The first season of Man v. Food, an American food reality television series hosted by Adam Richman on the Travel Channel, premiered on December 3, 2008. The series debuted with back-to-back new episodes airing for the first two weeks then settling down to a pattern of one new episode followed by one repeat episode. First-run episodes of the series aired in the United States on the Travel Channel on Wednesdays at 10:00 PM Eastern time. Man v. Food was executive produced by Matt Sharp, in association with the Travel Channel. The season contains 18 episodes and concluded airing on March 25, 2009.
The first season of Man v. Food was hosted by actor and food enthusiast Adam Richman. In each episode, Richman explores the "big food" of a different American city before facing off against a pre-existing eating challenge at a local restaurant. Over the course of the first season, the final record wound up at 11 wins for "Man" and 7 wins for "Food".
Reception Ratings The first season of Man v. Food was initially picked up for 10 episodes and then, after initial ratings success, an additional 8 episodes were ordered. The Los Angeles Times noted that the Travel Channel received its highest-ever ratings for a new debut with Man v. Food. They highlighted the show as an example of other networks moving in on the traditional turf of the Food Network.
Critical reaction CityPages Minneapolis/St. Paul describes the show, "...like the food version of Jackass, with host Adam Richman as its very own Steve-O". In the Star-Ledger, television critic Alan Sepinwall wrote: "It ain't deep, and it certainly ain't healthy (I could feel my arteries clog just from watching), but it's fun". Features reporter Thomas Rozwadowski of the Green Bay Press-Gazette said that "playfully eager host Adam Richman has won me over" and that "it's all in good fun".
Episodes Episode Episode Number Original Air Date Winner Amarillo, TX 01 December 3, 2008 Man Adam began his cross-country eating expedition by journeyed down Route 66 to Amarillo to visit Youngblood's Stockyard Café for authentic chicken fried steak, and Coyote Bluff for the extra-spicy "Burger From Hell". This episode's challenge was to complete the Big Texan Challenge in an hour at The Big Texan Steak Ranch. The challenge included a 4.5-pound (2 kg) steak, a baked potato, a shrimp cocktail, a salad, and a dinner roll. Accompanied by members of the Route 66 Roller Derby League, Adam approached the challenge by eating the steak first, followed by the shrimp cocktail and salad, leaving the potato and roll for last. Despite some struggles halfway, Adam completed the challenge in just 29 of the allotted 60 minutes and was awarded a commemorative t-shirt, the price of the meal waived, and his name placed on the Wall of Fame (approximately 1 in 6 challengers finish in an hour). Local press coverage places the taping of this challenge on September 29, 2008. Memphis, TN 02 December 3, 2008 Food Adam traveled to Memphis for the spicy fried chicken at Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken, plus the ribs and pulled pork at Charlie Vergos's Rendezvous. This episode's challenge was to eat the 7.5-pound Sasquatch Hamburger, which included 4 pounds of beef, 1.5 pounds of toppings, and a 2-pound bun in an hour at Big Foot Lodge. Adam's strategy was to cut the burger into six sections and eat each one within 10 minutes. While he started strong, eating half of the burger within the first 20 minutes, the burger proved to be too much for Adam and he eventually gave up with 13 minutes to go, with a quarter of the burger still left. According to the restaurant's website, this challenge was taped on August 1, 2008. This was the first episode taped for this season. As of December 2008, only 5 people have successfully completed the challenge.
Post-episode update: In mid-December, just two weeks after this episode aired, the names of Big Foot Lodge and the Sasquatch Burger were changed to Kooky Canuck and the Kookamonga, respectively. Pittsburgh, PA 03 December 10, 2008 Man Adam ventured to Pittsburgh and Primanti Brothers for huge sandwiches served with the fries and cole slaw inside then Deluca's Restaurant for big omelettes and plate-sized chocolate chip pancakes. This episode's challenge was to complete the Atomic Hot Wings challenge at Quaker Steak & Lube by consuming 6 "Atomic" chicken wings doused in a 150,000 Scoville unit sauce. Adam warmed himself up by eating an assortment of other wings, with progressively hotter sauces, before taking on the Atomic wings. Adam completed the challenge and was awarded a commemorative bumper sticker and a place on Quaker Steak & Lube's "Atomic Wall of Flame". The "liability waiver" Adam signed before eating the wings was dated October 19. This is the first challenge on Man v. Food not to have a time limit. Columbus, OH 04 December 10, 2008 Man Adam went to Columbus, Ohio, to visit Schmidt's Sausage Haus for cream puffs and an all-you-can-eat sausage buffet called "The Autobahn," plus the Thurman Cafe for an enormous burger dubbed "The Thurman Burger". Mentioned, but not eaten, was the even larger "Thurmanator". This episode's challenge was to eat the 2.5-pound Dagwood Sandwich challenge and a pound of fries in 30 minutes at the Ohio Deli & Restaurant. The sandwich consisted of 21 ounces (1 pound, 5 ounces) of three different cold meats and 19 ounces (1 pound, 3 ounces) of toppings. Before facing the challenge, he psyched himself up with a fantasy sequence involving the Ohio State Buckeyes mascot and cheerleaders at Ohio Stadium. Adam completed the challenge in just 20 of the allotted 30 minutes and was awarded a commemorative t-shirt. As of December 2008, about 400 of the more than 1,000 challengers to date have completed the challenge.
Post-episode update: According to news accounts, the Ohio Deli & Restaurant burned down on December 30, 2014. Austin, TX 05 December 17, 2008 Food Adam headed west to the Texas Hill Country to make and devour giant doughnuts at Round Rock Donuts in Round Rock and sample the meats from the open pit at The Salt Lick barbecue restaurant in Driftwood. This episode's challenge was to eat 8 of the three-quarter-pound Don Juan El Taco Grande breakfast tacos and beat the record of 7 at Juan in a Million in Austin, Texas. The tacos totaled up to 6 pounds, and each taco consisted of potatoes, eggs, cheese, and bacon all wrapped in a tortilla. This challenge had no time limit, but Adam only finished 4.25 of the tacos; however, he was nonetheless rewarded with a commemorative t-shirt and posting of his name and photo on the "Juan of Fame" as the first "Celebrity Champ" and one of the top five all-time eaters. Local press coverage puts the filming of this challenge on September 25, just before the Amarillo challenge. The date on the posted photo was September 25. Chicago, IL 06 December 24, 2008 Man Adam traveled to Chicago to visit Al's Beef for Italian beef sandwiches and Gino's East for deep dish pizza. At Al's Beef, after learning the official "Italian stance" for eating such a juicy sandwich, Adam completed a double-meat, double-cheese Reuben sandwich in under 30 minutes. This episode's main challenge was to eat 3 1.5-pound overstuffed sandwiches in an hour at Lucky's Sandwich Company. Lucky's is named for "Lucky" Charlie Weeghman who once owned a part of the Chicago Cubs and built what is now called Wrigley Field although the restaurant itself is in no way connected to the descendants of Lucky Charlie Weeghman or to the Chicago Cubs. Adam completed the challenge in 25 minutes and became just the 11th person to have his photo posted on the Wall of Fame. Atlanta, GA 07 January 7, 2009 Food Adam traveled to Atlanta, where he went to college, to visit Gladys Knight & Ron Winans' Chicken & Waffles for homemade food, plus Vortex Bar and Grill for their famous burgers. Adam spent time in the kitchen with Gladys Knight (he described himself as a "white Pip") making a chicken and waffles plate named "The Midnight Train" in honor of the song Knight made famous. This episode's challenge was to eat a 2.5-foot, 11-pound Carnivore Challenge Pizza in one hour at Big Pie in the Sky Pizzeria (located in Kennesaw, Georgia) without having the pizza leave the body. The pizza consisted of 6 pounds of crust and sauce plus 5 pounds of pepperoni, ground beef, Italian sausage, ham, and bacon. Because the pizza is so large, the restaurant has set this as a two-person challenge. Adam recruited Drew Middlebrooks, who previously came close to beating the challenge until his partner gave up, to help him. With a $250 cash prize on the line, Adam finished most of his half of the pizza, but Drew eventually vomited most of his half pizza with 16 minutes to go, losing the challenge for them both. At the time of this episode's taping, the challenge had never been successfully completed by anyone; later in 2009, it was beaten for the first time by Erik Unger and Anthony Reganato.
Post-episode update: According to news reports, Gladys Knight Chicken & Waffles changed their name to World Famous Chicken & Waffles after a legal dispute between the famous singer and her son, who owned the restaurant. The restaurants were later closed for good after the restaurants failed multiple health inspections. Boston, MA 08 January 14, 2009 Food Adam journeyed to Boston to visit the East Coast Grill & Raw Bar for seafood and a super-spicy feast dubbed "Hell Night" and The Barking Crab for a four-pound clambake as well as the "Fisherman's Platter" of fried seafood. This episode's challenge was to complete the Eagle's Challenge in an hour at Eagle's Deli and Restaurant. Boston magazine awarded Eagle's Deli their "Best of Boston 2006 Burger" honor and the Travel Channel named it one of the "World's Best Places to Pig Out". The challenge included a 5-pound burger with 20 slices each of bacon and cheese, 5 pounds of fries, and a giant pickle. Adam, a self-proclaimed New York Yankees fan, competed against a former Eagle's employee, Chuck Whittall, a Boston Red Sox fan (he even got help from Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis). Chuck finished 6 ounces more of his burger and fries than Adam, who was forced to wear an "I Love Boston" shirt and got his picture on the Wall of Shame (had he won, Chuck would have been forced to wear an "I Love New York" shirt). Local press reports as well as a sign that can be seen at East Coast Grill & Raw Bar place the taping of this episode in late October 2008. As of January 2009, more than 1,500 have tried but no one person has successfully completed the Challenge Burger. The challenge was later completed by Furious Pete (and in his honor it was renamed as the "Furious Pete" burger). In a March 2009 interview, after the end of season one, Adam contested his loss over issues of portion size and the preparation of the burgers while noting that Chuck was "not a noble contestant".
Post-episode update: According to the Boston eating guide Boston.Eater.com, East Coast Grill and Raw Bar closed for good in December 2017. New York, NY 09 January 21, 2009 Man