Pembroke’s Tucker Townsend and Greenfield’s Noah Young shoved buffalo chicken tenders into their mouths as fast as they could, sipping on a large cup of water to make them go down.
They were no match for the chowhound standing in between them — the one and only, Joey Chestnut.
The New Hampshire Fisher Cats transformed into their alternate identity, the Chicken Tenders in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the somewhat-disputed invention of the fried delicacy. And these weren’t just any tenders served up for the eating contest, they were spicy buffalo tenders.
In partnership with the birthplace of the chicken tender, the Puritan Backroom, the Fisher Cats invited competitive eater Chestnut to face off against teams of three Granite Staters after the game to see who could eat 50 tenders the fastest.
Townsend, a senior lacrosse player at SNHU, was fired up with a his whole team cheering him on. When Chestnut walked out, they chanted “overrated.” It was a bold taunt.
The 2023 Bishop Brady graduate said he sat in his car for a while before the competition to prepare mentally. He listened to country and some rap music to hype himself up.
“I sat in my car and envisioned the stands, looking, sitting right next to Joey, looking at the tenders, imagining me eating them,” Townsend said.
Pembroke’s Tucker Townsend hyped up the rowdy crowd supporting him as he prepared to eat 50 chicken tenders against Joey Chestnut during a competition hosted by the New Hampshire FisherCats and Puritan Backroom. 
Tucker Townsend, a senior at SNHU, ate around 16 and 17 tenders in the same amount of time it took Joey Chestnut to eat 50. 
Friends from Bishop Brady and SNHU showed up to cheer on tucker Townsend against Joey Chestnut at Delta Dental Stadium on Sept. 10, 2026.
His team of three, which included David Lewis of Manchester and Kaci Gilbert of Barnstead, came close to eating all 50 tenders in front of the fanatical crowd. Next to them though, Chestnut looked like the professional that he is.
Chestnut holds 55 competitive eating world records. Most prominently, he holds the record for the most hot dogs and buns eaten in 10 minutes at Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest after downing 76 in 2021. He’s won the contest 18 times.
Young, who went through a qualifying competition at the Puritan Backroom to earn a spot at the table, said it was intimidating to be next to Chestnut. He rated the experience an 11 out of 10.
“I wasn’t overconfident, I don’t think I was under-confident,” he said. “I knew what I was going up against and I decided to give it my all.”
Chestnut forced the tenders down with technique. He enveloped them and crushed them in his hand before raising them to his mouth. Sauce poured and dripped down his left hand until it all turned bright orange, like the New Hampshire Buffalo Chicken Tenders jersey he wore.
He put down all 50 in just under five minutes. The teams of three could not.
Admittedly, Chestnut said, he gets nervous when he’s eating food he hasn’t seen in person. Tenders can be dry and the breading varies from place to place. The sauce went a long way, sometimes it “takes a lot of jaws.”
He was impressed by his competition too, which he said pushed him to eat faster.
Townsend was the man for the job.
“If I had a team of three Tucker’s going against me I might’ve lost. That dude was eating,” Chestnut said.
