ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The world’s best competitive eaters came to Highmark Stadium for the Wing It On! U.S. Chicken Wing Eating Championship, but only one man left victorious - eating a world record 276 wings in 12 minutes.
“If you told me this yesterday, I would have laughed in your face. I’m so shocked right now.”
Sunday afternoon, James Webb became the man of the National Buffalo Wing Festival.
In his first ever visit to the greater Buffalo area, Webb not only competed against, but defeated both Joey Chestnut and the twice reigning champion of the wing eating competition Miki Sudo.
“I’m from Australia man, I just make it up as I go along.”
Webb’s winning number of 276 wings averaged a pace of consuming 23 wings per minute.
Chestnut came in second place to Webb, 36 wings behind him with a total for 240.
He felt he was able to eat a lot of wings but didn’t clean all of the meat off the bone well enough.
“I’ve got some bad cleaning habits I guess,” Chestnut said. “This was only my second time eating against James Webb, and the guy is good. He surprised me, I didn’t know how fast he was.”
2021 and 2022 reigning champion Miki Sudo finished in third place with a total of 231 chicken wings.
Sudo explained that she recently had to cut her nails short for a dental hygiene program that she recently started, and she felt the new nails lost all of her grip advantage she’s used over the past two years.
“They’re nicely sauced wings and a couple of times they jumped out of hands. I had to catch them in midair, and that’s a lot of wasted time, that adds up,” Sudo said. “I think when you win multiple times, unfortunately there’s nowhere to go but down.”
Meanwhile, Webb found the secret recipe and will leave Western New York with a full year of bragging rights and an extra $5,000 in winnings.
Your 2023 @Wingfest Champion is James Webb from Sydney, Australia! 🍗 pic.twitter.com/CXtTarycLa
— Derek Heid (@DerekHeid) September 3, 2023
“I was just trying to clean the bones as best as I could. I know that I’m not as fast as [Chestnut and Sudo], but if they weigh leftovers and there’s less chicken, I have a chance. I guess my style works."
Webb also said that he welcomes his fellow competitors to try his championship winning style next year.
“Imitation is the biggest form of flattery, so that would be an honor.”
Both Chestnut and Sudo shared they’re coming back in 2024 hungry for the chicken wing eating title.
