Man v. Food season 6
 |
| Man v. Food | |
|---|---|
| Season 6 | |
| Release | |
| Original network | Travel Channel |
| Original release | December 4, 2017 – February 12, 2018 |
| Season chronology | |
The sixth season of the food reality television series, Man v. Food, premiered on the Travel Channel December 4, 2017 at 9PM ET. It is the second season to be hosted by actor and food enthusiast Casey Webb, who took over for Adam Richman, the show's original host, in 2017. Webb visits local eateries in different cities to sample their "big food" offerings before taking on an existing food challenge in each city.
Webb's second-season tally for Man v. Food wound up at 6 wins for "Man" and 4 wins for "Food".
Episodes
| Episode | Episode Number | Original Air Date | Winner | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles, CA | 1 (96) | December 4, 2017 | Man | ||
| The first city on Casey Webb's second Man v. Food journey is sunny Los Angeles, California. His first stop is Bruxie, known for their creative chicken-and-waffle sandwiches, for the "BAMF", a sandwich of fried boneless chicken topped with cavatappi-based macaroni and cheese (mixed with crumbled bacon and a homemade buffalo cheese sauce that is spiced with buffalo wing, Sriracha and hot sauces) and pepperoncini peppers, all sandwiched between two large homemade waffles with five slices of melted Cheddar cheese inside. Casey's second stop takes him to Meatzilla! where he tries the "Beef Beef Burger", two 5-ounce Angus beef patties topped with melted American and Muenster cheeses, sliced pickles and onions (along with Sriracha ketchup on the bottom bun); Casey gets this burger "Meatzza style", using a personal-sized pepperoni, Muenster and Mozzarella cheese-topped pizza as the burger's top bun. For the challenge, Casey visits Genkiyaki in Lakewood to do battle with the "Zombie Burrito Challenge" - a 2 1/2-pound burrito filled with shredded cheese, bacon fried rice, teriyaki beef and chicken, french fries, taquitos, mozzarella sticks, Flamin' Hot Cheetos, onions, cilantro, mild "Ninja Sauce", spicy "Death Sauce", and the ultra-spicy "Zombie Sauce" (a mixture of boiled habanero and cayenne peppers, Sriracha sauce, Tapatío hot sauce, Louisiana Hot Sauce, and ten drops of a 3-million-Scoville unit ghost chili extract). This challenge evolved from a "Zombie Taco" challenge, and Casey was the first to try the new burrito challenge; while he had no time limit, he could not get up from the table nor could he drink anything for relief. His first few bites immediately overwhelmed him with the relentless spice level (causing him to sweat and experience the hiccups), but he powered through by taking progressively bigger bites. Fighting through the intense pain, Casey ultimately went on to defeat the challenge; for winning, he received a free T-shirt and got to sign his name on the restaurant's "Zombie Wall". | |||||
| Boston, MA | 2 (97) | December 4, 2017 | Food | ||
| Casey heads to the large colonial New England town of Boston for their biggest eats. First he visits the Boston Burger Company to try the "Pilgrim", a thick 8-ounce turkey burger patty (spiced with paprika, garlic and cumin) topped with melted American cheese, flattop-grilled Brioche-bread stuffing, cranberry mayonnaise, and gravy. His second stop in Boston is Durgin-Park, a restaurant that was established well before the American Revolutionary War took place, where he tries a 2 1/2-pound prime rib which is dry-aged for 7 days before getting rubbed in red wine, ground garlic, smoked sea salt, rosemary, black pepper, and extra-virgin olive oil, blanketed with a layer of fat and slow-roasted for 4 hours to a medium rare, and served with various sides including Boston baked beans. Casey's challenge takes place at the Irish pub Flann O'Brien's, where he would face the "Guinness Irish Breakfast Challenge": a 4 1/2-pound Irish breakfast platter consisting of four fried eggs, grilled bangers, rashers, black and white pudding, a pancake, home fries, grilled mushrooms, carrots and tomatoes, Irish baked beans, sourdough and Irish brown bread slices, fresh fruit, and also served with a pint of Guinness stout beer. Casey had 30 minutes to defeat this challenge which, prior to his attempt, had only been defeated by about 50 of 400 challengers; victory would get him a free T-shirt and free dessert from the restaurant. Casey started the challenge strong by taking down a third of the platter in the first 10 minutes, sipping on the beer intermittently to help him further. At 15 minutes, however, the bread started to slow him down, at which point some patrons suggested that he make sandwiches using the bread and parts of the breakfast. The strategy seemed to work as it helped Casey eat faster, but it was not enough as in the end, he was not able to finish the breakfast in time. Though he failed, he did get his beer for free. | |||||
| Louisville, KY | 3 (98) | December 11, 2017 | Man | ||
| This episode showcases the big food samplings of Louisville, Kentucky, referred to by many as "Bourbon Country". Casey's first stop in Louisville is the Silver Dollar, an old firehouse-turned-restaurant, where he tries the "Beer Can Hen", a hen prepared in a stock of salt, sugar, peppercorns and bay leaves, stuffed with garlic and thyme, then oven-grilled on top of a full open can of beer and doused in a lime-serrano glaze. His second stop is Wagner's, originally opened as a pharmacy and still a popular destination among jockeys and horse race fans alike, for their Hot Brown sandwich consisting of grilled turkey placed over Texas toast and topped with Mornay sauce, grilled diced tomatoes, bacon, and Parmesan cheese. After seeking challenge advice at Churchill Downs from jockey Jon Court, Casey heads to Santa's Candy Castle in Santa Claus, Indiana where he faces off against the "Fire & Ice Challenge", a challenge that only 4 out of 200 people have survived prior to Casey. The challenge consists of one pound of popcorn coated in a 1-million-Scoville unit sauce (made with Cheddar cheese, blue cheese, milk, and a super-spicy "Liquid Fire" chili extract) along with a 64-ounce frozen hot chocolate, all of which Casey had to finish in under one hour. Casey's strategy at the start was to alternate between bites of the popcorn and sips of the frozen hot chocolate, only to soon focus mostly on the popcorn; the popcorn, however, was unrelenting with its spiciness and quantity, and Casey started to struggle considerably. After getting to the halfway point at just over 20 minutes, the store's Santa Claus came out to inspire Casey to keep going, and Casey went on to inhale the popcorn and chug the remainder of his drink at 42 minutes and 5 seconds, becoming only the fifth person ever to win the challenge. For winning, Casey received a bumper sticker, a certificate, and a trophy. | |||||
| St. Louis, MO | 4 (99) | December 11, 2017 | Food | ||
| Casey's food-tasting journey brings him to the "Gateway to the West", St. Louis, Missouri. His first stop is Mama's "On the Hill" for the colossal "Meatball 'on the Hill'", a 5-pound plate of spaghetti topped with a monstrous 4-pound meatball (made from a mix of ground sausage, veal, and beef) and smothered with a pound of homemade marinara sauce. Next, Casey samples some St. Louis-style barbecue at Bogart's Smokehouse by trying some loin back ribs (which are coated with a 23-spice dry rub and brown sugar, smoked for four hours, brushed with an apricot glaze, and charred with a blowtorch). For the challenge, Casey visits Schiappa's in Lebanon, Illinois, home to the "29-inch Pizza Challenge" (which has been bested by only 14 out of hundreds of challengers prior to this episode), where Casey would team up with a partner to do battle with a massive 29-inch pizza with four toppings (Casey chooses green peppers, onions, black olives, and mushrooms, and also creates a smiley face of pepperoni on the pizza). Casey's partner for the challenge was Ryan Maassen (who defeated this challenge 10 years prior to this day's attempt) and together, the two had to finish the pizza in under 30 minutes; victory would get them one free pizza every month for a year, free T-shirts, and the challenge meal for free. Tackling outer slices first, Casey and Ryan started the challenge strong by finishing over a third of the pizza in the first 5 minutes, but then started to struggle once the toppings started to slide off the pizza as they tried to fold the inner slices. The cheese started to harden and the pair struggled with chewing the crusts, causing them to lose more time; with 10 minutes left they got their second wind and gave a final push to try to beat the challenge - even standing up to help the food go down easier - but in the end, their time ran out with only a few small slices of the pizza to go. Though not victorious, Casey promised that he and Ryan would come back to try the challenge again someday. | |||||
| Seattle, WA | 5 (100) | December 18, 2017 | Food | ||
| Casey travels to the coastal Pacific Northwestern city of Seattle to discover their biggest and best eats. His first stop in Seattle is Katsu Burger where he tries the "Mt. Fuji", a 17-layer burger stacking together a ground pork patty (tonkatsu), a grass-fed beef patty, and a chicken cutlet (chicken katsu), all deep-fried in panko bread crumbs and layered with pickles, onions, tomatoes, wasabi mayonnaise, American, Cheddar, and Pepper Jack cheeses, a fried egg, bacon, cabbage, and spicy mayonnaise, along with tonkatsu sauce on each patty. After enjoying this unique burger, Casey pays a visit to Easy Street Records, a record shop and breakfast eatery with a history dating back to Seattle's grunge era, to try the "Horton Heat Hash", chopped slow-cooked corned beef, onions, red & green peppers and bacon, all mixed with Worcestershire sauce and spiced with chili pepper, cayenne and paprika, then cooked on a flattop grill and topped with three sunny side-up eggs. The challenge for this episode is at Wing Dome, where Casey is faced with the "Seven Alarm Challenge": seven habanero sauce-drenched chicken wings that he must finish in 7 minutes or less. The wings are drenched in a sauce made with cooked habaneros and jalapeños blended and combined with three different hot sauces, along with black pepper, cumin, cayenne, and dried habanero, making for a concentrated sauce that is much thicker than a normal wing sauce. The wings are so hot that Casey opted for the restaurant's post-challenge "recovery kit" - a bottle of cold milk and an ice cream sandwich. Victory in this challenge would give Casey a free T-shirt and his picture on the "Wall of Flame". Casey's strategy was to try to keep the sauce on the wings so that he wouldn't need to dip them at the end (as he also had to consume any sauce that would fall on the plate). He felt pain and got the hiccups after finishing off the first two wings, and he struggled mightily with the thickness of the sauce. Ultimately his seven minutes ran out with only one wing to go, after which he reached for his "recovery kit" to cool down from the pain. | |||||
| Burlington, VT | 6 (101) | December 18, 2017 | Man | ||
| Casey searches for the tastiest and biggest eats in the bustling New England town of Burlington, Vermont. His first stop is at Beansie's Bus, a food stall in a converted school bus situated at Battery Park on Lake Champlain, where he tries the "Double Georgia", two grilled burger patties topped with circular bacon strips and melted American cheese, all layered inside of a butter-grilled glazed donut. Casey's second stop in Burlington is Myer's Bagels, which specializes in Montreal-style bagels, for the "McMyer", a sandwich of slow-cooked beef brisket, melted Swiss cheese, mashed fingerling potatoes, coleslaw, pickles and a horseradish-pickle sauce, all inside of a wood-fired beer bagel (made with locally brewed beer). For the challenge, Casey - after seeking advice from a Taekwondo master - travels to Handy's Lunch to take on the "Chuck Norris Challenge", a 3 1/2-pound French toast breakfast sandwich (made with Texas toast) layered with ham, sausage, bacon, hamburger, and corned beef, along with melted cheese and four fried eggs, and served with Vermont maple syrup for dipping. During the challenge, Casey attacked the sandwich in layers (from top to bottom), getting almost halfway before starting to dip it in the syrup. However, just past the halfway point, Casey began to experience the meat sweats, struggling with the richness of the flavors of the meat. After remembering the advice of his taekwondo master, Casey got his second wind and ultimately managed to scarf down the rest of the sandwich, winning the challenge. | |||||
| Pittsburgh, PA | 7 (102) | January 1, 2018 | Man | ||
| Casey travels to the "Steel City" to discover their biggest and tastiest dishes. His first stop is the Church Brew Works, where he samples their locally brewed beer and the "Buffalo Chicken Pierogi Saute", potato-and-Cheddar-filled pierogies sauteed with beer-braised chicken thighs, diced onions, parsley, thyme and celery, all smothered in homemade buffalo-beer sauce as well as garlic cream, and sprinkled with shredded Parmesan cheese. Casey's second stop is D's Six Pax & Dogz, which serves a variety of creative kielbasa-on-bun dishes (including one named for Casey: the "Casey-basa", which is topped with french fries, macaroni and cheese, coleslaw and hot sauce), where Casey tries the "Hot Valentine K-bas", a grilled kielbasa topped with sweet potato fries and spicy Sriracha coleslaw, all on a steamed bun. For the challenge, Casey heads to Steel City Samiches in nearby Indiana to take on the "Stuffaluffagus Challenge", 3 1/2 pounds of meat, cheese, tomatoes, french fries and coleslaw inside an entire 1 1/2-pound loaf of Italian bread; Casey and his partner, Jeff Messina, had 30 minutes to complete this 5-pound hoagie, and victory would earn them free T-shirts and a spot on the Wall of Fame. Prior to their attempt, only 10 percent out of about 400 teams have succeeded in the challenge. (Casey chose pastrami, capocollo and Provolone cheese for his meat-and-cheese filling.) With their sandwich divided into four parts, Casey and Jeff started strong by finishing half of the sandwich in the first 5 minutes, but soon after they began to slow down, with Jeff suffering from the meat sweats, causing him to start eating his parts of the sandwich in layers. Casey, trying to follow Jeff's advice to just keep chewing, remained focused on his sections of the sandwich, and soon, he and Jeff stood up to help the food go down easier, but with Jeff still struggling, Casey decided to eat some of Jeff's sections. The strategy worked in Casey's favor, and ultimately the two managed to finish the sandwich in time and win the challenge. | |||||
| San Diego, CA | 8 (103) | January 1, 2018 | Food | ||
| Casey heads to the Southern California oasis of San Diego, California's second-biggest city, to taste their very best meals. First on his trip is The Crack Shack, where he tries the "Señor Croque", a sandwich of Jidori-style fried chicken topped with bacon, a fried egg, melted Cheddar cheese, and miso maple butter, all between a butter-toasted Brioche bun. After enjoying this delicious sandwich, Casey pays a visit to The High Dive to sample the "Kraken", a 1-pound burger patty topped with six slices of bacon, caramelized onions and crumbled Gorgonzola cheese, all sandwiched in between two white-toast peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (which make use of homemade Sriracha peanut butter and strawberry jam). Afterwards, Casey goes to Brian's 24 to face the "Pancake Monster Challenge", a 5 1/2-pound breakfast dish layering together large, plate-sized pancakes with ham, three strips of bacon, pork sausage and country-fried steak, all served over a huge pile of hash browns and topped with three fried eggs. Casey had one hour to finish this challenge, which only 10 challengers (out of over 100) had previously defeated. Following a past champion's strategy, Casey separated the pancakes from the rest of the ingredients and first attacked the other ingredients, but the thickness of the meats slowed him down right after a fast start. He decided thereafter to start eating the pancakes, which helped him speed up initially, but soon the pancakes started to fill Casey up and he could not recover; ultimately, with 20 minutes still left on the clock, Casey gave up the challenge, clearly regretting not taking the earlier advice to leave the pancakes for last. | |||||
| Daytona Beach, FL | 9 (104) | January 8, 2018 | Man | ||
| In this episode, Casey focuses his attention on the best and biggest eats in the Atlantic coastal city of Daytona Beach, home to one of the premier annual NASCAR races, the Daytona 500. His first stop is the Daytona Taproom, where he tries the "Pig Burger": a cheeseburger topped with bacon, barbecued pulled pork (prepared with a homemade dry rub and also rubbed in mustard before a 12-hour smoke), spicy barbecue sauce, crispy onion straws and a fried egg, along with sliced pickles, lettuce and tomatoes. After getting a taste of this unique burger, Casey heads over to the Old Spanish Sugar Mill on De Leon Springs State Park, where patrons can make their own pancakes (from a homemade pancake batter mix made with a vintage Hobart mixer) and add in their own ingredients as they pour the batter onto their own flattop griddles. Casey customizes his homemade pancakes with chocolate chips, banana slices and pecans, and also tops them with molasses. After seeking inspiration at the Daytona International Speedway and getting advice from NASCAR truck driver Noah Gragson, Casey travels to the seaside eatery Crabby Joe's Deck & Grill to take on the "Surf N Turf Challenge", a tall, 4-pound sandwich stacking together two 8-ounce burgers (topped with melted Provolone and American cheeses and bacon), six locally caught mahi-mahi fillets (lightly breaded and topped with more bacon), lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickle spears, and onion straws, all within garlic-buttered Texas toast and hamburger buns, with the buns also slathered with pesto mayonnaise. The challenge, which only 15 percent of challengers have completed prior to Casey, also includes an optional side of fries, which Casey accepted. Casey started the challenge by breaking the sandwich into sections and then finishing the two burgers in the first 5 minutes, with the fish soon following suit, but the bread was filling him up rapidly. After polishing off the bacon, vegetables and Texas toast, Casey - remembering some of his past challenges where the bread had gotten the best of him - set his fries aside and went on to finish off the buns, winning the challenge and receiving a free T-shirt as a reward. This episode aired a month before the 60th Daytona 500. | |||||
| Philadelphia, PA | 10 (105) | January 15, 2018 | Food | ||
| Casey heads to the "City of Brotherly Love" to partake in their best and biggest dishes. First on his visit is Jake's Sandwich Board where he tastes the "100/100", a 5-pound, 2-foot hoagie filled with dry-rubbed and slow-cooked pulled pork, 40 strips of bacon and shredded sharp Provolone cheese, all drizzled with au jus and Sriracha sauce inside of a toasted Italian roll lined with a mixed spread of Sriracha sauce, mayonnaise and lime juice. Casey's second stop in Philadelphia is Mac Mart, a macaroni-and-cheese restaurant that originally started as a food truck, where he tries the "Mac and Cheesesteak", an Italian roll loaded with 7-cheese macaroni and cheese (featuring Provolone, Mozzarella, and American, with the spices and other cheeses kept secret), sauteed chopped ribeye steak, and caramelized onions. For the challenge, Casey goes to Spread Bagelry to do battle with the 13-pound "Classic Whale Challenge": a 4-pound Montreal-style bagel loaded with a 9-pound filling of cream cheese, Nova salmon, whitefish, tomatoes, red onions, and capers. A 3-person challenge, Casey enlisted the aid of two locals named Nicky and Johnny to help him try to finish this challenge in under 30 minutes, but prior to the trio's attempt, no one had ever beaten this challenge. At the start, the three challengers broke the sandwich down, with Nicky attacking the bagel first and Johnny going for the fillings. Though the sandwich slowed them down rather quickly, Nicky finished the top half of the bagel at the 10-minute mark, allowing the three men to go in deeper on the fillings. With less than 10 minutes to go, however, Johnny gave up and walked away from the table, leaving only Casey and Nicky, who were both struggling with the fillings (in particular, the onions). Then, with 5 minutes left, Johnny came back and the trio made one last push to finish the challenge, but ultimately their time ran out with less than 20 percent of the sandwich left to go, leaving the challenge still undefeated. For losing, Casey, Nicky and Johnny had to pay 250 dollars for the price of the meal. | |||||
| Boise, ID | 11 (106) | January 22, 2018 | Man | ||
| Casey's next city on his food adventure is Boise, the capital of Idaho (a state that produces a third of the nation's potatoes). The first restaurant he visits in Boise is Edge Brewing Company, where he tries the "Over the Edge Burger", a large burger patty grilled with Kobe beef tallow and topped with amber ale-fried pickles, peppered bacon, and sauteed onions cooked with a Blackwater Russian Imperial barbecue sauce (a mixture of locally sourced ketchup, brown sugar, molasses, horseradish, and a locally brewed Russian Imperial stout beer), all inside of a Brioche bun infused with the same grains used to make their beer. Next, Casey goes to the Westside Drive-In (known for serving delicious milkshakes and an Idaho treat, finger steaks) where he samples the "Ice Cream Potato": 9 ounces of thick vanilla ice cream dusted with powdered cocoa, shaped and split open to resemble a baked potato, then topped with whipped cream, sprinkled with cookie crumbs and chopped nuts, and garnished with chocolate syrup. After seeking inspiration from the aquatic life at the Boise Aquarium, Casey travels to Superb Sushi to take on the "Demon's Delight Challenge", a super-spicy 12-piece sushi roll and soup combo that Casey only had 10 minutes to defeat. The soup is a miso soup mixed with bonito powder, wakame seaweed and tofu, along with wasabi, cayenne, Sriracha sauce, habanero "Death Sauce", "Demon's Blood" - a capsaicin-chili oil extract that is over 1 million Scoville units in heat - and a chopped fresh habanero, while the sushi portion of the challenge consists of nori seaweed, sticky rice, tobiko, cream cheese, spicy tuna, tempura shrimp, and chopped jalapeños and habaneros, and also served with a cup of Death Sauce (which Casey also had to consume). Before the challenge started, Casey signed a waiver. Casey started by drinking the soup, though immediately overwhelmed by its heat, in only 23 seconds (which became a new record for the restaurant). He then poured his Death Sauce on his sushi rolls and attacked them; though the pain from the heat nearly stopped him by the final piece of the roll, Casey went on to finish the challenge with 4 minutes and 15 seconds left on the clock. In addition to a bowl of green tea ice cream to help him cool down, Casey received a free T-shirt and got his picture posted on the Wall of Flame. | |||||
| Ozarks | 12 (107) | January 29, 2018 | Man | ||
| Casey heads to the tastiest establishments located within the picturesque Ozark mountains. His first stop takes him to the historic Ozark Cafe in Jasper, Arkansas, where he tries the "Volcano Burger", a grilled 1/2-pound burger patty spiced with Montreal steak seasoning and covered with a shredded Colby-Monterey Jack cheese blend that flows over the burger, along with standard burger toppings of lettuce, tomato, red onion and pickles. Next, Casey travels to Billy Gail's Cafe in Branson, Missouri to get a taste of "French Cakes", large pancakes cooked with crumbled bacon inside the batter, after which they get dipped in a vanilla-and-cinnamon egg wash before a second round of cooking to give them a French toast-style crunch and flavor. After seeking inspiration from patrons while driving a local trolley, Casey goes to Kirby's Kupcakes in Rogers, Arkansas to do battle with the "Goliath Challenge", a 2.5-pound chocolate cupcake (which is the equivalent of 22 normal-sized cupcakes) that Casey had to consume in 30 minutes or less. The cupcake is made with a mix of basic dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and powdered cocoa) and wet ingredients (eggs, water, oil, and vanilla, along with vinegar to make the cupcake rise even higher); once baked, it all makes for a 2-layered creation that is also topped and garnished with thick buttercream frosting (with its flavors chosen by the challenger; Casey chooses chocolate and peanut butter frostings). Prior to Casey's attempt, only 15 of about 60 challengers have succeeded in finishing the Goliath. Taking a past challenger's advice to mix the cupcake and the buttercream together (and not leave the buttercream until the end) and also using water to help wash down every bite, Casey started strong by eating half of the cupcake in the first 5 minutes, but then his sugar rush quickly turned into a sugar crash, causing him to slow down from the thickness of the cake and the sweetness of the buttercream. After separating the top layer of the cupcake from its bottom layer, Casey quickly recovered and kept eating away at the cupcake. Soon, he gathered many of the remaining crumbs together into larger bites; though he almost ran out of steam by the final bite (a fate that had befallen some other previous challengers), Casey ultimately finished off the challenge with 4 minutes and 30 seconds to go. For winning the challenge, Casey received a free T-shirt and got his picture on the Wall of Fame. | |||||
| Nashville, TN | 13 (108) | February 5, 2018 | Man | ||
| Casey sets his sights on the best eateries in "Music City, U.S.A.", Nashville, Tennessee. His first stop is Biscuit Love where he tries the "Wash Park", two hamburger patties topped with pimento cheese, bacon jam, and a fried egg, all sandwiched between two halves of a buttered homemade biscuit. During this segment he also meets Frank Olivieri, the owner of Pat's King of Steaks and a big fan of this eatery, who says "the Wash Park biscuit is like the cheesesteak of Nashville". After his enjoyment of this unique concoction, Casey heads to his second stop, Arnold's Country Kitchen, to try the "Meat & 3", a dish of any desired meat served with three side dishes; Casey chooses roast beef (coated in a wet spice rub and cooked in a marinade of mirepoix and au jus, and later drenched in more au jus) with sides of fried green tomatoes, fried apples, and macaroni and cheese. After seeking out inspiration from patrons on Music Row, Casey heads to Big Shake's Hot Chicken & Fish in nearby Franklin to face the "Death Row Challenge": three super-spicy hot chicken tenders that must be completed in under 10 minutes. These large tenders are coated in a hot oil-based sauce that uses jalapeño, habanero, Trinidad scorpion, ghost chili, and Carolina Reaper peppers, all placed over white bread slices and then drenched with more sauce. Out of about 300 people who have attempted the challenge prior to Casey, less than 20 have succeeded; victory in this challenge would get Casey a free T-shirt, a picture on the wall of fame, and $25 cash. Before the start of the challenge, Casey put gloves on his hands to protect them from spice burns. Casey's strategy for the challenge was to eat fast, but the first bite of the challenge immediately hit him hard with the level of heat and rendered him speechless. After being stopped by the heat for a couple of minutes, Casey fought through the pain and went on to finish all the tenders with under two minutes to go, claiming victory in his hottest challenge to date. | |||||
| Grand Rapids, MI | 14 (109) | February 12, 2018 | Food | ||
| Casey's second Man v. Food season finale sees him searching for the best eats in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His first stop is Grand Rapids Brewing Company where he tries out the "1-800-Hotline-Beef", a big sandwich of sliced roast beef tenderloin (cooked in wine and local "Silver Foam" beer) topped with pepper jack cheese sauce, bacon, "Cowboy Candy" (a sweet and spicy jalapeño pepper jam), and crispy fried onions, all inside of a toasted bun with a homemade horseradish aioli. After this, Casey goes to his second stop, the Beltline Bar, where patrons can reserve an alcoholic drink or shot for a friend by putting that friend's name on a chalkboard. This establishment also claims to be the inventor of the wet burrito, and here, Casey gets a taste of his own wet burrito, filled with locally butchered ground beef, refried beans, shredded lettuce and diced tomatoes, all smothered in the restaurant's signature red enchilada sauce (made with chili powder, garlic, and several top-secret spices) and topped with shredded aged Colby cheese. After seeking inspiration from dog handlers at a pet resort and spa, Casey travels to Dog Central in Mount Pleasant (located an hour-and-a-half northeast of Grand Rapids) for the "D.C. Challenge": a tray with three fully loaded foot-long hot dogs, along with a 1.5-pound side of beer-battered French fries, a big tower of onion rings, and a 20-ounce soda, all totaling 5 pounds. Casey had 25 minutes to defeat this challenge, which only 10 people out of 167 had finished up to this point; victory would earn Casey a free T-shirt, a picture on the wall of fame, and $10. For his hot dogs, Casey selects a classic chili dog (also topped with mustard and ketchup), the "Detroit Dog" (topped with chili, mustard and chopped onions), and the "Carolina Dog" (topped with chili, coleslaw, mustard and onions). Taking a past champion's advice to start fast, Casey did just that by downing the first of his hot dogs in just over 2 minutes, but then ran into trouble when he started eating the onion rings with his second dog, which caused him to slow down due to the heaviness of the beer batter. He managed to finish the second dog at the 5-minute mark, and then pushed hard to finish the third dog - as well as the onion rings - with around 10 minutes to go; at this point, however, most of the fries still remained. Finishing the soda soon afterwards, Casey attacked the fries as fast as he could, but in the end, his time expired with only a handful of the fries left. | |||||