Man vs Food – What’s Not to Love?
I’m Adam Richman. For years, I was one man on a quest to discover the country’s greatest chowdown joints and take on its legendary food challenges. Now it’s your turn. Together we’ll find the most delicious local eats and face down the mightiest meals. This is…Man vs Food Nation.
That is the opening to Man vs Food.
Man vs Food is a popular reality TV show in the United States and is now something that people all over the world watch. It has a very simple layout. One man goes across the United States to try out the biggest challenges available – can he win or will the food beat him?
The program is hosted by Adam Richman, who is an actor and a food enthusiast. He has also worked in various food environments, such as burger joints and restaurants. There are repeats on throughout the week and new episodes air on the Travel Channel on a Wednesday at 9pm EST.
Adam has an extremely strict diet and exercise regime to help maintain his figure – even if he is sometimes described
as being on the “husky side”. He exercises two times a day while out on the road, which helps to maintain his health while eating the various meals from around the country. He also tries to avoid eating anything for one day before his challenges and will make sure that he remains hydrated. He avoids coffee and soft drinks as much as possible and sticks to water and club soda, especially when a challenge is coming up.
In Man vs Food Rickman takes on various challenges and the best thing is that you never know whether he will win or not. Some of the challenges are all about spice while others are just about the quantity of food. There are also some challenges that are about the speed in which the food is eaten. One of his most memorable challenges to date has to be the 5-pound sandwich that he ate.
As well as doing the challenges, Adam takes the time to try out some of the local cuisine on offer. He will spend the time talking to the chefs and restaurant owners to find out more about how the food is made and to find out more about the restaurant itself. He will also spend some time talking to the patrons to find out more about the food and what he should try. Man vs Food is not just about the quantity of the food either; there are times when the emphasis is on the quality of the food and some restaurants have gained honors from magazines such as Esquire.
It is never possible to tell whether Adam will win a challenge or not. There are times when it is all based on the time that he had and you know if he just had a few more minutes, he would have completed it. His record as of January 2011 is 37-22 to Adam.
There has been one attempt at breaking a Guinness World Record. This was when he and 40 other eaters attempted to eat a burger that weight 190-pound. This had to be done in two hours. However, food won when there was still 30-pounds left at the end.
During the Man vs Food episodes, Richman sometimes pretends to be another character. This is a way to help psych himself up so that he is ready for his upcoming challenge. He may pretend to be a boxer or an athlete and pretend that he is getting ready to face a big sporting challenge. At the end, Adam then gives a “press conference” that is completely made up. This is where Adam will ask questions to himself about how the event went. It is almost as if it was a big sporting event. He does this whether he wins or the food does.
There are a lot of mixed reviews about Man vs Food. This is not for everyone as some people will prefer to stay away from reality TV or will not find the eating challenges entertaining. However, many others find it amazing that Rickman can eat so much and will attempt some of the eating challenges that are around. For example, the Los Angeles Times has noted how the Travel Channel gained the highest-ever ratings when a new episode of Man vs Food was shown, while Alan Sepinwall has written in the Star-Ledger that “It ain’t deep, and it certainly ain’t healthy (I could feel my arteries clog just from watching), but it’s fun.”
The show has been going on since 2008. The show started out with just 10 episodes being picked up but when the ratings came in, another eight were added on top. The first season of Man vs Food showed trips to places like Pittsburgh, Austin, Boston and New Orleans as Richman took on the biggest eating challenges. That season he beat food 11-7.
Season two of Man vs Food started in 2009 and had 20 episodes lined up, with visits to places like 
Las Vegas, South Carolina, Honolulu and San Francisco. This was the year that the Baseball Special was aired, where he had to complete a challenge within a baseball game. The only reason Richman won that one was due to the last batter hitting a foul ball, which meant it gave him an extra minute or two to take the last bite. This was also the season of a special, one-off live episode, which was aired in Miami in 2010. This season saw Adam win 14-7, including the live episode.
Season three of Man vs Food aired another 20 episodes, with Richman traveling around places such as Salt Lake City, Puerto Rico, Phoenix and Niagara Falls. This season was another victory for Adam, with him beating food 12-8.
Season four is the latest season of Man vs Food and continues to follow the same layout with Richman traveling to different places around the world. However, this season saw Adam pretend to be coach and get the local eaters to take on the challenge. According to Adam, this was a way to keep the show interesting and different and had nothing to do with his desire or ability to do the challenges.
Lets hope there is another season of Man vs Food !
