With Chestnut out, Mass. competitive eater seeks gold at Nathan's hot dog contest

A Massachusetts competitive eater is gearing up to compete in the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest next week in Coney Island, and thinks he has a shot at winning it all.

Geoffrey Esper of Oxford has claimed second place at the Fourth of July tradition several years in a row, but this year could be different.

"This year, obviously, everybody knows that Joey's not going to be there," he said. "So I got a chance at first anyways."

He's talking about Joey Chestnut, of course — the reining hot-dog-eating champion who split with the Nathan's contest over a sponsorship issue.

Esper has high hopes for this year, but tries to keep it all "low key."

"I don't like to jinx myself; I try not to talk about it too much or too many other people," he said. "They think, oh, Joey's not there, you're going to win it. But it's not going to be that easy. You know, there's there's going to be a good four way battle for first place. It's it's going to be tight."

Esper works as a vocational high school teacher, and calls competitive eating more of a hobby. Still, he has it down to a science — last year, he got down 49 hot dogs in 10 minutes at Coney Island.

He's practicing for Thursday in the days ahead, and just hopes to do his best for everyone back home.

"Hopefully everything comes together and I can have a good day that day," he said.

Esper holds a number of records himself, including eating just under 10 pounds of spam in eight minutes.