Joey Chestnut ‘worried’ about hot dog eating contest protesters after putting one in chokehold

Joey Chestnut has never been one to let nerves get in the way of his performance.

Chestnut, 39, has won 15 of the last 16 Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contests, dominating the field to the extent that he’s effectively competing with himself to set new records.

Nevertheless, the legendary competitive eater has acknowledged that he’s slightly “worried” about protesters invading the event, after one stormed the stage at last year’s annual July 4 spectacle at Coney Island and Chestnut briefly put him in a chokehold.

“I’m a little bit worried,” Chestnut told USA Today.

“It seems like that’s getting more popular. You just never know. Hopefully it all works out.”

Scott Gilberson, the 22-year-old from Berkeley, Calif. who rushed the stage last year, hopes he inspires copycats.

“Maybe someone will protest again this year,” Gilbertson told the outlet. “That’d be cool to see. I’d be cheering them on.”

Last year, Chestnut told The Post that he put the protester in a chokehold because he didn’t want do drop his hot dogs.

Meanwhile, Chestnut is chasing his own dragon.

“The goal is to win, but if the dogs are good, the weather is right, I feel like that record of 76 could definitively go down,” the eater told TMZ.

Chestnut also revealed to the outlet that Rob Gronkowski and his brothers (there are five of them, including the future Hall of Fame tight end) have pitched something to the effect of a handicap match.

“The Gronkowski brothers, they reached out,” Chestnut told the outlet. “That might even be better, eating against the Gronk brothers, the Gronk clan. Those guys are beasts and maybe we can make that happen.”

The one time Chestnut has lost the Hot Dog Eating Contest since 2007 was in 2015, when rival Matt Stonie guzzled 62 hot dogs to best Chestnut’s 60.