Gobble Monkey vs Adam Richman

Adam Richman is the host of the Good Food channel's Man Vs. Food, in which he visits different cities throughout the USA and tests himself against their 'eating challenges', ranging from a 72-ounce steak to a gigantic pizza to a plate of the hottest curry on the planet...

BUT DOES HE LIKE SWEETS?

GM: Adam, some people have accused Gobble Monkey of having somewhat of a 'sweet tooth' - I don't know why. You don't often do dessert challenges in the show, is that because you haven't got a sweet tooth?

I can think of three that had a dessert component - I did a milkshake challenge in St Louis, a sundae challenge in San Francisco and in Anappolis I did a sandwich accompanied by a milkshake the size of a small building. It was terrifying. I did a pancake challenge in Hawaii, which was very sweet.

But I don't have a big sweet tooth, and these dessert challenges don't exist as much as the savoury ones. It's also such an undertaking for a restaurant to make one too - if a restaurant wants to do a wing or a burger challenge they just need to find a bun big enough. I think that sweets don't tell us much of a story either. The milkshakes will be just me on screen doing this [holds glass up to mouth and glugs].

GM: I like the sound of a milkshake that's the size of a small building! So if you were on a desert island, and had to eat just one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

My cop-out answer is a chocolate lifeboat! But I would probably do something like.. well, maybe that's the time to eat a few deep-fried Mars Bars, at least that would put you out of your misery!

GM: Sounds like some Magic Choc would come in handy! OK so, what's your favourite food then?

A good pizza, a salad and a cold beer or a cold glass of white wine. Simple stuff.

GM: Us Brits have a bad reputation when it comes to our food. What British grub are you a fan of?

Fish and chips, full English. I love curries too. I love the bangers over here; any of the sausages I've tried over here have been delicious.

GM: Sadly we don't have many 'eating challenges' here in the UK, but would you ever do a 'World Series' where you travel to other countries and take part in their challenges?

I'd love to go to Cornwall and have a pastie, or go somewhere else to have a proper Shepherd's Pie. I'd like to demystify food from around the world to my American viewers. So when they go abroad, rather than go find a Subway or whatever, they'd go and try bangers and mash or mushy peas. Even I, a man who presents Man Vs. Food, have a hard time with a chip butty, I have to tell you. I'm not sure even I could handle that.

GM: So why do you think the US has so many of these restaurant challenges? Why has it become part of the culture over there?

First of all I think it's a great gimmick to bring people in the front door of a restaurant. In fact, the number of challenges has gone up since Man V. Food became popular! Everywhere I go to film, I ask them why they do the challenge and the most popular answer is: 'to get you guys to come and film here'

Then, I think guys in general... why do they have guys at fairs trying to hit a bell with a hammer? Why do they have guys trying to knock over a pin? These are intrinsic male activities that we do to test our mettle.

But take the 72oz steak challenge in Amarillo, there was an actual story behind that. There was a bunch of ranch hands and one of them said that he could eat a whole cow, the owner said 'the hell you can' and he told him to keep bringing him steaks. In the course of that he had a baked potato, a salad and some fried shrimp. So to this day the challenge is a 72oz steak, a dinner roll, a baked potato and three fried shrimp. So I think there's this whole thing of when dares someone to do something - I dare you to eat this. So every state fair has a pie-eating contest, a jalapeno-eating contest. We all can't play tennis like Djokovic, or play football like Wayne Rooney, but we can all eat... and we can eat a lot if we put our minds to it.

GM: For a man who eats for a living, you're in pretty good shape. How do you prepare for a big eating challenge?

If it's a quantity challenge I'll generally stop eating the day before, and I'll do a natural cleanse, which means lots of hydration and keep my electrolytes up. Then I do leg and back workouts to excess, because that is supposed to stimulate your metabolism. I'll jump rope on the morning of the challenge to get me revved up. After the challenge I'll do another cleanse with insoluble fibers, Senna, psyllium husk and probiotics, and work out that night. That sucks because the rest of the crew is out drinking and gallivanting with nice waitresses!

It's like the Bhutan death march on the treadmill for me. But it's because I'm able to keep my metabolism moving that all that beef or cheese or sauce... well I try to make sure no dust settles on moving parts.

GM: What about the spicy challenges?

For those, you really need to know how your body reacts to something. So for instance the Habanero, a 300,000 Scoville unit pepper. My body has a borderline toxic reaction to that. I also had a toxic reaction to the Four Horsemen burger, which had Ghost Chilli on it. That was the hottest pepper on the planet.

One million Scoville units.

So hot they tie them to fences in India to ward off wild elephants.

So hot they use the extract in hand grenades. Ghost extract is an awful thing.

That was one of the challenges I lost. What happens is that the hairs of the back of your neck go up, you flush and then go cold because everything inside of you is so hot. Then you start to involuntarily hiccup. You can't help it. Your heart starts racing. But if you can ride out the unpleasantness, you can experience a level of euphoria. The problem is that it's such a full-body thing; it effects you for a long time. And in terms of your mouth or throat, the pain is unlike anything - your throat swells, your lips hurt, your tongue swells. Everything hurts.

If I know I'm going to be eating extract I try to coat my insides - eating bananas is good, white rice is very, very good. I'll do Pepto Bismol to coat my stomach. If I eat the peppers themselves I'll eat breads and things like that. But no dairy. Everyone thinks that diary is the best thing to drink or eat. It really isn't. It takes the pain out of your mouth but it's lactic acid, which compounds the problem.

GM: Wowsers. Gobble Monkey is in the Guinness Book of World Records for eating the most mince pies in one minute (true!) Have you ever broken any World Records for 'big eating'?

I don't think I have... there has been a couple of opportunities for me to really bust the record, but I haven't. I always point to Hot Dog challenge in North Carolina. I did 17 chilli dogs. When I say that out aloud, I'm still, like, what?! I found room in the very last bit and could have probably done a couple more. But then it becomes about Adam and his hubris. I've never wanted to do that. It's never about 'I'm Adam Richman and I'm going to out-eat you because I'm the biggest and the baddest' because I'm not. It's just one man, and a bunch of fun. But mince pies? I've never tried a mince pie!

GM: You should, they're delicious! Thanks Adam! Man v Food: The Carnivore Chronicles is on weeknights at 9pm, on Good Food (Sky / HD 249, Virgin 260) Check it out!

Now let's quickly do this:

In honour of Adam, Gobble Monkey is about to undertake our own eating challenge:

A glass of strawberry milkshake, a LARGE packet of beef Monster Munch and an Oreo cookie. The milkshake MUST be consumed using a Twirl bar as a straw. If you complete the challenge within 7 minutes, you get a t-shirt.
READY?

Almost.