Competitive eating is one of the greatest things humanity has ever invented and an upcoming showdown favors a familiar name. The Popcorn Eating Championship is set to take place on Sunday and none other than Joey Chestnut is the favorite to win.
Chestnut, of course, is an eating legend. Major League Eating describes him as “the greatest eater in history,” stating it as an “empirical fact.” I can’t get enough of how seriously MLE takes itself.
Chestnut holds 46 world records in eating and made his mark by defeating Takeru Kobayashi at the 2007 Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest to win the Mustard Belt. Fast forward to last summer when Chestnut won his 13th Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. The guy is just unbeatable.
This Popcorn Eating Championship features some of the top-ranked eaters in the world. But Chestnut’s career feats make him the clear favorite, at -400 odds. Next is Matt Stonie at +300, followed by Geoff Esper at +400.
Stonie holds the record for eating Peeps, downing 255 in five minutes. Esper is the No. 2-ranked eater in the world, and the 2017 and 2019 Hooters wing-eating champion.
This popcorn event will take place as part of the DraftKings Red Carpet Film Feast in Las Vegas on April 25. It will also feature a hard-boiled egg eating contest but I don’t even want to touch that one.
Lucy is a sports betting content producer with Radio.com and BetQL. She has worked with WEEI and Radio.com as a writer, radio producer and podcaster. Lucy lives in Boston and loves Tom Brady and prop bets. Follow Lucy on Twitter at @LucilleBurdge.