Last year’s winner, Chip “Dr. ChipBurger” Simpson, came in second, but as he came up to collect his plaque, he whispered to master of ceremonies Ryan Nerz that he wanted a recount.

Simpson’s pile of bones, which originally showed that he had eaten 4.33 pounds of wing meat, went back on the scale. It did better this time, indicating 4.77 pounds had been eaten, but it still came up short.

Thomas, whose eating prowess has earned her the nickname “The Black Widow,” had a surprisingly simple answer when asked what the key is to stripping the meat off the better part of four four-pound aluminum trays of wings.

“Swallowing,” she said. “Sometimes it’s difficult to swallow, but you have to do it.”

It was redemption of sorts for Thomas, who came in second last year behind Simpson. She said last year’s cold, rainy weather was behind what was, for her, a disappointing finish.

“I don’t like the cold weather,” she said. “I can’t use my hands.”

As any Buffalonian knows, hands are an important part of eating chicken wings, although contestants in the “Blue Cheese Bowl” weren’t allowed to use them as they “bobbed” for chicken wings in a giant vat of blue cheese sauce.

For Scott McClintock of Ithaca, who won the event, it was serious business.

“Other than my wedding day, this will be the single biggest day of my life,” he said before plunging his face into the gooey white stuff.

More than a few spectators also took their wing eating seriously.

“I’m the world’s No. 1 chicken wing lover,” said Paul Pietkiewicz, a Cheektowaga native visiting home this weekend with his new bride, Mariah, whom he met while both were at Arizona State University. “Nobody loves them more than me.”

How much does he love wings? Pietkiewicz insisted they be served at his February sitdown wedding dinner alongside prime rib, smoked salmon and Caesar salad.

“My wife was a very good sport about it,” he said.

The festival always draws a good number of out-of-town wing fans, making what some consider a pilgrimage to the birthplace of wings.

“We like chicken wings, and this is a very cool family affair,” said Ed Szewczyk of Coudersport, Pa., attending his fourth festival with his wife, Tammy, and their sons, Austin and Josh.

Brandon and Denise Shaw drove four hours from Highland Mills after Denise’s brother-inlaw, an annual attendee, kept pestering them to go. “The only bad thing is the lines,” she said. “Everything else is great.”

Long lines were a common complaint. Festival organizer Drew Cerza said that he invested in four new, industrial-sized deep fryers this year but that Saturday’s crowd was about 1 1/5 times the usual Saturday turnout.

“We’ve doubled our output capacity, and we’re barely keeping up,” he said.