Frankfurter-munching phenom Joey �Jaws� Chestnut put a protester in a chokehold while gobbling his way to a 15th win Monday at the Nathan�s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest, powering down 63 hot dogs and buns at the annual exhibition of excess.

In a decisive chowdown comeback, women�s record-holder Miki Sudo downed 40 wieners and buns to win the women�s title after skipping last year�s frank fest because she was pregnant.

A spectator wearing a Darth Vader mask rushed the stage, momentarily disrupting the competition. Chestnut put the protester in a brief chokehold before contest officials hurried over and escorted the intruder away.

Another protester in a white stormtrooper mask had also snuck behind the competitors and hoisted a sign saying, �Expose Smithfield�s Deathstar.� Smithfield manufactures Nathan�s famous hotdogs.

After the altercation, Chestnut went back to the task at hand: Devouring more hot dogs.

Monday marked the contest�s return to its traditional location outside Nathan�s flagship shop in Brooklyn�s Coney Island neighborhood. The event was relocated in 2020 and last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

�It�s beautiful to be back here� in front of a throng of spectators, Chestnut told ESPN after his feat, which the 38-year-old managed while wearing a surgical boot because of a leg injury.

�It hurts, but I was in the zone for a little bit. I was ignoring it,� said Chestnut, but the pain eventually slowed his pace in the 10-minute competition.

Last year, the Westfield, Indiana, resident topped his own record by consuming 76 franks and buns.

Sudo, of Tampa, Florida, set the women�s record at 48 1/2 weiners and buns in 2020, before taking last year off while expecting. She and Nick Wehry � a fellow competitive eater whom she met through the Nathan�s contest in 2018 � welcomed son Max on July 8, 2021.

From dad�s arms, the baby watched his 36-year-old mother notch her eighth Nathan�s win. She told ESPN afterward that she hoped he would someday take a message away from it.

�I want to set an example,� she said, �to do things that you love and push yourself to your absolute limits and, when things get difficult, to still give it a try. And, you know, you might actually just come out victorious.�

Sudo then took over parenting duties while Wehry tried for the men�s title.

In conjunction with the spectacle, Nathan�s donates 100,000 franks to the Food Bank for New York City.

(AP)