Professional eaters engaged in apparent beef over new hot dog contest eating rule

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Competitive eating just got real.

Professional eaters Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi are apparently at odds over a new rule for their Monday Netflix hot dog-eating special, Unfinished Beef, reports the New York Post.

This time the two legends in the world of professional eating won’t be allowed to dunk or pour water on their food in the 10-minute contest after a set of rules came out from Netflix on Thursday.

Apparently, this is a departure from professional eating contests like Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest on the 4th of July, which allows competitors to douse their dogs in water.

The rule came about after Kobayashi made a special request saying that dunking is too often used as a crutch.

“There are a lot of athletes (who) through the dunking process managed to disintegrate, melt the bun in the water and a lot of cheating can occur,” he told USA TODAY Sports via an interpreter.

Kobayashi also insisted he only proposed the new rule rather than forced Netflix to implement it, but Chestnut had a different take.

Chestnut told USA Today Kobayashi demanded the rule after having last beaten him in a no-dunking contest at the 2009 Krystal Square Off where they loaded up on hamburgers.

Instead, Chestnut suggested a compromise like a reduced dunking time.

“Years ago there was a problem with slower eaters dunking for a long time and letting food fall apart in their cups,” Chestnut told USA Today

“The faster eaters were moving too fast to make it an issue. (Major League Eating) added a rule that limited how long you can dunk the buns. A 5-second dunk rule.”

Kobayashi is looking to even up the pair’s all-time record, with Chestnut winning the last three of five contests compared to his two victories.