Joey Chestnut brings key lime pie eating contest to Orlando ahead of ASU-UCF game

Two worlds you wouldn’t expect to collide will this weekend, as world-famous competitive eater Joey Chestnut will share the same thunderdome with the Arizona State Sun Devils when they head to Orlando to take on UCF Saturday.

Chestnut will host and compete in a key lime pie eating contest at UCF before the game as part of the weekend-long festivities planned between him and the university.

“The hot dog guy?” ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham said when asked by reporters on Monday about the contest before his team’s contest.

Dillingham was referencing Chestnut’s legendary career in competitive eating, where he’s most known for being an 18-time winner of the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest held every Fourth of July. In 2021, Chestnut broke his own contest record by hosing down 76 hot dogs. He later set a world record by eating 83 hot dogs in a different event.

So why key lime pie? The dessert originated in the Florida Keys, where local Key limes were combined with condensed milk and egg yolks to create a thick custard texture without needing to be baked. Thus, Chestnut’s food item of choice appears to be a nod to the state in which the contest will be held, although it might not be the most ideal thing to eat a lot of quickly.

“That’s a way more challenging item to eat fast, I would think. There’s not a system behind it — I feel like he’s got a system with the hot dog thing,” Dillingham said.

Chestnut won’t be facing off against other competitive eaters, but rather the fans themselves: five teams of two will try to out-eat him. Chestnut will also hold a meet-and-greet before UCF’s Friday night basketball double-header.

With the hype of the contest building, Dillingham was asked which ASU team members would fare the best in an eating competition.

“Best in a competitive eating challenge? Wow. I plead the fifth,” Dillingham said, but immediately added, “I think (assistant defensive line coach) Vince Amey would kill it, I do. … I can definitely tell you the worst — (defensive line coach Diron Reynolds) would be the worst. Just ’cause he wouldn’t eat what you’d tell him to eat, so he’d probably eat zero of whatever item you put in front of him.

“At my rate, I’d probably be pretty good at it,” he concluded.

The Sun Devils are scheduled to kick off Saturday’s game at UCF at 3:30 p.m. MST, after the game had to be pushed back due to a nationwide ground stop on Friday.

Listen to ASU-UCF on Arizona Sports 98.7 or the app.

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