Delicious Treat at Holiday Bowl Parade: Eater GOAT Joey Chestnut Tells ’25 Plans
Between visits to relatives in Chula Vista, Chestnut said it's time to resume "good routines" for exercise. Amid his traveling, "my weight goes up a little bit."
The greatest eater in history waved at fans Friday as grand marshal of the Holiday Bowl Parade — answering one cry of “strike an eating pose” by opening his mouth wide.
But Joey Chestnut, who may hold the record for setting world records, isn’t stuffing himself in perhaps his third trip to San Diego this year.
“So it’s wintertime, I’m a little bit heavy right now,” said Chestnut, who generally scales around 230 in competitions and once gained 27 1/2 pounds in a hotdog-eating contest. “It’s been a long year.”
Speaking to Times of San Diego before he climbed onto a Port of San Diego float in the 90-minute parade down Harbor Drive, the 41-year-old icon said he had no new year’s resolutions except “just keep maintaining — going one foot in front of the other and just have fun.”
Between visits to relatives in Chula Vista, Chestnut said it’s time to resume “good routines” for exercise. Amid his traveling, “my weight goes up a little bit.”
His next event is in Las Vegas at the start of February — where he’ll defend his 2024 title at the Siegel’s Bagelmania World Bagel Eating Championship. (He downed 15 in 8 minutes, including cream-cheese filling.)
“I’m hoping I can drop a couple of pounds before then,” he said. “The hardest thing is trying to maintain a little bit of health while I’m doing this crazy eating.”
Chestnut recalled a Petco Park ice-cream contest in 2017, where he ate 25¼ chocolate chip cookie and vanilla ice cream sandwiches in 6 minutes.
Some 99 units traveled the balloon-centric parade route Friday as thousands cheered — with the loudest greetings for Marines in armored vehicles and Navy sailors.
One of the largest balloons — Bob the Builder — occasionally swayed from side to side, eliciting nervous gasps from the crowd on an overcast day.
Fans and alumni of Washington State and Syracuse universities — looking forward to a Snapdragon Stadium showdown in the 45th Holiday Bowl Game — also were out in force.
Chestnut was to serve as honorary chairman and “Chief Eggnog Official” at the DIRECTV Holiday Bowl — tasked with drenching the winning coach — the Cougars’ Pete Kaligis or the Orange’s Fran Brown. (But at Thursday’s news conference, Brown said he was allergic to eggs and would prefer that someone else gets the eggnog dump.)
An “excited” but a “little bit nervous” Chestnut said he was honored.
“This is a great city and, by far, the biggest parade I’ve ever been a part of,” he said. “I really think I might have the best job in the world. I get to travel around … eat [and] meet people.”
He admits to liking the feeling of being bloated.
“I think the hardest thing for me the is maintaining my diet away from competitive eating so that I can maintain my competitiveness,” he said.
In 2025, he expects to compete about eight times, and then make a bunch of appearances and exhibitions and “maybe [try for] some records, probably another TV event or two.”
The Westfield, Indiana, resident has no plans for retirement.
“As long as I’m healthy enough,” he said. “Like I said, it’s the best job in the world and, as long as I’m winning, it’s such a great feeling competing against people and knowing that your best is still able to beat them.”
But he has some plans for Saturday.
“I’m gonna go check out Pacific Beach tomorrow, have a couple beers on the beach — it’s one of the most beautiful beaches in the country. I’m really looking forward to that.”
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