He’s a Snohomish car salesman who likes to stay out of the limelight.
Well, so much for that.
Bickford Ford salesman Jeff Wing, 42, is streaming live with his hand on a big honking truck for an endurance contest on NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”
Ten Ford sales consultants nationwide were selected for the high-profile gig. The prize isn’t the truck: The last one standing gets to sell Fallon a 2015 Ford F-150 King Ranch truck.
You can watch it here: www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/blogs/3491.
At last report, Wing was still standing, as were seven others in the marathon held on the windy deck of the USS Intrepid aircraft carrier in New York City.
Fallon wanted a Ford F-150, so he came up with “Fingers on a 4X4” (Twitter hashtag #fingersona4x4) to get the Ford-toughest sales rep.
The talk show host kicked off the competition at 5 p.m. Pacific on Monday by saying, “No one get hurt… Be safe. If you’re feeling woozy, just drop out.”
Back in Snohomish County, Julie Banta, Wing’s wife, is watching and waiting as are many of his fans, who have sent tons of Tweets to #SnohomishJeff.
“The longest he has stayed up is 36 hours when he was in his 20s at a bachelor party in Lake Tahoe,” Banta said Tuesday afternoon. “He just called me and told he is approaching the 36-hour mark. He is starting to feel it. He said it is quite a challenge. It is mostly the cold. They get a five-minute break every hour. I’m nervous.”
Mike Bickford, Bickford general manager, said it was a last-minute thing.
“Friday we heard about it. He flew out on Sunday. He was a bit apprehensive,” Bickford said
“He is such a low-key, thoughtful individual. He doesn’t like to draw attention to himself.”
How could the top salesman refuse?
“Ford picked the top 10 sales people for volume for selling trucks and also costumer satisfaction,” Bickford said.
Wing’s competition includes a guy who can spin a basketball on his finger, a Popeye impersonator and woman who tried out for “Survivor” but didn’t make it.
As for Wing, he’s a Marysville family man who loves to play golf.
“My husband is very humble,” Banta said. “He’s not about winning contests or notoriety. He doesn’t like people who are like, ‘Look at me, look at me.’ It’s ironic. He’s the last one on the planet who would even think to do it. I begged him to go.”
For more information, go to www.thetonightshowstarringjimmyfallon.com.
Andrea Brown; 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com.
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