Kobayashi World Record In Doubt: New Video Casts Aspersions

The 2011 Nathan's Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest on Monday was widely seen as something of a draw between reigning champion Joey Chestnut and Japanese phenom Kobayashi. The former won the contest for the third year in a row, eating 61 hot dogs in 10 minutes. But the latter supposedly set a new world record for most hot dogs eaten in 10 minutes by eating 69 frankfurters at his own personal challenge, which was filmed across the East River from the Contest.

But a newly released video of Kobayashi's feat shows that, though Kobayashi did in fact best Chestnut, he failed to set a new world record, eating a mere 65 hot dogs in his allotted time.

The world record report was based on the accounting of the comely man counting hot dogs eaten in person--but he was off. The video tracks Kobayashi's progress more scientifically, and shows that, though Kobayashi ate a lot of dogs, he didn't beat Joey Chestnut's world record of 68.

Here's the video:

UPDATE: Joey Chestnut told the Daily News that Kobayashi should "man up" and challenge his world record in person rather than challenge him from across a river. Looks like this rivalry is getting even more heated.