I started watching this show because I liked the premise that the title suggested. Hundreds of thousands of years of hunting, farming, and becoming an industrialized world just so we can show inanimate perishables who's fucking boss. As much as I like watching it, Im a little disappointed that Adam wins a vast majority of the challenges (it has to be 95% or higher). I know he's lost some but for some reason these are the episodes Ive missed. Most of the time, like the Alaska challenge episode, you know that it'll be a cake walk for him and they have to edit up the drama. The stacked plate oyster challenge was one I thought would give him some trouble but he flew through it. I once smashed a local wing joints hot wing contest, I got the meal for free and my picture on the wall with three other people. The trick is pulling the meat off the bone and plopping it in your mouth without it touching your lips. Smothering it in bleu cheese also helps. Really not a huge deal but it's the best I got. Talk about your favorite episode and/or food challenge you've bested:
My husband would agree with you, but it doesn't seem to me like Adam wins quite that many. We've talked about what his achilles heel seem to be - when the majority of the meal is some sort of dense starch. If it has a lot of potatoes, that could break him. He couldn't finish the milkshake challenge in St Louis. In fact, I think that was the only episode I recall where he puked. Fun fact, the milkshake challenge was at Crown Candy Kitchen - I went there twice when I stayed with a friend in STL, they have damn good chocolate malteds. I even bought the t-shirt. He usually does well with spicy challenges. But there was one that pissed us off. Usually the places he goes, the challenges are well-established with X number of people who have tried it already. There was one place that had mystery challenges. The chef just decided on the spot what the challenge was going to be. In Adam's case, he chose something spicy - I think it was wings - using ghost chilis. The concoction was so toxic that Adam was only able to finish ONE wing and he was in serious pain. We were convinced the chef had deliberately made it too insanely hot. It's like picking Mike Tyson to be Seth Green's boxing opponent. Overall it is a good show. Not every episode is gold, but Adam is such a cool guy.
I agree that he has a much better record with food challenges involving spicy, rather than quantity. In fact, I really haven't seen him win a whole lot of the quantity challenges at all. On a side note, whenever I travel, I make a point of looking through all these types of food shows for the places I'd like to eat. He's made some pretty seriously good recommendations so far. Still dying to try Katz's Deli in NY though. Oh, and my girlfriend got me a T-shirt from them that says Man -1 Food -0. Geeky, yes, but its amazing how much people seem to recognize and like it.
I love this show, and was pretty excited whent they came to "Detroit". While the coney places he went were actually in Detroit, the others not so much. I live 2 minutes down the road from the restaurant that he did the giant hamburger challenge, and I have to say that burger looked disgusting. That place has pretty above average food, and an awesome all-you-can-eat king crab legs and jumbo shrimp special, however I wouldn't go anywhere near their 5lb+ burgers, because they come out awful and incredibly dry. Also, that group of people they gathered at Mallies for that challenge was an embarassment. Then again, it is considered "downriver Detroit", and it is probably more reflective on the area than you can imagine, heh.
I love this show and have seen almost every episode. However, I don't think he really goes to the best of places (and some places are downright shit). I am just speaking from personal knowledge when he went to SF, San Jose, and DC (although Ben's Chili Bowl is the shit and everyone who goes to DC needs to get a half smoke smothered in chili and cheese and a side of chili-cheese fries). Also, I sometimes get pretty queasy watching him eat all that food and feel like going on a diet after seeing him eat. My favorites are usually the spicy challenges (some thai or indian restaurant he went into where you have to wear a gas mask particularly stuck out). I also just saw one where he has to eat 5 cuts of beef (something like 70 oz in total) and 2 huge sides. That was just brutal.
I liked the episode where Joey Chestnut did a challenge at one of the stops they make before the final challenge. That could have fed me for a week.
I too am a fan of the show, Adam is an entertaining host and a ton of the places he goes look delicious. Although, the one he came to in my state (Minnesota) for the challenge didn't interest me too much. It was some kind of Polish place or something... he ate a shit ton of sausage and some strange sides that I can't remember the names of. Maybe I'm just a pussy. As some of you were saying, it seems like he generally struggles with foods that he has to eat in mass. Usually the spicy challenges don't phase him. Oh, and according to the Man vs. Food wikipedia, Adam's overall record against food is 23-15.
Just saw this update on Facebook and went into a fugue state afterward: Bacon pancakes? Bacon? Pancakes? First I hear about maple bacon doughnuts on the Best Thing I Ever Ate, and now this. *whimper*
Thanks to this thread, I was flipping through the TV channels and saw this was on, so decided to watch. Holy fuck. I am jealous. You Merkins have some truly insane restaraunts. I've just watched him eat 4 different kinds of 'French dipped' sandwiches, and now he's about to tackle a chilli burrito the size of, well, a fucking coronary. His final challenge is to eat a bowl of chilli noodle soup made with 5 different chili's-it's so nasty, the guy who invented it hasn't even tried it. I watched another episode earlier where he ate these ridiculously hot chicken wings, and it just looked beyond torture. So, yeah-little jealous of the great places you USA'ers have to eat at.
I caught a bunch of the repeats over the past weekend. Next time I back in Jersey, I'm heading to Rutgers for one of those amazing sandwiches. And the Kosher deli in Houston with the towering 3+ lb. corned beef sandwich (priced at around $50-60). Oy! (Speaking of sandwiches, I also saw Bourdain's show from Chicago, where he had a sandwich made of a fried pork cutlet, ham (lots and lots of ham), bacon, cheese, then topped with two fried eggs. It looked both surreal and delicious.)
My wife and I love this show. I think I've seen every episode, but I don't have a preference as far as spicy v. quantity goes. I might lean towards quantity, but only when it is truly a lot of food. I saw the Columbus one, and the Dagwood sandwich challenge didn't really seem that challenging for Adam. There was an episode where he had like less than 4 bites left on his plate, and he tapped out. That one was truly dramatic (at least as much so as an eating challenge can get). He did an episode in Denver, and I've only been to one of the restaurants he went to, but the challenge was a breakfast burrito, which I don't like. The restaurant I did go to is named the Cherry Cricket, and they truly have the best burger I've ever eaten. He tried a concoction called the Goober Burger, which is a burger with peanut butter and a fried egg. I was a little hesitant to try it, but I did anyway, and it is the best burger I've ever tasted. Now, I was a fan of fried eggs on burgers prior to trying it, but I had never heard of peanut butter on a burger. God help me, its delicious. If you're in Denver, make it a point to go to the Cherry Cricket, and try a Goober Burger. Just know that its a build-your-own place, so you'll need to request your burger that way, but its so worth it.
So I like watching this show, but these challenges are getting absurd. 7lbs of food? That is more than most people in the world eat in a month I bet. Also, I watched the very first episode, and the compared it to the newest, and he wasn't a small guy to begin with, but fuck, he has clearly gained about 60 lbs.