Nathan’s hot dog eating competitor accused of cheating

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Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest has been hit with allegations that one of this year’s competitors cheated to beef up his numbers.

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Nick Wehry, who happens to be married to the women’s champion, Miki Sudo, is being accused of using some kind of sorcery to make it appear that he chowed down on more than he actually did.

“100% he cheated,” one source told the New York Post.

Wehry finished with a score of 46.75 hot dogs eaten, which put him in fourth place overall, but that number later jumped to 51.75 on the Major League Eating (MLE) website, allegedly crediting him with five more franks than he was actually served, according to insiders.

Scores are determined by the number of empty plates stacked in front of an eater after time is up.

Every plate starts out with five hot dogs, so each plate left behind counts as five wieners eaten.

Any “debris” left uneaten on the top plate on the stack — so in the case of the Nathan’s contest, bits of beef and bun — is left up to the judges on whether there is a deduction from a competitor’s total.

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According to the Post, Wehry allegedly stole plates from another competitor’s pile and added them to his own stack.

While the alleged inflated score didn’t improve Wehry’s ranking, it did get him over that magic 50 mark.

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“There’s a number of people who have eaten 40 hot dogs in this competition before, there’s a lot fewer who have eaten more than 50, and even fewer who have eaten over 60,” a source explained to the outlet.

“For someone to have on the record that they ate more than 50, makes you part of a very small elite club of competitive eaters.”

This year’s winner, Patrick Bertoletti, crushed 58 hot dogs in 10 minutes, beating out 13 others and winning $10,000.

Geoff Esper and James Webb wolfed down 53 and 52 dogs, taking home $5,000 and $2,500, respectively.

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Meanwhile, Sudo ate 51 hot dogs, beating out her husband and setting a new world record for women.

It is believed Wehry asked for a recount after the initial judges’ tallying took place.

“I can only assume he demanded a recount after stealing the plate,” the source claimed.

Wehry denied the allegations, telling told the Post that he “stole nothing” and insisted he did not demand a recount.

“If MLE determines I was miscounted then fix my number,” he said. “My placing did not change if this was the case. I would never want to take a placing or number I didn’t earn.”

He added: “I would never cheat at a contest, regardless of why. People that know me know that.”

Sudo also defended her husband, saying she was watching him during the 10 minutes.

“I was watching Nick the entire time, there is a camera on him the entire time, there’s no way the judges got it wrong,” she told the publication.

An investigation was conducted by MLE, which is “carefully considering the complaint and reviewing video provided to us.”

They added: “Like many other professional sports leagues, it is our policy to not overturn judges’ decisions after the final results have been recorded.”

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