Dan Gross | El Wingador has his eyes on the prize

E

L WINGADOR

wants to bring the Wing Bowl crown back to Philadelphia. The five-time champion of 610 WIP's annual carnival of gluttony, strippers, and early-morning boozing, is impressed with reigning champion

Joey Chestnut

, of San Jose, Calif., but thinks it's time to bring home the prize.

Bill "El Wingador" Simmons, 46, isn't nervous about the Feb. 1 contest at the Wachovia Center. "Chestnut's a great eater, but I'm not impressed with his wing-eating. A lot of eaters can out-eat me, but they don't eat wings like I do," he says. Wingador has been training since summertime, eating 10 to 15 pounds of food per day. On a recent afternoon, Wingador told us he'd already eaten three porterhouse steaks, a ham and cheese sandwich, a roast beef hoagie and half a pizza, washed down by a gallon and a half of water. He also eats 10 pounds of Tootsie Rolls each week. His Web site at ElWingador.com should soon offer a way to buy his El Wingador sauce. Wingador's also involved with the Just Sports Bar & Grill chain in Bristol and Warminster, and says he and his partners are working on opening another one in South Jersey.

A battle of Jew vs. Beast

In what could be the most bizarre of all Wing Bowl-qualifying challenges, attorney Adam Taxin, who competed in Wing Bowl 14 as Hungry Hungry Hebrew, will face off in the 610 WIP studios Jan. 15 against a dog, a Newfoundland. If he can out-eat the dog - they'll eat kosher hamburger meat - he'll earn a slot in Wing Bowl. Taxin, 36, who keeps kosher, will be allowed to eat kosher chicken wings in the competition. He is related to the family that owns Old Original Bookbinder's and says that if he wins any Wing Bowl prizes, he'll contribute them to Pups for Peace, which trains dogs to detect explosive devices in Israel.

Taxin's aware that dogs eat fast, but he thinks he has an edge because he "won't take a break to sniff someone's butt." The Harvard grad and three-time "Jeopardy" winner says he smarter than the competition, too. "Let's face it, in the 15,000 or so years since my opponent's species was domesticated, it hasn't really come up with any great innovations; mine, in contrast, has come up with, to name a few, agriculture and written language, not to mention E-ZPass."

Will Tiffany be good luck again?

Joey Chestnut's good-luck charm, Tiffany Heller, has confirmed she will once again serve as his Wingette. Heller, 24, a model, was paired with Chestnut at Wing Bowl 14 and he requested her at last year's contest. Interestingly, Heller was El Wingador's Wingette when he won Wing Bowl 13, so she has three years of victory under her bikini bottoms.

And speaking of babes

NB2 Apparel, which creates swag for Wing Bowl, has made special shirts for Club Risque.

Dancers from the gentlemen's club will wear the "Who needs wings? We've got breasts" shirt, and there are also "Who needs wings? We want breasts," available for men. The shirts should soon be on sale at clubrisque.com and at the club's Columbus Boulevard location, which, like most area clubs, is hosting a special Wing Bowl after-party.

He makes his parents proud

Wilmington's Jeff "The Natural" Olson says his parents, Steve Olson and Susan Murdoch, couldn't be prouder that their son will compete in Wing Bowl 16. Olson qualified by eating five pounds of peanut butter, Skippy's Natural - hence the nickname. Olson, 22, works as a cook at Pickles & Chips, in Wilmington. He has a mohawk and wears his iPod earbuds while eating, which is similar to the approach of Chicago eating machine Patrick Bertoletti, who finished in the top five last year. "I'm a diehard Philadelphia sports fan," Olson says, "I have an Eagles tattoo, and Wing Bowl is Philly's Super Bowl. Who wouldn't want to be in the Wing Bowl?" *

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