The revived fifth season of the food reality television series, Man v. Food, premiered on the Travel Channel August 7, 2017, at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time with back-to-back half-hour episodes in New York City and Milwaukee. New host, actor and food enthusiast Casey Webb, took over where former host Adam Richman left off by visiting unique eateries in different cities in a quest to find the ultimate eats before he took on their local eating challenges.
The fifth-season tally wound up at 5 wins for Man and 5 wins for Food.
Episodes Episode Episode Number Original Air Date Winner New York City 1 (86) August 7, 2017 Man In the season premiere, Continuing where Adam Richman left off, Casey started his quest to find ultimate eats and epic eating challenges in the Big Apple. His first stop was Clinton Hall, a beer garden in the Financial District in Manhattan that is known for unique food creations including their "Flamin' Hot Doughnut Grilled Cheese", their injectable treat, "Methadonuts", and over-the-top burgers paired with their home-brewed beers. He tried their signature "Fondue Burger", a grilled beef patty topped with cheddar and American cheese fondue on a pretzel bun, stuffed with French fries for dipping and topped with a slider. Casey's next stop was Vinnie's Pizzeria in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, which features an ever-changing menu of over 40 pizzas. He talked to a customer who was eating a pizza named after Casey, the "Caseydilla", a quesadilla slice with sliced avocado, pico de gallo, tortilla chips, sour cream, and cheddar cheese on a black bean pizza; the customer claimed to eat lunch at Vinnie's every day and even had an Instagram feed dedicated to his lunches. Meanwhile, Casey was at Vinnie's to try the "Pizza Box Pizza", a cheese pizza topped with a miniature pepperoni pizza tucked inside a box made out of a Sicilian pizza (bottom) and garlic bread (top). For the challenge, Casey ferried across to Staten Island to visit the Lunchbox, where he went up against the "Pick Your Poison Challenge": he had to choose between the "151 Milkshake", a 151-ounce milkshake; the "Motherload", an 8-pound sloppy joe for two people; or the "Death Wish", 6 chicken wings doused in a sauce that includes a habanero ghost chili extract, packing a million Scoville scale units of fiery pepper heat. After Casey signed waivers for all 3 challenges and put them into a lunchbox, the restaurant's owner randomly drew the Death Wish wing challenge out of the box, as Casey requested his challenge to be picked at random. To make the sauce, butter and basic hot sauce form a base. Red pepper flakes, paprika, cajun spice and cayenne pepper are then blended before the extract is added. Casey had 10 minutes to eat the wings, using no utensils and napkins while wearing googles and rubber gloves, and had to endure a 10-minute afterburn period with no drinks. Despite the 93% failure rate and the intense pain he endured from the challenge and afterburn, Casey became only the 22nd person (out of 323) to win the challenge, was honored on the Wall of Fame, and received an "I Beat The Box" T-shirt with a checkmark for the challenge he accomplished. Had he lost the challenge, he would have had to wear an "I Blew It At The Box" T-shirt and get his picture on the Wall of Shame, a TV screen in the restaurant's bathroom.