How it all began
September 21st, 2006 - It all started with a vision and a single post on NSMB.com’s forums. The rules were simple. Eat 120 of Wingnuts’ hottest wings in under an hour with no drinks and you’d walk away with the cost of the wings ($59.99+tax), $50 and bragging rights for the foreseeable future…
The meeting time was set for the following Wednesday at 9pm and the talking began. Big people, small people, fat people, skinny people – there was no shortage of people who claimed that they would be able to eat that many wings. This short conversation snippet between some of the forum members was perhaps the description that I’d seen.
Rat: how much do you think the meat of 120 wings is?
Silk: I figure 7 pounds
Paul: My god that’s like a newborn baby!
One week and 107 posts later, we had a challenger! As expected none of the trash talking teenagers showed up, but luckily for us, Ken decided that step up to the plate and take the challenge. Within minutes of ordering, the plates of wings were carted out and the pungent aroma burned our nostrils from across the establishment. Of course, it looked like the wings didn’t have enough sauce on them so Dennis took it upon himself to dump an extra cupful of sauce over the wings.
As the countdown began, we could see the fear in Ken’s eyes. Could he do it? Could he set a new record? 3..2..1.. and he was off! Like a fat kid on a donut, ken attacked the wings with a vigor I’d never seen before. One wing, two wings, three wings – he was a machine. I was even beginning to fear for my wallet.
Well, that lasted for a whole of five minutes before the capsicum kicked in and Ken’s face turned a bright red. With sweat dripping from his chin, hot sauce smeared all over his lips and agony written all over his face, I began to feel sorry for Ken… but only for a brief moment before the laughter kicked in.
15 minutes in, it became very clear that Ken wasn’t going to make his goal so the compassionate side of us came through and we allowed him some drinks to wash away the pain. 5 beers and 50 minutes later, Ken finally threw in the towel - he’d managed to eat 55 wings, a far cry from the 120 required. Shamed and defeated, he drove home with a stomach full of fire and a box of leftover wings.