Adam Richman retires from food challenges
Scott could barely contain his excitement as Man v. Food presenter Adam Richman joined the programme. He told Adam that the show had welcomed guests including Rihanna and Lady Gaga without producing the same reaction from Chris. Adam understood the distinction: those stars had never eaten a five-pound burrito.
Adam explained that Man v. Food Nation allowed local challengers to take centre stage. He had not stopped eating, but felt the spectacle of the same person repeatedly attempting enormous meals would eventually become tedious. The programme had featured contestants from across the United States, including a 95-pound woman tackling a fritter challenge, a firefighter, a professional wrestler and a weather presenter.
His visit to Britain had already produced his first jellied eel and Yorkshire pudding. The eel was likely to remain a one-off, while the Yorkshire pudding served with steak-and-kidney pudding had fascinated him. Even passport control had supplied another person keen to explain how much food they could eat, although Adam had been more interested in getting his passport stamped.
The new series Adam Richman’s Best Sandwich in America reflected his belief that a sandwich was imagination held between two pieces of bread. He selected contenders from different American regions before bringing the winners together for a final. The result was explicitly his opinion rather than an objective ruling, but the format allowed lobster rolls, cheesesteaks, deli sandwiches and chicken sandwiches to compete directly.
The worst challenge and the safest strategy
Chris showed Adam the footage of his failed attempt to beat the record for eating chicken nuggets. He had needed 22 in three minutes, with Emily Atack presented as the reward, but managed only seven. Adam immediately saw the problem: too much food had been forced into Chris’s mouth at once, leaving him unable to swallow. He advised that slow and steady progress would have been more effective.
Of Adam’s own 59 challenges, the worst had been at Munchies 420 Cafe in Sarasota, Florida. The owner was overheard telling somebody to pour an entire bottle of ghost-chilli extract into the sauce, giving Adam three or four times the usual amount. He considered that dangerous as well as unfair, noting that the substance had been developed for use in police grenades in India.
Training for quantity challenges involved leg and back exercises, sprint intervals and arriving slightly dehydrated so that moisture in the food did not make bread expand into sludge. Changing condiments helped prevent flavour fatigue. Adam had never suffered conventional food poisoning, although some extremely hot dishes had left his system unsettled long afterwards.
He had no plans for more challenge-based programmes, but wanted to make a British series exploring regional food and the meeting point between food, sport and large gatherings. His examples ranged from Cornish pasties and Liverpool scouse to what supporters ate at Craven Cottage, Stamford Bridge and Yankee Stadium. He wanted food television to remain accessible rather than becoming the preserve of what he called the “snooty foodie”.
Scott and Chris enter the sandwich competition
Chris presented a tall stack of bread and bear-shaped potato snacks. Adam admired its structure and suggested it would provide enough carbohydrate to run to Guam, but thought it needed moisture, colour, meat, vegetables or a condiment. Chris defended its simplicity as an accurate representation of himself.
Scott had made the “whole meal sandwich”, both because it used wholemeal bread and because it contained an entire three-course dinner. The top layer was a prawn cocktail starter, followed by bangers and mash, with a piece of chocolate gâteau at the bottom. Four slices of bread separated the courses.
Adam estimated that the cake alone could approach 3,000 calories and placed the total sandwich between 5,500 and 6,000. He praised both creations for using recognisable local ingredients, but awarded the certificate to Scott for the variety of colours, textures and courses. Scott’s sandwich had won despite Adam politely declining to eat it.
Rhianna Dhillon plays Innuendo Bingo again
With the studio cameras temporarily unavailable, Rhianna Dhillon returned to the original audio-only form of Innuendo Bingo. She wore yoga clothes after the emergency chinos from her previous soaking proved so unflattering. Chris faced her in jeans and a grey top.
Gemma Cairney remembered women sunbathing topless when a man arrived to trim the hedges, Joe Swash suggested going down for a “little munch”, and Bargain Hunt supplied praise for Catherine’s “little knobs”. Nicole Scherzinger said somebody had spread love all over the stage, while Hayley Williams recalled stealing one of Tim Westwood’s stools.
The pair also heard about getting a breast from The Archers, Jamie Oliver instructing viewers to toss their pork and give it a bash, Bill Turnbull commenting on Rihanna’s “puffing coat”, and Alexandra Burke dropping something before grabbing an award. Rhianna repeatedly stared Chris down while holding her water, then left soaked again ahead of an interview with David Tennant.
Real or No Real
Elephants really could favour a left or right tusk, just as people favoured a hand. Hundreds of actors had not been interviewed to play the snowman and snowwoman in the John Lewis advert, despite Chris’s detailed theory that remaining still might be a specialist profession.
A person was statistically more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than a poisonous spider. Half of employees really were late on a Monday and spent roughly 12 minutes complaining, but Kenny G did not cause an eye twitch. Chris ended with 20 points.
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