Netflix’s press release takes the whole thing very seriously, quoting Kobayashi as saying: “I will only retire after I beat him one last time… Playing against Joey live on Netflix means fans around the world can see it I knocked him down. Meanwhile, Chesnut said, “It’s time to give the people what they want! “
The game will be even more interesting because both Joey Chestnut and Ken Kobayashi will have to skip Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, which takes place every July 4th and makes their rivalry famous. A six-time champion, Kobayashi was banned from competing in 2010 due to a contract dispute. Subsequently, on June 11, the American Dietetic Association announced a ban on Chestnut.
Now that Netflix is looking more like USA Network’s “Blue Sky” era than HBO, it has another curiosity worth promoting — a location and time to be announced later.
