Grant Bingham Propels Kentucky to Hot Chicken Wing Eating Win over Iowa

Success on the gridiron requires one to sacrifice for his ten teammates in order to achieve a greater goal. Wednesday night one Wildcat put his body on the line to propel his team to victory. Shortly after crossing the finish line of the Music City Bowl hot chicken wing eating competition, Grant Bingham had an admission to make. He does not like spicy food.

“Not really, but I’m an eater. I can eat.”

And boy, did he eat. In four minutes the freshman offensive lineman ate 13 wings to lead Kentucky to a narrow 50-49 victory over Iowa in the friendly pre-bowl competition. Fellow freshman Abelardo Reza, a walk-on offensive lineman from Eminence, KY, kept pace with Bingham by eating 13 chicken wings. After the spectacular performance, I asked Grant Bingham how he felt.

“Confident. The team overall won, a lot of chicken was ate, a lot of hot chicken at that. I’m sweating, my mouth’s hot, glad we brought the team trophy home. I’m serious, it was hot.”

It was so hot that Bingham deployed an unusual eating strategy. Gifted a cup of milk and ice water to help with the heat from Prince’s world famous spicy wings, the Johnson County native used the milk as a dipping sauce. Bingham dunked each wing into the milk before shredding it down to the bone.

“Milk cools it down, so it has to help. It worked. I liked it. I enjoy milk too, so hot sauce, milk, it was gone,” he said. “I’m sweating a lot, glad we won though. It was fun.”

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An Iowa Hawkeye downed 15 to take home the individual honor, but the Cats were the real winners. Tyreese Fearbry, Noah Matthews and Andru Phillips also made significant contributions. Despite the cornerback’s slight stature compared to the rest of the competition, he put up an admirable fight while wearing plastic gloves to protect his fingers from the spices. Each player was handed a trophy to honor the occasion, one that is now near and dear to Bingham’s heart.

“Right behind the state championship in high school,” he said. “This is my first trophy at Kentucky, a memorable one at that for sure. But this isn’t the one we came for, just for fun.”

Grant Bingham’s work is far from done in Nashville, but it definitely is finished with the competitive eating circuit. He’ll stick to making pancakes on the football field.

“I’m probably gonna steer clear of them. One and done.”