Earlier this week, the NY Post reported Wehry, hubby of the 10-time mustard belt champion Miki Sudo, was accused of adding a plate to his final tally at the 2024 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest on the Fourth of July.

At the time, NW denied the allegations, saying he "stole nothing."

Now, Wehry, who still maintains his innocence, has requested Major League Eating adjust his count back to 46.75 dogs ... since he touched another plate (a no-no).

While Esper told us he's unsure whether it's an admission of guilt, it's a good first step on Nick's part.

"There is some video evidence, it's not like crystal clear," Esper told us. "You can definitely see he was doing things that were not normal. You watch the rest of us, you watch me in the video; I'm not playing around with stuff."

Esper -- who came in second place after eating 53 Frankfurters -- stopped short of saying Wehry himself should be suspended ... though he thinks MLE should consider taking measures to stop this from happening in the future.

"There has been other cheating instances in the past," he said. "As far as I know there was never any suspensions or anything like that. So by looking at past practices, I don't see that's going to happen, but I think to stop it from happening in the future something should be done."

"If there's no incentive not to do it, why wouldn't someone else do it?"

Time will tell if MLE opts to take further action against Wehry.