Competitive eater Joey Chestnut wins Ale Emporium’s wing-eating contest at Big Ten Fan Fest in Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS — Competitive eater Joey Chestnut won a chicken wing-eating contest at Big Ten Fan Fest in downtown Indianapolis on Saturday.

In a post on X, Major League Eating reported that Chestnut won the Ale Emporium Hermanaki Wing Eating Contest by downing a whopping 242 wings in 10 minutes. Chestnut finished in front of Nick Wehry and Miki Sudo. Wehry placed second by eating 187 wings, and Sudo finished third by consuming 144 wings.

Sudo and Wehry came into the contest at No. 5 and No. 6 in Major League Eating’s rankings, respectively. Chestnut was No. 1 before Saturday’s competition began.

“The hardest thing about this contest is, you don’t know if you’re ahead,” Chestnut said in an interview after Saturday’s competition. “In other contests, you can tell if you finish your plate before the next person and you’re moving on. This one, you’re worried. You don’t know if you’re cleaning your bones well enough. You don’t knew where everybody else is at at all. So, you kinda just focus on your plate, don’t panic, and just keep putting it down.”

Saturday’s contest featured a total prize purse of $3,000. Prize payouts were as follows:

• First place — $1,500
• Second place — $750
• Third place — $400
• Fourth place — $200
• Fifth place — $100
• Sixth place — $50.

An eating competition has been held during Big Ten Fan Fests in previous years. St. Elmo Steakhouse used to be the title sponsor of the contest, and competitive eaters used to come from far and wide to engage in a shrimp cocktail-eating contest. This year, Ale Emporium replaced St. Elmo as the contest’s title sponsor, and thus the eatery’s Hermanaki wings were subbed in for shrimp cocktail.

Chestnut is from Westfield, Indiana. He’s won the Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest 17 times. Chestnut also broke a popcorn-eating record at an Indiana Rural King in May.

He holds world eating records for Eggo waffles, Hostess Donettes, Twinkies, apple pies, fish tacos, gyros, funnel cakes, corned beef sandwiches, Pizza Hut P’Zones and hot dogs — among other things.