The greatest competitive eaters in the world will descend upon Coney Island Thursday for the annual July 4th tradition, the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest.

That is, except for one.

Joey Chestnut, the most decorated and celebrated eater in the history of the event, will not compete this year following a controversial ban from the contest.

Find out the latest on the 16-time champion, what he will be doing on Independence Day instead, who will be competing in New York, and when and where you can watch all of the action with this preview of the holiday spectacular.

Start Time: 11:00 a.m. (women’s division), 12:20 p.m. (men’s)

TV: ESPN

Streaming: ESPN+

Location: Nathan’s on Coney Island

Weather: 84 degrees, partly cloudy

Competitors in this year’s men’s competition include:

Competitors appearing in this year’s women’s competition include:

Joey Chestnut, the most decorated competitor in the history of Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest, will not appear at the 2024 event.

Chestnut was banned from competing this year after he signed an endorsement deal with Impossible Foods to represent their plant-based hot dogs.

“For nearly two decades we have worked under the same basic hot dog exclusivity provisions. However, it seems that Joey and his managers have prioritized a new partnership with a different hot dog brand over our long-time relationship,” Major League Eating said in the statement announcing the ban.

Chestnut told Emma Baccellieri of Sports Illustrated, “This was never an issue in the past. And they tried to dance around it—they changed a lot of terms, and then they escalated things to a degree they didn’t imagine when they started leaking information and telling people I was banned and that I turned vegan, which clearly isn’t the case.”

Despite the disappointment of not competing on Coney Island this July 4, Chestnut does not hold a grudge and hopes to return to the event in the future. “I don’t think the Shea brothers are bad people. I’m not burning any bridges. And I love it—I love the Fourth of July and that contest. I’m always willing to try. I don’t hold grudges. So nothing is out of the question.”

The 16-time Nathan’s champion may not be part of this year’s annual extravaganza, but he will compete against soldiers on Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso, Texas on July 4.

On Labor Day, he will compete against fellow competitive eating legend Takeru Kobayashi in a Netflix special event.