SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
The coronavirus pandemic may have forced major sports leagues to rethink their seasons, but there's one annual competition that went off without a hitch.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Go.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: And we are under way, the 2020 men's division of the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: It's been something else to get this off the ground.
DETROW: That's right. Everybody's favorite - maybe not everybody's favorite - July 4 tradition, watching people stuff their faces with hot dogs as fast as possible. But, of course, as with everything, Nathan's Famous had to adapt the competition because of the pandemic. It was moved away from Coney Island to a private location where contestants stood 6 feet apart, and they were separated by plexiglass dividers. This year, even without the roaring fans...
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Four, three, two, one, put down your hot dogs.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: Seventy-five.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Some things change. Some remain the same.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Seventy-five hotdogs and buns - a world record.
DETROW: Kentucky native Joey Chestnut managed to down 75 hot dogs in 10 minutes.
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JOEY CHESTNUT: Minute, like, 6 is where I really missed the crowd because they're pumped up. And I hit a wall, and it took me a little bit more work to get through it. And this is a crazy year. And I'm happy I was able to get a record.
DETROW: Chestnut broke his own record of two years ago. He has won the contest 13 of the last 14 years, going back to 2007. And he had no complaints about the meat.
CHESTNUT: The hot dogs were really fast. I mean, they - I think just cooked them, like, 10 minutes ago. So that - I mean, that helps.
(SOUNDBITE OF BLAZO'S "BRISK YELLOW") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
