Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest
Men's division winner Joey Chestnut competes in the annual Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest in New York's Coney Island July 4, 2014. Reuters

Top-ranked competitive eater Joey “Jaws” Chestnut will attempt to earn an unprecedented 10th consecutive victory at the 2015 Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest in New York Saturday. As customary, the event will be conducted the Fourth of July 4 at the Nathan’s location on the corner of Surf and Stillwell avenues in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn.

As last year’s champion, Chestnut was automatically qualified to enter the men’s competition this year. Similarly, Miki Sudo already has a spot in women’s competition in 2015 after her victorious effort in 2014. Other competitors earned their spots in Major League Eating’s flagship event by winning pre-contest qualifiers. Matt Stonie and Tim “Eater X” Janus lead the field of competitive eaters hoping to wrest the title away from Chestnut, while Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas and Daniella Gioia will challenge Sudo for supremacy.

Coverage of the women’s Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest will begin at 10:50 a.m. EDT on ESPN3. Coverage of the men’s contest will start at noon on ESPN2, although the actual Main Event won’t get under way until 12:40 p.m. Qualified cable subscribers will be able to access an online live stream of the proceedings through WatchESPN.

In the competition, contestants have 10 minutes to eat as many hot dogs and buns as they can. Eaters have the option of using water or lemonade to help wash down the franks. The Hot Dog Eating Contest’s top performers will split a $40,000 prize purse.

Approximately 2.8 million television viewers tuned in to the live broadcast last year to watch Chestnut devour 61 hot dogs and Sudo down 34 of them, while tens of thousands of people showed up at Coney Island to watch their exploits in person. Chestnut holds the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest’s all-time record, having eaten 69 hot dogs and buns in 2013. Stonie and Janus have respectively finished in second and third place in each of the last two years.