Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest 2018 Livestream: History Of July 4 Extravaganza

The Fourth of July is here and so is Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest where grown men and women enjoy eating as many hot dogs as they can. It is a tradition to grill hot dogs on the fourth of July, and this was later turned into a spectator sport, which is considered a big part of the Independence Day celebrations.

For 102 years, Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs have held their annual contest on July 4 in Coney Island, New York. Tens of thousands of spectators gather to watch the food battle.

The big event will kickoff Wednesday starting 10:50 a.m. EDT. Tune into ESPN3 or the ESPN app on mobile devices for live coverage. At noon, coverage will switch to ESPN2, which will show the men's battle while the women's will be shown at ESPN3. The women’s contest officially begins at 11 a.m. EDT, and the men’s event will follow it up at 12:30 p.m. The event will also be livestreamed on WatchESPN.

There are 20 male and 20 female contestants, including the defending champion, the winners of regional qualifiers, individual qualifiers and special invitees. The rule remains the same and simple — eat as many hot dogs and buns as you can in 10 minutes to be declared the winner.

The current reigning champion is Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, who last year managed to eat 72 hot dogs in under ten minutes. On the women’s side, Miki Sudo ate 41 hot dogs in 2017, marking it her fourth consecutive win. She will be back this year for her fifth round.

The winners receive the famed “Mustard Belt,” along with a monetary prize: first place gets $10,000, second place $5,000, and so on.

Since the first recorded contest in 1972, a total of 1,509 Nathan's Famous beef hot dogs have been eaten by participants.

The contest came to life with a Polish immigrant named Nathan Handwerker who migrated to the U.S. in 1912. He borrowed 300 dollars from his friends Jimmy Durante and Eddie Cantor so he could open a hot dog shop. In 1916, Nathan opened his own hot dog shop on the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues in Coney Island.

According to Nathan’s website, on July 4, 1916, four immigrants gathered at this hot dog stand and made the eating contest's history.