Nathan’s adjust cash prize awards for hot dog contest

Last week we reported that for the first time this year Nathan’s Famous hot dog-eating contest will be split into two events, a men’s championships and a women’s championships.

But the way the prizes were to be shared out caused a bit of an outcry from competitive eating fans. Initially it was agreed that the total cash purse for the men’s event would remain at $20,000 ($10,000) first prize, but the women’s event would only have a $5,000 total cash purse.

After a number of fans contacted Nathan’s to protest about the unfairness and inequality the famous hot dog, the restaurant chain have agreed to award both genders with equal $20,000 cash prizes.

“We were contacted by numerous fans of Nathan’s who pointed out that despite the prize disparity in men’s and women’s divisions of other professional sports, the Nathan’s prizes should be the same. We listened to that input.” Nathan’s president Wayne Norbitz told the New York Daily News earlier this week.

Comment below or discuss this development on our amazing forum: Ladies and Men’s separate events in competitive eating