes.
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“I love them,” Chestnut said of the frankfurter. “I have the best life in the world. I can travel the world, eat and meet people.”
“You’re the GOAT,” Dean said. “You are the Tom Brady of hot dogs.”
