The man who placed 4th in the recently-concluded 2024 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest is facing accusations that he cheated to secure his placing, begging the question is he is indeed a "wiener" after all.
Nick Wehry - married to Miki Sudo, who placed first in this year's women's hot dog eating competition - has been accused of swiping empty plates from his neighboring contestants to artificially inflate his final score to enter the sport's "elite" category of chompers.
Each participant in the annual ode to gluttony receives their hot dogs at a rate of 5 per plate; thus, each empty plate in their stack represents 5 dogs downed, and any residual beef and buns left on the top plate once the timer runs out is subsequently judged on whether or not it counts to the eater's final total.
At this year's competition, Wehry's final tally came to 46.75 hot dogs, cementing him with a 4th place finish. However, his total later plumped to 51.75 on the official Major League Eating (MLE) results website, representing a full 5 additional dogs that he was given during the contest.
While the additional 5 wieners didn't improve his placing at all, it did serve to propel him into the very small and elite "50+" category of hot dog eaters.
Video taken at the event purportedly showed Wehry acting "suspiciously" with a plate, twirling it around after the contest was over; afterwards, Wehry appeared to put the plate in his own pile. He has since been blasted with claims that he "stole" a plate from one of the participants next to him, allegations that he has publicly denied.
“If MLE determines I was miscounted then fix my number," he was quoted as saying. "My placing did not change if this was the case. I would never want to take a placing or number I didn’t earn. I would never cheat at a contest, regardless of why. People that know me know that.”
This year's winner, Patrick Bertoletti, ate 58 hot dogs, followed by 2nd place winner Geoff Esper, who swallowed 53.