Kyochon Restaurant Hosts Chicken Wing Eating Contest in New York

Contestants approached the line when the referee cued. They were wound up, focused, and ready to charge forward. The crowd cheered with anticipation, competing with the loud, pumping music.
Kyochon Restaurant Hosts Chicken Wing Eating Contest in New York
3/13/2011
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/DSCF6015.JPG" alt="WING EATERS: First-place winner Will Millender (C), second-place winner Derek O'Gall, and third-place winner Andrew Tsang (L) in the final round of the Kyochon hot wings eating contest held on Sunday at the chain�s Manhattan store on 32nd Street at Fifth Avenue. (Gidon Belmaker/The Epoch Times)" title="WING EATERS: First-place winner Will Millender (C), second-place winner Derek O'Gall, and third-place winner Andrew Tsang (L) in the final round of the Kyochon hot wings eating contest held on Sunday at the chain�s Manhattan store on 32nd Street at Fifth Avenue. (Gidon Belmaker/The Epoch Times)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-1806844"/></a>
WING EATERS: First-place winner Will Millender (C), second-place winner Derek O'Gall, and third-place winner Andrew Tsang (L) in the final round of the Kyochon hot wings eating contest held on Sunday at the chain�s Manhattan store on 32nd Street at Fifth Avenue. (Gidon Belmaker/The Epoch Times)
NEW YORK—Contestants approached the line when the referee cued. They were wound up, focused, and ready to charge forward. The crowd cheered with anticipation, competing with the loud, pumping music.

“Commence eating!” shouted a human dressed as a chicken. The competitors had three minutes to finish as many chicken wings as possible. The five-pound mountains of Korean hot wings shined arrogantly in the fluorescent light but were soon devoured.

The inaugural chicken wing eating competition was hosted on Sunday by Kyochon, a Korean chicken wing restaurant chain with two locations in New York City and over 1000 locations worldwide.

Will Millender, the first-prize winner, seemed to have a special technique: grab the wing at one end, bite off the meat, and spit out the bones. He was focused on his goal, and it paid off.

This was not Millender’s first time in a competition. The 30-year-old has participated in several small-scale competitions over the past several years, but is not yet at the “pro” level. “It’s like the D league in basketball—not exactly amateur, but not the league,” he explained.

Second-prize winner, Derek O'Gall, seemed a bit lean standing next to hefty Millender, but the appetite of the 27-year-old was by no means that of a delicate eater. “I like to eat. I regularly eat a pound of pasta for dinner,” he mentioned casually, as if this was a typical amount of food for a human being.

His love of food is balanced by his love for sports. Next week O’Gall will participate in the Los Angeles marathon, which will be his 49th marathon. In the fall, he will run the New York City marathon for the fourth time.

This was only the second competitive eating contest for O’Gall. He previously took part in an ice cream eating competition in Boston.

As the last minute of the final round approached, Andrew Tsang, third place winner, was clearly falling behind. He stopped, leaned forward on the table and struggled to swallow what was already in his mouth. “It was all about having fun,” said 37-year-old Tsang after the competition.

The prizes consisted of Kyochon gift certificates: $250 for the winner, $150 for second place, and $100 for third place.

A small hitch hampered the third round when Clinton Lam, aged 30, spewed his chicken wings, breaking the “no regurgitation” rule. He was disqualified. “My friends made me laugh,” Lam later claimed in his defense.