100 Tacos Under the Lights: Joey Chestnut Takes Down Cinco de Mayo-Themed Challenge

Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark hosted world-famous competitive eater Joey Chestnut to take on a Fuzzy’s Taco Shop food challenge

Joey Chestnut celebrates after completing an eating challenge at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark May 5. Photo by Cody Roper.

The Oklahoma City Comets played host to a unique eating challenge to be taken on by the best to ever do it.

Joey Chestnut, a 17-time Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest Champion and owner of 55 competitive eating world records, made the trip to Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark to combat a Cinco de Mayo-themed food challenge May 5.

Partnering with Fuzzy’s Taco Shop and KFOR, the Comets challenged Chestnut and five amateur teammates to take down 100 tacos during the third inning of the Comets game against the Salt Lake Bees. The challenge was designed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Route 66.

In a pre-challenge interview with Comets’ Director of Communications and Broadcasting Alex Freedman, Chestnut mentioned he was excited for the task and entered with the goal of eating at least half the tacos during his first trip to Oklahoma City.

“I’m very excited to be here (on) Cinco de Mayo eating tacos,” Chestnut said. “It’s not going to be easy and I’ll need to eat at least 50. The other guys are going to try and eat 50 and we’re trying to put down 100 tacos.”

Joey Chestnut chats with Oklahoma City Comets fans before starting the challenge. Photo by Eddie Kelly.

Chestnut recognized the potential setback of no set time limit to complete the challenge given he’ll have no idea how long the third inning of the game could last.

“It’s only an inning and now we have the pitch clock, so we’re doing it really fast,” Chestnut said. “It’s going to be in the third inning, so we’re probably not going to get a pitching change. We’ll have to hustle, Fuzzy’s tacos are the best tacos in the area, so we’re lucky about that and they should go down pretty good.”

The competitive eater is no stranger to these kinds of challenges.

Joey Chestnut begins his Fuzzy’s Taco Shop challenge. Photo by Eddie Kelly.

Chestnut has already been to several minor league ballparks and Oklahoma City is the second of his nine scheduled stops this season for food challenges in a partnership with Diamond Baseball Holdings.

“I think I’ve done eight or nine different ones,” Chestnut said. “From Trenton, Toledo, Fresno, and a bunch of other places, so this is pretty cool to have this kind of schedule this year with DBH and all the teams that they’re associated with.”

Chestnut’s decorated eating history includes several taco-themed records.

He set five separate taco world records spanning from Taco Bell soft beef tacos (53 in 10 minutes), brain tacos (54 in eight minutes), fish tacos (30 in five minutes), traditional three-inch tortilla tacos (126 in eight minutes) and most recently in 2019 taking down 82 carnitas tacos in eight minutes.

Joey Chestnut continues his eating challenge with a large crowd in attendance. Photo by Eddie Kelly.

Prior to making his taco return, Chestnut was already beginning to formulate a plan, although it could undergo some moderations after seeing what he’s working with.

“I haven’t seen them in person yet so it [the plan] could change,” he said. “I might have to lean on my water heavily if the tortillas are really dry. If they’re oily, they’ll go down easier. They’ll slide down with the saltiness, but if they’re dry, I’ll have to use a lot of water. Water’s good, it helps bring the food to the bottom of my stomach and helps with digestion.”

While Chestnut was anticipated to take care of his half of the tacos without issue, the uniqueness of this challenge was that he wasn’t tackling it alone.

Chestnut was joined by five teammates who would try to tackle the remaining 50 tacos. His team was made up of two media personalities from Oklahoma’s Own KFOR — Aaron Brackett and Owen Pickard, two Fuzzy’s enter-to-win contestants —Shelby Cobble and Ellis Rowe, and wrestler Will Chambers representing Unified Wrestling Oklahoma.

Joey Chestnut’s teammates tackle their portion of the eating challenge. Photo by Eddie Kelly.

With the entire group made up of amateur eaters, Chestnut’s advice was to remain composed and leave the celebrating for after the challenge.

“Stay calm, don’t overstuff your mouth. If you just pile a bunch of food in your mouth, then it’s like a traffic jam,” Chestnut said. “Make sure you breathe and swallow at the right time and keep going. Don’t drink too much beer. I know it’s tempting at a baseball game, but just get the food in, get some water, then it’ll be celebration time.”

While his teammates will be attacking a food challenge for the first time, Chestnut has long developed his routine which began for this challenge the moment he arrived to Oklahoma City.

“As soon as I got into town and got in the hotel, took a shower, did some stretching, some yoga, burping exercises,” Chestnut said. “I’m always doing stretching up to the time I’m eating. I feel good and loose.”

All that preparation leads to the main event with the stage set on the Mickey Mantle Plaza with the tacos showcased in front of the team.

Joey Chestnut sizes up his challenge. Photo by Eddie Kelly.

Before the eating got underway, Chestnut made sure to warn the spectators that the show would be messy.

“Right beforehand, I’ll talk to the people right in front and let them know, I’m going to get ugly,” Chestnut said. “I’m going to start sweating and I’ll get uncomfortable, but you guys can keep yelling at me and keep pushing me I’m not going to stop eating until the job is done.”

Chestnut has been attempting food challenges since he was 21 years old in college taking down lobster at a casino. For what started as a self-proclaimed “love at first bite” has turned into him taking on food challenges across the country and eating just about anything, besides escargot.

“In college, my friends signed me up for one contest and I was hesitant,” Chestnut said. “I wasn’t ashamed, but self-conscious of eating in front of people fast. It’s weird the first contest I did as soon as I started eating, I was like ‘oh my God, I love this.’ Everything about not holding back and beating the guys next to me.”

Joey Chestnut eats tacos with a cup of water in hand. Photo by Cody Roper.

Chestnut was able to add Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark to places where he’s taken down a food challenge as him and his team were able to successfully eat 100 tacos.

As predicted, Chestnut took down the first 50 tacos, while the rest of the team handled the other half in a challenge that took 11.5 minutes to complete. Among Chestnut’s teammates, Chambers led the group with 16 tacos eaten.

Chestnut’s tour of Minor League Baseball will next send him in Birmingham, Ala., at Regions Field May 28.