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This is my new favorite sport:  Major League Eating

 Former Nathan’s hotdog contest champion Takeru Kobayashi was and was forcibly removed by police from the contest premises after attempting to join this year’s competitors on stage.

NEW YORK—The world famous hot dog eating contest that happens on Coney Island every July 4 was the scene of a minor skirmish on Sunday. Former champion Takeru Kobayashi, who had said he would not participate in this year’s contest, attempted to join competitors on stage and was forcibly removed by police.

Joey Chestnut, a native of San Jose, Calif., who was heavily favored to win the competition, took home first place and a $20,000 prize. Chestnut ate 54 hot dogs in 10 minutes, fewer than last year, but still enough to take first place. This was the fourth consecutive year Chestnut won the competition.

Kobayashi was carried through the crowd and to the stage by one of his friends, arms raised, while the crowd cheered.

He was swiftly taken down from the stage in an armlock and then a headlock as media rushed to take pictures of the struggle, rather than of the current champion Chestnut.

The contest was a part of Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest, thousands of spectators were at Coney Island the event and was seen by millions more live on ESPN.

Reigning champion Joey Chestnut, 26, devoured 68 hot dogs last year, beating out fellow competitive eater Kobayashi, who has won the contest six times. Tim Janus won second place, eating 45 hot dogs, and Pat Bertoletti ate 37, taking third place.

One might assume that competitive eaters are overweight or even obese, however many of the reigning champions are quite lean.

Chestnut told EPSN that in order to push one’s body to the limit and ingest mass quantities of food, you need to be in decent shape.

“When you think about it, you can’t really expect a 400-pound person to push himself very hard,” he told EPSN. “Two minutes into the contest, he’ll be out of breath. He won’t even be able to talk to you, he’s so out of breath.”

He said, “We’re actually working, pushing our body and using muscles. I’m using muscles in my jaw, my throat, my esophagus, all the way down to my stomach. I’m trying to push everything down to the bottom.” Kobayashi was not able to compete because he and Major League Eating could not come to an agreement over contracts. MLE attempted to “arrive at an agreement with Kobayashi, but contract negotiations have reached an impasse,” said Richard Shea, president and organizer of the event, who was seeking to re-sign the diminutive Japanese champion eater.

Kobayashi, who weighs approximately 130 pounds, won the contest every year from 2001 to 2006, and was spotted watching the competition in the audience.

Coney Island, which is considered to be the birthplace of fast food as well as the hot dog, started hosting Nathan’s eating contest in 1916. In 1870, the first hot dog was supposedly sold on the boardwalks by German immigrant Charles Feltman.