Host of Travel Channel’s Man v. Food, Adam Richman knows his way around a food challenge. After 38 episodes of his wildly popular traveling food guide, Richman touches down in Miami tonight, February 3rd at 9:00 PM EST/8:00 PM CST, for a live show in advance of this weekend’s Super Bowl.
His challenge this evening? To eat a 48-ounce Porterhouse steak at Shula’s Steakhouse inside the Alexander Hotel Miami Beach and consume it LIVE within 20 minutes.
Rock ‘n Roll Ghost caught up with Richman last week as he was doing a blistering round of press to amp up excitement for tonight’s episode. If you wish to interact with the show’s participants tonight, check out the live chat site Travel Channel has set up here. This was our second time chatting with Adam. You can read our interview with him from last year here.
Rock ‘n Roll Ghost: Up early to promote the live event? What can you tell me about the live show?
Adam Richman: It’s going to be incredible. I’m equal parts excited and terrified. It’s gonna be amazing. People might think ‘Oh it’s just going to be a challenge…just the challenge live.’ It’s almost like a variety show. It’s like if you crossed Man v. Food with a massive tailgate party and Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In. There’s fan v. fan challenges, fan v. food, NFL athletes, specials involving other NFL legends, great moments in Man v. Food history special. Plus we taped for over a week in Miami at the very beginning of the month. We taped a bunch of segments showcasing the communities there. Everything from the seafood communities to the Cuban communities to standard straight ahead sandwiches. We already got a culinary snapshot of the city. Sort of ultimately culminating in this live challenge which is gonna be cool and psychotic at the same time. But I love that it’s going to be a really a variety of things as opposed to just ‘tune in and watch the challenge live.’
Right. That wouldn’t be nearly as interesting as what you’re actually doing. The challenge is where and what specifically is it?
The challenge is going to take place at the Alexander Hotel in Miami at Shula’s Steakhouse. Shula’s offers a 48-ounce porterhouse challenge. It’s a standing thing. It’s generally, ‘Can you finish this big steak?’ Normally there’s no time limit. You can just come in, order this delicious steak and if you can eat it you get your plaque on the wall. Jerry Jones from the Cowboys is on there and LT (Lawrence Taylor) is on there. I’m doing it with a 20-minute time limit. Normally there’s no time limit imposed. But what’s great is that A) the stakes are super high and B) it really necessitates keeping it real. Eating through the commercial breaks. Really doing a live, 20-minute challenge. Which I think is going to be phenomenal.
20 minutes does sound pretty daunting to say the least.
2.4 ounces of steak a minute. Yeah. It’s definitely going to be a bear.
Is it just the steak or are there sides to it?
This one is just the steak. I like how you said that. (laughs) Yes. It’s just a 48 ounce Porterhouse. The other steak challenges I’ve done have been predicated on doing sides. The live event is such an undertaking. It’s not just the challenge itself. It starts at 9 (PM) and the challenge is sometime after 10 (PM). Everything is live. We haven’t done anything like this before. The network hasn’t done anything like this before. So live events can go multiple ways. They can be phenomenal and capture incredible magic or they can be like Geraldo with Al Capone’s vault. I’m going to aim a little bit more for Sally Field going, ‘You like me! You like me! You really like me!!’
