If you think back to the good old days of
2008-2012 you might think of American President Barack Obama, but the reality is that there
was one man more famous than even the first African American President and that man was
Adam Richman, the host of Man vs. Food, a highly popular television show from the Travel
Channel. The show followed Richman as he went from
State to State, attempting to finish gigantic meals, and while the show disappeared in 2012,
the legend of Richman still lives on. There's a lot to that show that people didn't
and still don't realize and so we thought we'd delve into the Top 10 things you didn't
know about Man vs. Food and Adam Richman himself! That Was Adam in Shape! Or at least the best possible shape he could've
been in considering his job forced him to eat enough calories to keep the sun burning
for another billion years. If you see Adam Richman now you might not
recognize him as he's dropped a ton of weight. During the Man vs. Food years, Richman forced
himself to work out twice a day just to maintain the pudgy physicality that everyone fell in
love with. Despite his efforts, he still ended up gaining
a copious amount of weight while on the show, something that ended up putting him in a state
of depression; his depression worsened due to being single at the time, which he blamed
on his weight, which made him more depressed, and this sort of made a vicious cycle. In an interview with People magazine after
he dropped an astonishing 60-pounds, Richman described how once he reached a point where
he had sleep apnea from his weight gain he decided enough was enough and retired from
competitive eating (and the show itself). That change came suddenly one day when Richman
saw his reflection in a mirror and thought that he was the size of a "Smart Car", so
he cut out flour and dairy from his diet and decided to throw out his favorite snacks like
peanut butter and ice cream (presumably a bathtub full of both). The man best known for eating massive meals
actually switched to eating tiny meals, and lots of them, to reboot the metabolism that
was destroyed by the show. That means that he was eating 150-calorie
meals every two hours, which for a man who'd fast the day before a challenge, was clearly
a gigantic change. But, it worked, as Richman eventually bared
it all for a centerfold shoot with Cosmo. Liking this video so far? Show us some love and hit that subscribe button
and notification bell! Adam Richman Health Issues As you'll learn later, the host of Man vs.
Food, Adam Richman, wasn't a competitive eater before he started the first competitive eating
show that had one host traveling the United States and attempting to best the legendary
meals that different restaurants and diners had to offer. Because of his inexperience with competitive
eating (and his high level intelligence as is evident by the fact that he went to Yale),
Richman consulted with doctors before he started the show, a move that foreshadowed his early
retirement as well. In a live chat with ESPN Richman explained
this move, saying: "I went to specialists ahead of time because I wanted to start with
a baseline of good health, versus correcting bad health down the road." Despite all that work (and the work he did
according to the previous entry on this list), Richman still ended up gaining an inordinate
amount of weight, developing health problems like sleep apnea and depression, and eventually
had to give up the show that made him famous after only four seasons. Richman's Ridiculous Preparation During the
Season When watching Man vs. Food, you'd think that
the only prep that went into each episode of food gorging was Richman skipping breakfast
and loosening his belt. It turns out that there was a lot more that
went into it, something that seems like it would balance out the amount of calories Richman
consumed, but instead perhaps ended up being one of the main contributors to Richman's
weight gain. When discussing how he prepared for each show
Richman said "If I do have a day off I don't eat, or eat very minimally, and I drink a
lot of water and club soda to keep my stomach stretched and full and to keep myself hydrated". That means that during the filming season,
Richman's entire life was dictated by the show and his upcoming episode. As was mentioned earlier, Richman worked out
like crazy while filming not only to attempt to work off all the tens
of thousands of calories he was consuming at each sitting, but also because by working
out he'd increase his appetite. Richman concluded, "The most important aspect
is that I work out like a beast. I work out like a beast the night before and
the morning of", so those workouts served a dual purpose and again shows how much the
show dominated his life. Richman's Favorite Meals There's no better way to really get information
from celebrities these days than Reddit AMAs, which stands for Ask Me Anything. Richman participated in an AMA in 2015 and
was asked which contest was his favorite and which was his least favorite. Richman admitted that, Spoiler Alert, he preferred
some contests to others. His favourite was the Kodiak Arrest contest
at the Humpy's Alaskan Ale House. According to Humpy's website, the Kodiak Arrest
contest doesn't have bear meat in it, but rather has every other food that Alaska is
known for. The challenge includes seven crab nuggets,
14 inches of reindeer sausage, three pounds of Alaskan king crab, and different side dishes
like cole slaw, Humpy's "famous" wild berry crisp, and ice cream. The website lists the record holder as Jeffery
C., who completed that challenge in 12 minutes and 10 seconds, which is likely about the
amount of time he remained living after completing that challenge. If you live in Alaska or are planning to visit,
make sure to pack your credit card as this challenge runs a cool $179.99 and should you
finish that meal in an hour or less, you'll end up in their winners hall of fame, receive
a "I got crabs at Humpy's" T-shirt. And if you happen to beat Jeffrey C, you'll
get that meal for free (the cost of your angioplasty and stomach pumping falls on you, though). His Least Favorite Challenge Richman's least favorite challenge may surprise
you, not because he failed it - he failed more often than he won - but because it seems
like one of the easier challenges for Richman. This challenge actually ended up at the bottom
of the barrel (and the bottom of a toilet not long after) because the owner of the restaurant
that hosted Man vs. Food had basically cheated by adding "dangerously" spicy hot sauce to
the wings that he served to Adam, something that he neither explained to Richman or his
team nor added to the challenge regularly. Despite that, this challenge at least wins
the award for the most apt name as the owner of Munchie's 420 Cafe, in Sarasota, Florida,
named his challenge the "Fire in Your Hole Wings Challenge. While that's pretty standard in terms of what
they offer everyone, the problem stemmed from the fact that the owner made the wings especially
spicy for Richman, essentially to steal a win for the television show. That's probably because his challenge paled
in comparison to the others, as the challenge was to eat ten spicy wings in twenty minutes
without drinking anything (which in Richman's case was milk). Richman only made it through two wings before
throwing in his poison covered towel, and while he was used to losing, it was the way
in which he lost that clearly stuck with Richman (not to mention the heartburn and ulcers). Typical Types of Challenges: The Spicy Edition As fans of Man vs. Food know, most of the
food challenges that host Adam Richman found himself in ended up falling into one of two
categories (and sometimes, both); either quantity based challenges or heat based challenges. During an interview with the Guardian in the
United Kingdom, Richman discussed his feelings on both, saying that heat based challenges
were "No big deal" as long as the restaurant was using fresh peppers as opposed to the
pepper extracts that some people use, saying: "A good spicy challenge strikes a balance
between flavor and fear". As the braver of you probably know, fresh
peppers aren't as spicy as hot sauces because there's still some flavor to those peppers
(unless you get to the innards and seeds, which can be nightmares in and of themselves). Extracts and hot sauces sacrifice that flavor
for the pure heat that comes from those peppers, and while some hot sauces do add additional
ingredients to bring in that flavor, many can be so hot that you lose all ability to
taste anything beyond pain, and that's one of the main situations in which Richman would
find himself tapping out of challenges more often than not. Typical Types of Challenges: The Quantity
Edition Beyond spicy challenges, you'll find what
most people think of when they hear "competitive eating" is quantity based challenges. Like the spicy challenges, Richman pointed
out what factors make these challenges worse than they are generally. The biggest problem that one comes across
when competing in a quantity based challenge is food that contains starch and/or was deep
friend. Things like french fries, hash browns, baked
potatoes, or mashed potatoes tend to fill you up faster than other things like proteins
(especially). Those foods tend to feel like they're sitting
in your stomach longer, which is why potatoes were such a staple of meals for people who
didn't have a lot of money back before the days of the Potato Famine in Ireland, for
example. There are multiple theories as to what lead
to that disaster that basically destroyed all potato crops in the Emerald Isle, but
I think we now know who was behind it. That's right, Adam Richman. The Seven Pound Breakfast Burrito Challenge While Richman stated that his least favorite
challenge ever was the "Fire in Your Hole" challenge at Munchie's 420 Cafe in Sarasota,
Florida, that was mainly because he felt that the owner of Munchie's had essentially cheated
by altering the challenge to ensure that Richman would fail, which I guess would make his cafe
look better on television (perhaps he was out of shirts, or the larger point is that
if we can no longer trust the owner of Munchie's 420 cafe, then we're in trouble as a species). While that "least favorite" challenge involved
some tomfoolery by the people making the food, we also wanted to include the actual challenge
that Richman had the most problems with, although this entry also involves some outside factors. The honor goes to the seven-pound breakfast
burrito that Richman attempted to devour while he was extremely sick. During the above-mentioned ESPN Chat, Richman
stated "I was extremely sick with a 101 fever and a sinus infection. Add to that I hate chunks of ham and green
pepper in food and that dish had both. Truly a sucky experience." Considering all the sucky experiences it seemed
like Richman had (and the eventual depression he developed during the filming of the show),
for this to be singled out as the suckiest of sucky situations, means it must've been
really bad. Why The Show Ended While it was mentioned that Richman gained
a lot of weight during the filming of the show and that that was detrimental to both
his physical and mental health, Richman also felt like the show had really just reached
its logical conclusion and that there was really nothing new that they could do or provide
to its viewers. Richman explained "The simplest way to put
it is to say that the spectacle diminishes over time", and so Richman took the Seinfeld
and Michael Jordan (after his first and second retirements) approach and instead of continuing
the show for a couple more seasons while the ratings dropped and his BMI increased, he
pulled the plug. While his health had something to do with
that, Richman seemingly resented the rumors that he had cancelled the show because of
his health, at least solely. In a Facebook post Richman stated "Okay. Once and for ******* all - I am not dead,
I am in good health thankfully, have suffered no health setbacks.". All this because someone wrote a fake obituary
for Richman and the rumor spread online that he was dead. Richman called out that "blogger" and the
"idiots [that] perpetuated the rumor" while also saying "Sorry haters, I'm vigilant about
my health. Take that negative **** to St. Elsewhere. Capice?". That wasn't the last time that Richman lashed
out at people online as he also went on an epic rant (or ten) against people on Twitter
after receiving some negative press for posting a hashtag that was tied to the pro-anorexia
crowd that exists online (as a joke). He's Wasn't a Competitive Eater Adam Richman seemed like the perfect fit for
Man vs. Food as he was equal parts capable of eating vast amounts of food and also charming
and great on television. That's not because he was just a competitive
eater with a good personality, but rather that he was an aspiring actor that liked to
eat food. After graduating from Emory University in
Atlanta, Georgia (With an undergraduate degree in International Studies) and then eventually
Yale's Drama School, Richman began his acting career with a few guest roles on shows like
All of My Children, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, and Guiding Light. His largest pre-Man vs. Food role was in 2004
as he portrayed a butcher on the show Joan of Arcadia; he also kept his acting chops
sharp by appearing in regional theater productions around the United States, and he kept his
wallet full by appearing in television commercials as well (some of which were seen nationally). He was the perfect fit for Man vs. Food, though,
as he was essentially an expert of food before he landed the show. He kept a travel journal that included every
restaurant he ate at since 1995 while also self-educating himself on food and training
to become a sushi chef. The best way to describe Richman is that he
seemed to be on his way to being the most interesting man in the world . The one thing
he wasn't though, was a competitive eater, but he checked so many of the boxes that the
Travel Channel wanted, they decided to cast him in what will most likely be the role of
a lifetime for Richman. Thanks, Yale Drama School. Hungry for more? Why not check out our other videos and hit
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