Each contestant was given a box of 10 chicken wings doused in the restaurant’s Carolina reaper pepper sauce, a Buffalo Wild Wings Blazin’ Challenge sweatband to keep their faces dry and five minutes to eat as many of the 10 wings as they could. And they all did this while on stage in front of their friends, family and other fairgoers, some who shouted encouraging cheers and some who heckled their poor, spicy souls.

Those who finished all their wings, with “clean” bones, the fastest in each round were crowned the winner.

The challenge was open to all ages and at 9 years old, Joshua Howard, of Des Moines, was the youngest competitor.

While many dripped sweat, shaking with every fiery bite, Jordyn Ober, 15, of Fort Dodge, was all business as she sped through her wings with pinpoint focus to be named the youth division champion.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Jordyn Ober, 15, of Fort Dodge, won the youth division of the Buffalo Wild Wings Blazin’ Hot Wings Challenge at the Webster County Fair on Sunday. Ober previously won the 2019 challenge, beating several Iowa Central Community College football players.

“I feel good, but I also feel really disgusting and sick,” she said after her victory.

Ober’s determination during the challenge is because she just wants to beat the boys, she said.

“I feel like I’m about to cry,” she said, describing what goes through her head during the five-minute challenge. “Honestly, it’s painful and it burns your face. It doesn’t even burn my mouth, it burns my face.”

Ober is no stranger to this particular challenge. During the 2019 Webster County Fair, at just age 13, she won the Blazin’ Challenge, beating out several members of the Iowa Central Community College football team.

The second and third rounds of the challenge were the adult division. Unlike the youths, two of the men competing brought milk to gulp in an effort to tame the heat after the challenge — competitors are not allowed to drink anything during the five minutes.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
At just 9 years old, Joshua Howard, of Des Moines, was the youngest competitor in the Buffalo Wild Wings Blazin’ Hot Wings Challenge at the Webster County Fair on Sunday.

Nicholas Schelle, a 4-H volunteer from Ames, won the second round of the adult division, finishing off his wings as everyone else kept trudging through.

“You try not to embarrass yourself by not finishing,” he said was his key to keeping motivated.

The winners of the three rounds of the challenge each received tickets to Sunday afternoon’s grandstand event, Figure 8 races. There was no word on whether the tickets came with antacid.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Jeff Heun, of Duncombe, won his round of the Buffalo Wild Wings Blazin' Hot Wings Challenge at the Webster County Fair on Sunday.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Danny Gilliand, of Fort Dodge, has a pint of milk on standby for when he finishes the Blazin’ Hot Wings Challenge at the Webster County Fair on Sunday.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Sherri Hefley, of Otho, chews her way through 10 blazin’ hot wings during the Buffalo Wild Wings Blazin' Hot Wings Challenge at the Webster County Fair on Sunday.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Jeff Wallace, of Fort Dodge, chows down on blazin’ hot wings during the Buffalo Wild Wings Blazin' Hot Wings Challenge at the Webster County Fair on Sunday.