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Joey Chestnut roasts other hot dog eating contenders as he reclaims Nathan’s crown

The GOAT of competitive glizzy guzzling is back.

Joey Chestnut, the longtime champ of Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest, made a jubilant return to Coney Island on July 4 following a year-long ban that saw him miss out on the 2024 title, breaking an eight-year winning streak.

This year, though, Chestnut chowed down 70.5 franks and buns in just 10 minutes — not quite the record 76 he ate in 2021, but still beating the next closest eater by 24 dogs — snatching his 17th Mustard Belt.

Nathans Hot Dog Contest Joey Chestnut
Sherwood News

After his 2024 embargo from Nathan’s, owing to an endorsement deal with plant-based meat brand Impossible Foods, 41-year-old Chestnut will now surely be relishing his victory despite failing to match his efforts last year at a Netflix Labor Day event in Las Vegas, where he ate a world-record-breaking 83 dogs.

Meanwhile, the women’s world record holder, Miki Sudo, extended her hot streak on Friday, winning her 11th Nathan’s title by eating 33 franks and buns.

Nathans Hot Dog Contest Joey Chestnut
Sherwood News

After his 2024 embargo from Nathan’s, owing to an endorsement deal with plant-based meat brand Impossible Foods, 41-year-old Chestnut will now surely be relishing his victory despite failing to match his efforts last year at a Netflix Labor Day event in Las Vegas, where he ate a world-record-breaking 83 dogs.

Meanwhile, the women’s world record holder, Miki Sudo, extended her hot streak on Friday, winning her 11th Nathan’s title by eating 33 franks and buns.

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OpenAI set to air a minute-long Super Bowl ad for a second consecutive year, per WSJ

OpenAI is expected to broadcast a lengthy commercial at Super Bowl LX, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Having aired its first-ever paid ad at last year’s Big Game, the ChatGPT maker is set to take another 60-second ad slot during NBC’s broadcast on February 8, according to people familiar with the matter.

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Tamagotchis are making a comeback, 3 decades after first becoming a global toy craze

If you were a ’90s kid, you might remember the craze around little egg-shaped toys with an 8-bit digital screen, displaying an ambiguous pet-thing that demanded food and attention.

Now, on the brand’s 30th anniversary, the Tamagotchi the Japanese pocket-sized virtual pet that launched a thousand cute and needy tech companions, from Nintendogs to fluffy AI robots — is making a minor comeback.

Tamagotchi Google Search Trends
Sherwood News

Looking at Google Trends data, searches for “tamagotchi” spiked in December in the US, up around 80% from just six months prior, with the most search volume in almost two decades.

While the toys are popular Christmas gifts, with interest volumes often seen ticking up in December each year, the sudden interest might also have something to do with the birthday celebrations that creator and manufacturer Bandai Namco are putting on, including a Tokyo exhibition that opened on Wednesday.

Game, set, hatch

More broadly, modern consumers appear to have a growing obsession with collectibles (see: Labubu mania), as well as a taste for nostalgia (see: the iPod revival, among many other trends).

But, having finally hit 100 million sales in September last year, the brand itself is probably just glad to exist, giving a whole new generation the chance to experience the profound grief of an unexpected Tamagotchi death.

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