Man v. Food

Man v. Food  (and later Man v. Food Nation) was a reality series which featured host/actor Adam Richman as he explores the "big food" offerings of a different American city before facing off against a pre-existing eating challenge at a local restaurant.

Broadcast
Travel Channel December 3, 2008-April 12, 2012

Host
Adam Richman

Gameplay
Host Adam Richman travels across the United States to explore the culture and unique "big food" of one city in each episode. In some episodes, Richman akes on food challenges mostly involving very Hot and Spicy (or piquant) foods (such as foods spiceed with habenero peppers) and also large quality foods, such as a 5-pund-sandwich eating challenge. He finds places in each city to indulge his appitite and visit local landmarks. Richman interacts with local restauranteurs as they demonstrate the making of a house speciality or element of local cuisine. He gives a brief indight to the local community by talking to patrons at the establishment and asking about the most-talked about orders. The show emphasizes quality, a numbr of the locations in season one are Zagat-rated, while others received honors from Esquire magazine as home of "The Best Sandwich in America". Over the course of the series, his personal records was 37-22 (win-loss) in his food challenges.

Episodes sometimes include a brief fnatasy sequence where Richman pretends to be a character to psych himself up for the episode's big food challenge. The half-hour show culminates in Richman facing off against an established local food restaurant. Each show raps with a fake press conference where Richman fields questions about the challenge as if it were just-concluded sporting event or as if he had just won, or in some cases lost, a big award.

So far, with all of this "big-eating", Richman hs made only one attempt at a Guniess World Record when he and a group of 40 regional eaters attempted a 190 pound burger in two hours, in which case food won the epic battle with about 30 pounds left of the burger.

Link
Official Man v. Food Nation Site