Featured Articles on Ghost Wings Challenge
Girvan Grille Puts the "Hot" in Hot Wings at the Fair
Kare11.com (August, 2010) - The "Ghost Wings" are sauced with Girvan Grille's house blend of seasoning and chilies. Girvan's chefs use habaneras, Asian chili paste, and the star of the show, Bhut Jolokia, or the ghost chili. Native to northern India, these fireballs pack twice the heat of habanera chilies.
2010 City Pages Best Of Award Winner for Best Wings - Girvan Grille!
Citypages.com (April, 2010) - The surprising thing about Girvan's wings is their complexity of flavor, as most extremely spicy dishes tend to lack nuance. The sauce at first tastes a little woodsy, then slightly fruity, with hints of campfire and paprika. After those blissful few seconds, though, the ghost pepper begins its scary crescendo, blazing past the lips and mouth before settling in the stomach.
Death by dinner: Burger Jones' Meat Your Maker Origami's blowfish, and more
Citypages.com (February, 2010) - ... She took a bite and appeared to swallow painlessly—a good sign, I thought. My first taste surprised me with its complexity of flavor.
Mouth on Fire! The Hottest Buffalo Wings Money Can Buy
Delish.com (January, 2010) - The Ghost Wings' mouth-burning sauce is an expertly crafted mix of Girvan Dragon Sauce, habanero peppers, Bhut Jolokia peppers, and ... (featured on slide 5 of 7)
Champions of the 2011 Ghost Wings Challenge Finals
The kid does it again! Chris Graber tried his best to topple his record of 38 wings from a year ago, but was infuriated at the result... the same final tally of 38 wings!! It was still good enough to topple the competition, but Chris will have to return in 2012 to try to get over the 40 mark! An amazing repeat performance nonetheless, as the champ hangs onto the title for another year!
Adam Hernke managed to close the gap on Chris as the only other individual to ever eat more than 30 wings, with a grand total of 31! Compare that to last year's 2nd place winner Chris Higgins, who placed second in 2010 with 21 wings (and landed himself tied for fourth with 25 this year!). The competition is heating up, and with competitors like Adam constantly improving, 2012 is sure to be the craziest competition yet!
For the first time ever, we had a tie for third place! Todd Gertzen (pictured left) and Jeremy Beer (picture right) battled tooth and nail to the tune of 27 wings each! It's truly remarkable how many wings were consumed at this year's competition, and we can't wait for next year!
- WINNER BIOS -
NAME: Nathan Jones
DATE ACCOMPLISHED: Friday, January 27
FUN FACT: Sure to be embarrassed if he didn't match his wife Kelly in completing the challenge, Nathan also rose to the occasion on his birthday. What a tough couple! "Dear stomach and colon, I'm sorry! Sincerely, Nathan", he said afterward. Ouch! Nice job you two!
NAME: Kelly Jones
DATE ACCOMPLISHED: Friday, January 27
FUN FACT: Our first lady challenger in quite some time, Kelly accompanied her husband and competed in the challenge as his birthday request! What a gal! She did successfully complete it, but eventually stated "It doesn't feel like victory". Ominous words!
NAME: Alexander Back
DATE ACCOMPLISHED: Friday, January 27
FUN FACT: So pleased was Alex with his efforts that he celebrated his completion of his wings by licking his plate clean! Not something you see every day! He must be steeling himself for the 2012 GWC Championships, as he ultimately proclaimed "NEXT!". Bold stuff, Alexander!
NAME: Jerome Bozic
DATE ACCOMPLISHED: Thursday, January 26
FUN FACT: Jerome came in with a couple of friends, one of which attempted the challenge with him and failed, and the other cheering them both on. "It's been 20 minutes and my hands are still tingling!" he added afterward. Now you have eternal bragging rights among your friends!
NAME: Greg Wissinger
DATE ACCOMPLISHED: Sunday, January 15
FUN FACT: Greg performed the challenge with a ton of gusto, proudly proclaiming "That was a nice warmup plate-- when do the really hot ones come out?" He finished the plate in six minutes and licked his fingers afterward! If only it looked so easy to everyone! Great job Greg!
- WINNER BIOS -
NAME: Phill Blomberg
DATE ACCOMPLISHED: Thursday, December 29
FUN FACT: Phill and his buddy were searching high and low for a challenge of this nature, and lucked upon Girvan Grille! Phill was taken aback by having to wait out the heat at the end of the challenge, saying he was happy he didn't have to participate in a photoshoot directly after! "It's only good sailing from here" he added, still a bit dizzy from the experience!
NAME: Chris Shofner
DATE ACCOMPLISHED: Thursday, December 29
FUN FACT: Chris is the brother in law of one Christopher Graber; the reigning King of the Ghost Wings! Chris accompanied Chris to his stake at the challenge, possibly serving as a good luck charm. "I used to do a little but a little wasn't doin so a little got more and more" said Chris. A little GNR reference that goes hand in hand with the Ghost Wings Challenge. We like it!
NAME: Josiah Bennett
DATE ACCOMPLISHED: Saturday, December 3rd
FUN FACT: So pleased was Josiah with his performance and how good the wings taste, that he seemed to think they should be renamed in his honor! "Ghost Wings?", he remarked-- "Call them Josiah's Wings!". On this day, December the 3rd, 2011, they were!
NAME: Matt Hilliard
DATE ACCOMPLISHED: Saturday, November 26
FUN FACT: Matt was initially upset at the news that he would be unable to use a fork for the challenge. He even considered not participating, but it's a good thing he did it anyway-- as he emerged victorious in front of his adoring friends!
