INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The St. Elmo’s Shrimp Cocktail Eating Championship is back downtown this weekend as part of Big Ten Championship weekend.

After winning the first eight shrimp cocktail competitions, Westfield’s very own Joey Chestnut is trying again to reclaim the championship belt this Saturday.

Chestnut Joined Daybreak to discuss the competition.

“This is a special contest,” Chestnut said. “Hot dogs are completely different. It’s a different game. This one, you have to have a tolerance for the sauce – this sauce is intense. I’ll be crying after the first shrimp. I’ll start crying. Then, I just have to ignore every feeling, and just find a rhythm and keep eating.”

On Saturday, Chestnut and the other competitors will see how much sauce and shrimp they can eat in eight minutes. St. Elmo’s cocktail sauce was once named “The world’s spiciest food” by the Travel Channel. 

In 2018, Chestnut devoured 18 pounds, 9.6 ounces of St. Elmo’s infamous shrimp cocktail —the equivalent of 46.5 orders— and set a world record at the time. After spicy defeats in 2022 and 2023, the world’s most competitive eater says he is hungry to reclaim his crown. 

“Loss is good every now and then, and you know? Now, I’m hungry,” Chestnut said. “It has made me hungry, and I’m coming in and I know I can improve, and dude, it’s going to be exciting. I know the audience isn’t gonna push me. The fans are gonna be yelling at me and not letting me get lazy. It’s going to be great.”

Will Chestnut out-eat reigning champ Geoffrey Esper? Or will another top-ranked eater like Miki Sudo or Gideon Oji shock everyone? Organizers of the events said “tears will be shed and taste buds will be torched.”

St. Elmo Shrimp Cocktail Eating Championship details:

• Where: Big Ten Tailgate Town, South Street, Indianapolis
• When: Saturday, Dec. 7, 3:30 p.m.
• What’s at stake: $3,000 prize purse and eternal shrimp-eating glory