Wing Bowl 19 good to the last bite

WHEN JONATHAN "Super Squibb" Squibb eats chicken wings, he rhythmically bobs his head up and down. He shimmies his shoulders. He sways his hips. He looks as if he's dancing to a song no one else hears.

He looks happy.

But his demeanor while eating wings can't compare to what Squibb felt after he won 610 WIP's Wing Bowl 19 for the third straight time.

"Total euphoria," Squibb said.

Squibb, a corporate accountant from Berlin, N.J., devoured 255 chicken wings, beating out Bill "El Wingador" Simmons' 254. Despite the tight race, it was a record-shattering year in terms of cluckers consumed for the annual eating competition. The previous record was held by Joey Chestnut, who ate 241 wings in 2008.

Despite the full slate of competitors, Wing Bowl 19 was always about Squibb and Simmons: the young bull versus the battle-weary veteran.

When Squibb eats a wing, he's methodical. He sticks it in his mouth and rabidly twists it, bopping his head all the while. When it emerges, only the bone remains.

Squibb won $20,000 in cash, a ring from Steven Singer Jewelers and a 2011 Dodge Ram 1500. But he won't quit his day job for the competitive-eating circuit. "This is my opus," he said. "I don't want to risk that."

Simmons has a different eating style: He grabs a wing and takes it all in seemingly one bite, with the meat disappearing into the abyss that is his mouth.

"It could have gone either way. Squibb's a great eater," said Simmons, a Woodbury Heights resident who has won five previous Wing Bowl titles. "If he has one thing over me - other than one wing - it's youth."

But Simmons was gracious after his close loss, shaking hands with Squibb and bringing him in for a hug. "He reminds me a lot of myself," said Simmons, who gave the 25-year-old Squibb some pointers at the weigh-in, like relax and have a good time.

Squibb responded in kind, calling Simmons "a great champion."

Simmons' 12-year-old daughter, Felicia, said she was proud of her pops no matter what the outcome, but she did have to return to school after the competition. (She has no plans to follow in dad's footsteps.)