New York Post reporting indicates Joey Chestnut skipped the 2024 contest over a sponsorship dispute, returned in 2025 to win the men's division with 70.5 hot dogs, and that Miki Sudo won the women's division while pursuing additional titles. The Blaze reports that the contest's 1916 origin narrative was fabricated in the 1970s by promoters Max Rosey and Mortimer Matz. All claims remain unverified with source quality ratings between 0.5 and 0.6.