Dale “The Mouth of the South” Boone happily danced on stage, chewing the last morsels of a cookie, as the final seconds ticked down to the end of the unofficial World Black-and-White Cookie Eating Championship, held right here in the Bronx at the Jerome-Gun Hill BID Festival last Saturday. The winner would receive a $1,000 check and be crowned cookie king.

Convinced he’d easily bested the competition, The Mouth held his arms up in victory (see cover photo). But when the referees began tallying up the leftovers, the overall-clad Atlanta native became incensed and had to be escorted off the stage.

According to the referees, dressed, of course, in black and white, the Mouth had tied with 24-yeard-old Virginian Ian “The Invader” Hickman. Both had consumed 11 big cookies in five minutes, the refs declared.

But the Mouth, no stranger to controversy, having been kicked out of at least one competitive eating association, was having none of it. (A Web site profile says: “Boone has maintained a reputation as a combative competitor who has disrupted some eating events with verbal excess. He is not well liked.”)

The Mouth, delivering on his reputation, immediately went to hyperactive emcee Arnie “Chowhound” Chapman to plead his case – crying foul and claiming conspiracy when Chapman wouldn’t reverse the decision or call for an eat off.

“Everyone out there knows I dominated that competition,” the Mouth shouted in a surprisingly high, nasal southern twang, his lips red and chapped. “They wanted their own people to win.”

“They” are the Association of Independent Competitive Eaters (AICE), which organized the cookie battle. To promote their regular eaters (guys like Hickman) Boone claims the organizers rigged the count. The Mouth said he ate at least 15 cookies.

Boone is notorious for claiming victory and making a scene, Hickman said. It’s just what he does, like a pro wrestler’s trademark leg lock.

In the end, the Invader happily put his $500 check, plus a half dozen extra cookies, into his backpack and headed home. As for the Mouth, he eventually settled down, gave his half to his mama, and walked off to the thumping of Latin hip hop.

His parting words to a reporter? “Google me.”