A dozen things you need to know about Wing Bowl 14

By Erin Roop
Philly EDGE Correspondent

The Friday before the Super Bowl is, unfortunately, not a day that Philly ordinarily gears up for an Eagles Super Bowl win, but rather it is a day to celebrate gluttony and drunkenness…
It’s the day of the Wing Bowl.
The event was created in 1993 by WIP (610 AM) talk-radio hosts Al Morganti and Angelo Cataldi when it became clear that the Eagles weren’t going to be dazzling Philly anytime soon. About 150 people showed up to Wing Bowl 1 on January 29, 1993 in the lobby of the Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel in Center City. There were only two contestants.
Now, in its 14th year, the contest is a Philly institution with 25 contestants competing in front of crowds in excess of 20,000 people. The participants can qualify by performing food stunts on WIP or, if they’re college students, through the “Wing 5s” — 5 competitions that take place at a bar/restaurant in the vicinity of some local colleges. Morganti judges the stunts on WIP, and holds the power to grant admission into the Wing Bowl. Some stunts have included devouring 20 cups of cooked oatmeal and inhaling five Big Macs. Morganti judges harshly and believes it’s "cheating" when contestants try to ease their eating by dipping bread into liquid (to make it easier to swallow), or breaking food items down into its base parts for easier chewing – i.e. taking bread off of a sandwich or meat off of the bone.
For Wing Bowl 14, participants must be 21 years of age or older and never have participated in a previous Wing Bowl — 14 is a Virgin Wing Bowl. Each contestant has to have the physical capacity to participate in the contest and is also informed that the rapid consumption of food might not be the healthiest choice.
Will this be the year that Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas’ Wing Bowl record of 167 wings is topped? Wing Bowl 14 is already sold out, but if you’ve secured your tickets, or are concocting an elaborate scheme to sneak in, here are a few fun facts you should know before you go…

1. It’s official: Wing Bowl 14 is an International Federation of Competitive Eating, (IFOCE), officially sanctioned and sponsored event. The IFOCE “supervises and regulates eating contests in their various forms throughout the world. The IFOCE helps to ensure that the sport remains safe, while also seeking to achieve objectives consistent with the public interest -- namely, creating an environment in which fans may enjoy the display of competitive eating skill.” (www.ifoce.com)

2. The Rib Ranch, at Castor & Aramingo Ave. in Philly, supplies 7,000 wings (over 900 pounds) for the Wing Bowl. In their tenth year as the official Wing Bowl wing, Mitch Blackman, the owner of Rib Ranch, explains “we’ve been selling wings in Philly for over 22 years and were already a sponsor on WIP when they needed a wing supplier. It was just a perfect match.”

3. How it all goes down: The contest is split into two 14-minute periods, with a short break after each, followed by a final two-minute period. Tie-breaking rounds are inserted as necessary. Upon completion of the first 14-minute period, the ten contestants who ate the most wings will qualify for the second 14-minute period. If there is a tie, then the tied contestants will all qualify for the second 14-minute period as well. Upon completion of the second 14-minute period, the five wing-lovers who ate the most wings in the first and second periods combined will continue to the Final two-minute period. If there is a tie, then the tied contestants will all qualify for the Final. At the end of 30 minutes the glutton who has eaten the most chicken wings in all three rounds will be declared Wing Bowl 14 champion. In the event of a tie, a two-minute "eat-off" will be held between all tied finalists. "Eat-offs" will continue until a single winner is declared. The winner of Wing Bowl 2006 will receive a 2006 Suzuki Grand Vitara S model; the runner up wins a four-night trip for two to Cancun or Punta Cana at Iberostar Resorts & Hotels.

4. Shake that ass: The Wing Bowl is also a competition for some visually appealing ladies, called “Wingettes,” that help to distribute the food of choice. One Wingette will strut out of the Wachovia Center with the title, Miss Wingette 2006 as well as a trip to Cancun or Punta Cana. Miss Wingette 2006 is based on subjective criteria, including: overall appearance (ie: hotness), personality and how well she performs her Wingette tasks. The tasks: Each contestant will be assigned at least two Wingettes, who will be responsible for bringing the wings. Wingettes will signal for a new plate (containing 20 wings) when there are five wings left on a contestant's plate. Seventy-five hot chicks line the stage and help the WIP Morning Team count and serve wings to the contestants.
The contest is open to all female WIP listeners who are 18 years of age or older.

5. Don’t play with your food: Each contestant has to consume a minimum portion of the meat off of each wing for it to count toward the grand total. Before they all start housing their wings, contestants witness a demo of the minimum amount of meat that must be eaten. Contestants who do not meet the minimum requirement will be given one warning, after which they will be penalized for each wing that is not properly and fully eaten.

6. Disqualified: Contestants can be disqualified for many reasons, including: stripping the wings of meat first and then eating the meat all at once (chicken must be eaten directly from wings); leaving the wing-eating area for any reason at any time; making physical contact with another contestant; vomiting or “purging” at any point during the competition. During the breaks, contestants may stand up, stretch, drink water, wipe their hands and faces and confer with their managers.

7. Items that are not allowed: Napkins (in any form) – the more wing sauce on your face, the hotter and more hardcore you are considered.

8. Smile for your close-up: Rumor has it, a movie is in the works surrounding a particularly famous Wing-Bowl participant. The crowd scenes are slated to be filmed at this year’s Bowl. This isn’t the first “movie” though. A documentary called Swallow Your Pride featured five legendary eaters, including Bill “El Wingador” Simmons.
The Wing Bowl has appeared in or been featured on: every one of the major Philadelphia television stations; Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News; Reel TV; and the Montel Williams Show. Segments on the Wing Bowl have also appeared on TV newscasts in cities throughout the country.

9. Gluttony at its best: Several Wing Bowl contestants, including Bill "El Wingador" Simmons continued their eating prowess and competed in Fox's "Glutton Bowl, a two-hour IFOCE-sanctioned eating special in which contestants had to eat (and keep down) food such as bowls of mayonnaise, sticks of butter and "Rocky Mountain Oysters” … mmmm tasty. Check out the sidebar for more tasty eating competition facts.

10. Training: After his first Bowl, El Wingador experiences a mild side effect – all the chewing had left his jaw muscles sore. In order to strengthen the many muscles found in the mouth, Wingador tossed a bag of his favorite candy, Tootsie Rolls, into the fridge. Every time he passed by, he would grab a handful of the rock-hard candy and chomp down, essentially giving his jaw muscles quite the workout. For his fifth win, he ate seven pounds of Tootsie Rolls in the two weeks leading up to the Bowl.

Sonya “The Black Widow” Thomas, Wing Bowl 12 champion and runner-up of Wing Bowl 13, says, “I often do not train at all, but if I am totally unfamiliar with the kind of food I will be eating, I will sometimes practice my speed for one or two minutes. Once I set a pace, I can usually keep it up for however long the contest is; the stomach capacity is always there.”

11. The Rocky of Wing Bowls: Retired Wing Bowl legend, Bill “El Wingador” Simmons has nothing left to prove with competitive eating and the Wing Bowl; he knows he’s the best. “The Virgin Bowl is the best idea I had heard from WIP. It eliminates these famous and professional out-of-towners coming to Philly and taking the title. The new talent will be a lot of fun to watch.”

The five time Wing Bowl champion was first invited to the Wing Bowl seven years ago because of his uncanny love for chicken wings. “The first year was easy. The second year I had the flu and a fever of 103 degrees and lost by less than 10 wings. I won the next two years, and then the IFOCE contacted me about taking my Wing Bowl wins to the next level and competing in more eating contests.”

“I just have an eating disorder that people took advantage of. I’ve always been a good eater and have loved chicken. It’s not what you eat, but how you carry yourself as a champion that makes people come to watch.”

El Wingador isn’t all competition though. He is currently branching out with his sauce business (www.elwingadorsauce.com) and writing a book about his experiences in competitive eating. “I have so many amazing stories. This has really changed my life.” (Word around the water cooler is that the movie being made is gonna’ center around the Wingador himself.)

12. ’05 Recap: At the ’05 Wing Bowl, thousands of Eagles-adorned potential patrons were turned away from the Wachovia Center, which filled to capacity nearly an hour before the contest. Winner Bill “El Wingador” Simmons, weighing in at a mere 312 pounds before the contest (he consumed about 8-10 pounds of wings during the competition), edged out defending champion Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas, all 99 pounds of her, by a single wing. These wing-rivals were tied throughout the regular competition and had to face each other in a final two-minute "wing-off.”

“I knew I had to win, then I heard 22,000 Philly fans chanting El-Wing-a-dor! El-Wing-a-dor! and I just had to come through as the champion again and bring the crown back to the Philly where it belongs.”

Philly Wing Bowl 14

When: Friday, February 3, 6 a.m.

Where: Wachovia Center (3601 Broad St., Philadelphia)

Admission: Tickets $5. While they are SOLD OUT, fans may still get into the event if you:
- Listen to Angelo mornings from 5:30-10:00 a.m. on WIP

- Go to a WIP Wing Bowl Ticket Raid

- Attend one of these WIP Wing 5 events

January 24 at Kelly's (1107 E. Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr)
January 26 at Lucy's Hat Shop (247 Market St., Old City)

Wing Bowl Champions:
• Wing Bowl 1, 29 January 1993 - Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel; Winner - Carmen "The Beast From the East" Cordero (100 Wings)
• Wing Bowl 2, 1994 - The Main Event; Winner - Kevin "Heavy Keavy" O'Donnell (127 Wings)
• Wing Bowl 3, 1995 - Club Egypt; Winner - Kevin "Heavy Keavy" O'Donnell (133 Wings)
• Wing Bowl 4, 1996 - The Electric Factory; Winner - Glen "Fluffmaster" Garrison (155 Wings)
• Wing Bowl 5, 1997 - The Electric Factory; Winner - Eric "Gentleman E" Biehl (120 Wings)
• Wing Bowl 6, 1998 - The Spectrum; Winner - Mark "Big Rig" Vogeding (164 Wings)
• Wing Bowl 7, 1999 - The Spectrum; Winner - Bill "El Wingador" Simmons (113 Wings)
• Wing Bowl 8, 2000 - The First Union Center; Winner - "Tollman Joe" Paul (90 Wings)
• Wing Bowl 9, 2001 - The First Union Center; Winner - Bill "El Wingador" Simmons (137 Wings)
• Wing Bowl 10, 2002 - The First Union Center; Winner - Bill "El Wingador" Simmons (135 Wings)
• Wing Bowl 11, 2003 - The First Union Center; Winner - Bill "El Wingador" Simmons (154 Wings)
• Wing Bowl 12, 30 January 2004 - The Wachovia Center; Winner - Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas (167 Wings)
• Wing Bowl 13, 4 February 2005 - The Wachovia Center; Winner - Bill "El Wingador" Simmons (162 Wings)