 "Photo: Kelli Ordonia")
Twelve people gave their all and stained their T-shirts in an all out competition for free wings and bragging rights, Saturday in the Waterford Lakes Town Center.
As country music blared, the crowd counted down from 10 to kick off the Wing Break wing eating competition, in which contestants more or less inhaled "nuclear-flavored" chicken wings.
Chad Tajudeen finished his 15 wings first; the Rascal Flatts song that started playing as he began eating wasn't even finished yet.
The other 11 competitors, including one woman, kept stripping the chicken bones. As Tajudeen pulled out a cigarette and mimed to the crowd for a lighter, Mike Skelly put up his orange hands in victory, claiming second place.
Promoters from the radio station K92FM encouraged the other contestants to keep eating until finally Jason Cody, the only participant to eat while standing up, captured third place.
K92FM promoters did not know what the record for eating 15 nuclear-flavored wings was, but it was believed to be about three minutes. Tajudeen ate his in about two and a half minutes.
"My mouth is hot," Tajudeen, 18, said from the stage.
His cheeks were stained the same color red as the writing on his T-shirt.
Though the second annual Wing Break offered wings from more than 10 restaurants, Beef O'Brady's provided the wings for the contest.
K92FM Promotions Coordinator Kristi Nguyen said that last year's Wing Break had a regular wing eating contest but this year Beef ‘O' Brady's decided that the winner would be the first person who could eat 15 wings.
"I think it was awesome," said Nguyen. "Plus, prizing was great."
Apart from the first place prize of free wings at Beef O'Brady's for a year, second and third place won gift cards of $100 and $50.
This was the first eating contest for all three of the winners, and each of them would probably do it again. However, while he was eating, Cody, 37, said he was wondering why he did it.
Skelly, 49, said, "I was thinking, ‘Damn, these things are getting hot.' "
Despite how hot they were, Skelly said he will try again next year. Skelly has a long way to go if he wants to catch Joey Chestnut's record of 241 wings, however.
"I'm very disappointed in the effort," Skelly said. "I should have won."
The only woman to compete was a UCF sophomore, Kelsey Herrett.
Herrett was the last person to join the competition and she only finished five nuclear wings.
"I didn't know they could make anything that hot," Herrett said.
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