Travel Channel's Man v. Food was one of the network's most popular shows in the late 2000s and early 2010s. It made Adam Richman into an instant star, as fans loved to see him traveling across America to explore food culture and find some of the country's best eateries.
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00:00From 2008 to 2012, Man Vs. Food was a ratings powerhouse for the Travel Channel, and it
00:05made the show's host Adam Richman a household name.
00:08It highlighted the world of competitive eating and some of the most famous diner food challenges,
00:12all through the eyes and stomach of an amateur.
00:15You either loved it or loathed it, but there's a lot you might not know about Adam Richman
00:18and the show that gave him this big break.
00:21Doctor's approval
00:22Richman never formally trained as a competitive eater before he landed the Man Vs. Food gig.
00:27In fact, before he ate food for money, he was an actor and Yale Drama School graduate
00:30who appeared in numerous bit roles.
00:32Because of his eating inexperience, Richman checked in with doctors ahead of time, saying
00:36in a 2010 live chat with ESPN,
00:38"...I went to specialists ahead of time because I wanted to start with the baseline of good
00:41health versus correcting bad health down the road."
00:44Richman may have discussed the risk with his doctors, but that didn't stop him from packing
00:47on the pounds during the show's four-season run.
00:50Fewer meals, more workouts
00:52Richman frequently skipped meals leading up to challenges to increase his eating capacity.
00:56But in a 2009 interview with 411 Mania, he said that because of the tight production
01:00schedule, it was sometimes difficult to prepare the way he wanted to before a challenge.
01:04"...If I do have a day off, I don't eat, or eat very minimally, and I drink a lot of water
01:08and club soda to keep my stomach stretched and full and to keep myself hydrated."
01:12It isn't just the way he handles meals before a challenge, though.
01:15He continued,
01:16"...The most important aspect is that I work out like a beast.
01:18I work out like a beast the night before and the morning of."
01:21"...I lift things up and put them down."
01:24They can't all be favorites
01:26In 2015, Richman did an Ask Me Almost Anything chat on Reddit and spilled the beans on some
01:31of the things fans have been wondering for years, including his favorite and least favorite
01:35challenges.
01:36While his favorite challenge was Humpy's Alaskan Alehouse's Kodiak Arrest, his least favorite
01:40was a challenge he faced and failed at Munchies 420 Cafe in Sarasota, Florida.
01:44Unlike the episodes that see Richman plow his way through gargantuan meals, this was
01:48the smallest challenge on the show, 10 little chicken wings.
01:52"...These are firing your whole wings."
01:56Richman had to eat 10 wings in 20 minutes without drinking milk.
01:59He got through two before tossing in the towel.
02:01Richman says it was his least favorite challenge not because he failed, but because he said
02:04the owner allegedly cheated by surprising him with dangerously spicy food.
02:09Heat vs. quantity
02:11Most of Richman's challenges fall into two categories, heat and quantity.
02:14But which is worse?
02:15Turns out, it's complicated.
02:17Apparently, heat challenges are easier if the dish uses whole peppers instead of pepper
02:21extract.
02:22With extract, it's just heat for the sake of heat, instead of a flavor-filled heat.
02:25He told The Guardian,
02:26"...a good spicy challenge strikes a balance between flavor and fear."
02:29Quantity challenges are also apparently no big deal, as long as they don't have a lot
02:33of starchy ingredients.
02:34It's the fried foods, the fries, and the potatoes that make these more difficult.
02:38"...I'm gonna be honest, I can't put another bite of this meat in my mouth."
02:41Truly a sucky experience
02:43Although Richman's least favorite challenge reportedly involved cheating, the worst challenge
02:47he's ever done was a smothered and covered breakfast burrito.
02:50In this case, Richman shared during his ESPN chat that the seven-pound breakfast burrito
02:54wasn't his only nemesis.
02:55"...I was extremely sick with a 101 fever, a bronchial and sinus infection.
03:00Add to that I hate chunks of ham and green pepper in food, and that dish had both.
03:04Truly a sucky experience."
03:05"...I was dying earlier today, and then I died, now I'm dead."
03:11Birthday suit photoshoot
03:13It's funny to think the dude who would do competitive eating challenges while wearing
03:16a t-shirt, flannel, and a jacket would bare it all in a magazine.
03:20But Richman wanted to show off his newly fit body in UK's Cosmopolitan in June 2014.
03:25He was proud of the spread, saying,
03:26"...to go from hating the way I look to being a Cosmo centerfold is a profound honor."
03:30He added that suddenly being seen as eye candy was a nice experience.
03:35Richman's infamous rant
03:36After retiring from Man v. Food in 2012, the Travel Channel was set to debut Richman's
03:41next endeavor, Man Finds Food, in the summer of 2014.
03:45But the plug was temporarily pulled on the show after the newly-svelte star used the
03:48now-banned hashtag, conspiration, on Instagram, a tag that is often used by the pro-anorexia
03:53community.
03:54Richman went on a tear after users called him out on its use.
03:57During his rant, Richman not only used obscenities to refer to people, but went so far as to
04:01encourage self-harm among those who were calling him out.
04:04Months later, the show finally found its way to the Travel Channel, but was renamed Secret
04:07Eats with Adam Richman for the second season.
04:10Why Richman really retired
04:12Rumors swirled after Richman retired from Man v. Food, but he told The Guardian that
04:16the decision to retire from Man v. Food was all his, not the network's.
04:20The simplest way to put it is to say that the spectacle diminishes over time.
04:23Richman added that he wanted to be ahead of the game and quit before it got too boring.
04:27Rumors that he stepped away from the show for his health also circulated, but Richman
04:31told the BBC not only was that not the case, but he was shocked at how many sick people
04:35wanted to believe he'd been forced into retirement by illness.
04:38But I'm not sick!
04:39Let me prove it to you."
04:41Popularizing the food challenge
04:43If you've ever thought, I can do that while watching Richman down a massive amount of
04:47food, you can give it a try.
04:49There are thousands of food challenges out there, and according to Food Challenges, a
04:52site that strives to list them all, that's thanks to mostly Man v. Food.
04:56Between 2008 and 2015, more than 2,300 food challenges popped up across the U.S.
05:01It goes farther than that, too.
05:02More than 15 countries have also adopted the idea that stuffing yourself silly can be entertainment.
05:07Thanks to the popularity of Man v. Food, you can now find food challenges across Britain,
05:11as well as in Thailand, India, France, Sweden, Australia, and Belgium.