Netflix has announced its latest live sports event, and it’s unlike anything the company has done before. Netflix will host a live hot dog eating competition between two titans of the sport–Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi. The program is called “Chestnut vs. Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef,” and it’s described as the “ultimate hot dog eating competition.”
The show airs Monday, September 2 on Netflix. You can check out the key art for the live event below.
The announcement of Unfinished Beef comes just days after the Nathan’s hot dog eating competition announced that it was banning Chestnut from its iconic 4th of July competition not long after Chestnut signed a deal with vegan food company Impossible Foods. There was a social media outcry after Chestnut was banned, with many claiming they would boycott the Nathan’s event in protest.
Just after Nathan’s banned Chestnut, Netflix announced Unfinished Beef featuring Chestnut and his longtime eating rival Kobayashi. Chestnut has won the Nathan’s contest 16 times, downing 62 hot dogs in 10 minutes to win 2023’s event. He also has the world record of 76 hot dogs eaten at the 2021 event. For his part, Kobayashi has eaten more than 10,000 hot dogs in his life. For a period of time, he was only defeated in eating competitions by a Kodiak bear.
Chestnut and Kobayashi have been rivals for a long time, but Kobayashi just recently announced his retirement, citing health issues. Chestnut and Kobayashi have not competed directly with one another in an eating competition since 2009. The Netflix deal was apparently too big to ignore, and Kobayashi is coming out of retirement for it.
“Through all of my years in competitive eating, Kobayashi stands out as my fiercest rival,” Chestnut said in a Netflix news release. “Competing against him pushed me to be so much better. I know that fans have waited a long time for another chapter of our rivalry and I can’t wait for our massive showdown live on Netflix! It’s time to give the people what they want!”
Unfinished Beef is just the latest live sports event on Netflix, following The Netflix Cup and The Netflix Slam. One of the next big events is the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight in November. This will be followed by NFL Christmas Day games this year and then weekly WWE Raw events beginning in 2025.
While you wait for Unfinished Beef, you can watch a documentary on Netflix called 30 for 30: The Good, The Bad, and the Hungry.
