The champ is coming back to chomp.

Competitive eater Joey “Jaws” Chestnut announced Monday he will return to compete in this year’s Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest after skipping last year's gastronomic battle for the coveted Mustard Belt.

“This event means the world to me,” Chestnut, 41, said in a message posted on X. “It’s a cherished tradition, a celebration of American culture, and a huge part of my life.”

It will mark the 20th appearance for the Indiana eater at the Coney Island contest.

Last year, Major League Eating event organizer George Shea said Chestnut, who has won the 10-minute eat-a-thon 16 times, would not be participating due to a contract dispute. Chestnut had struck a deal with a competing brand, the plant-based meat company Impossible Foods.

In a phone interview Monday, the competitive eater made it clear he never appeared in any commercials for the company’s vegan hot dogs and that Nathan's is the only hot dog company he has worked with. But Chestnut acknowledged he “should have made that more clear with Nathan’s.”

“There was a little bit of communication that we could have improved on last year,” he said. “And I, yeah, I think we figured it out. It took a little bit of finessing.”

Chestnut is still working with Impossible Foods and said “clarifications” have been made to his respective contracts.

Richard Shea, president of Major League Eating, said he did not want to rehash what happened last year because he found it “dispiriting,” but said he’s happy “everything is resolved” now.

“I think it’s the return of the greatest competitive eater of all time to the biggest competitive eating event of all time. So I don’t think it gets much bigger in any sport,” Shea said. “I mean, this guy is the greatest performer we’ve ever seen in Coney Island and in competitive eating.”

Chestnut said he heard from fans over the past year who wanted him to return to the Coney Island event, which is broadcast live on ESPN and even shown overseas.

Last year, he opted to compete against soldiers in Fort Bliss, in El Paso, Texas, in a 5-minute hot dog eating contest. Back in New York, Patrick Bertoletti gobbled up 58 hot dogs to win his first men’s title while defending champion Miki Sudo won her 10th title in the women’s division, downing a record 51 links.

Chestnut holds the world record of eating 76 hot dogs.

“Over the last year, I ran into a lot of people who said that it wasn’t the same without me. And I told many people that I was going to work really hard to make sure I got back there,” Chestnut said. “And I’m really happy that Nathan’s and Major League Eating, we were able all to figure it out.”

Chestnut said he been prepping for the big event and has a couple practice sessions left before the July Fourth holiday.

“My body's in tune right now,” he said, explaining how he has to build tolerance for consuming so many hot dogs and “get all those muscles used to working together.” He likened the process to boxer getting in practice rounds before a big fight.

Chestnut made it clear his business relationship with Impossible Foods does not mean he has become a vegan, an assumption he said some fans made last year. Chestnut said he was surprised by the “weird blowback” he received about it, explaining he eats a plant-based diet during his recovery from competitive eating events.

“I love meat. I’m going to continue to eat meat. But when I recover from a contest, I have to eat super clean in order to get my body to try to get back to normal,” he said. “I can’t eat pounds of meat every day.”

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Prince William's longtime friend Sunjay Kapur died on Thursday after reportedly swallowing a bee during a polo match in England.

The billionaire businessman collapsed on the field in Windsor after being stung in his mouth, which caused anaphylactic shock that triggered a fatal heart attack, according to the Mirror.

“He was full of life, laughing, joking, then gone in an instant,” an insider also told the outlet.

A witness told the Telegraph he was heard saying,“I’ve swallowed something.”

Kapur, 53, who’s the ex-husband of Bollywood star Karisma Kapoor, was the chairman of the automotive technology firm Sona Comstar.

“We are deeply saddened by the sudden demise of our Chairman, Mr. Sunjay Kapur,” the company said in a statement. “He was a visionary leader whose passion, insight and dedication shaped the identity and success of our company.”

A friend of Kapur also shared a statement with Telegraph Sport saying, “He will be greatly missed not only by his family and friends but the local community around his club as he employed so many people and made so many friends.”

“He didn’t distinguish between his grooms or high net worth friends,” they added. “When he had a party, everyone was invited and everyone was equal.”

Kapur was said to be a regular on the polo circuit and was often seen playing with members of the royal family, including his pal Prince William.

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Justin Bieber opened up about his “deep anger issue” one day after celebrating his first Father’s Day.

The 31-year-old singer took to Instagram on Monday with a candid message to his followers addressing the speculation about his well-being.

“People keep telling me to heal. Don’t you think if I could have fixed myself I would have already?” he began his post.

“I know I’m broken. I know I have anger issues,” the “Peaches” singer continued. “I tried to do the work my whole life to be like the people who told me I needed to be fixed like them. And it just keeps making me more tired and angry.”

He added that he’s more focused on himself the harder he tries to grow.

“Jesus is the only person who keeps me wanting to make my life about others,” Bieber said. “Because honestly I’m exhausted with learning about myself lately aren’t you?”

The self-proclaimed “Jesus guy” captioned the post with a middle finger emoji. He used the same emoji to caption a flurry of Instagram posts he published on Sunday, which included a photo of his son, Jack, and his wife, Hailey Bieber.

The couple announced the birth of their first child in August after sharing they were expecting in May 2024.

Bieber followed up Monday’s confession with a series of scattershot selfies in another post with the caption: “If u wanna know where I’m parked.”

In recent weeks, Bieber also posted alluding to a conflict with an unidentified friend.

“Tired of transactional relationships,” he wrote in a June 8 caption. “If I have to do something to be loved that’s not love.”

From combined wire services