You can't believe everything that you hear — especially about your favorite shows.
To defend the honor of one of TV's most popular foodies, Adam Richman, we've debunked these
false facts that everyone believes about Man v. Food.
With his infectious enthusiasm, Richman made competitive eating look easy — most of the
time, anyway.
Based on his attitude alone, it's easy to believe the fearless foodie never had to do
much more than loosen his belt and tie on a bib to prepare for a competition.
“Who's in the mood for a challenge?”
“WOO!"
But according to an interview with 411mania, Richman actually did quite a bit of preparation
for each challenge.
The day before a quantity challenge, he would typically eat little or nothing at all.
He'd drink lots of water and club soda to stretch his stomach and keep himself feeling
full.
Above all, the hungry host would work out, in his words, "like a beast" the night before
and the morning of a challenge.
After a challenge, there was a recovery period.
Richman would typically do a cleanse and climb onto a treadmill.
While Richman had plenty of enthusiastic fans during his time on the show, he did have his
share of critics as well — most famously, the late, great, Anthony Bourdain.
According to the LA Times, during his nationwide tour, Close to the Bone, Bourdain slammed
Richman and the entire concept of Man v. Food, saying,
"Why did we watch the show?
Admit it.
You wanted [Richman] to die."
The notoriously brazen chef and travel host went on to claim that the show is popular
in countries like Afghanistan, Iran, and Libya.
He added,
"The show confirms their worst suspicions — that Americans are fat, lazy, slothful
[and] wasteful."
Word on the street was that Richman was forced to resign as the "Man" in Man v. Food for
health reasons.
Some speculated that the champ was so unhealthy that his doctor demanded he quit filming,
while others suggested his body simply couldn't expand any further.
But as Richman explained to reporters from BBC,
"The rumors about health concerns stopping the show are untrue."
Richman explained that he simply didn't enjoy the feeling of having insanely spicy or excessive
quantities of food inside of him.
He said that stories about him falling ill were "completely fictional," adding,
"[The people who spread the rumors] are the sort of percentage of sick people who almost
wanted to believe that [illness] happened to me."
Beyond this, Richman simply wanted to explore new territories.
As he told BBC,
"I just wanted to do off the grid restaurants, to showcase the amazing BBQ scene here [in
the UK] and to find the best sandwich in America and so on."
Anyone who happened to watch season two, episode seven witnessed Richman's particularly gruesome
defeat during the "Fire in Your Hole" challenge at Munchies 420 Cafe in Sarasota, Florida.
It wasn't until the cameras were rolling that the details of the challenge — which had
a 95 percent failure rate — were unveiled: 20 minutes to eat 10 hot wings drenched in
ghost chili sauce, one of the spiciest in the world.
"Only two wings in and I'm on the verge of passing out."
Richman waved the white flag after bravely polishing off two wings.
He was visibly in serious pain, sporting watering eyes and red lips even after locking himself
in the cooler.
But as it turns out, Richman may not have lost the contest fairly.
Two unknowingly miked employees were overheard on tape saying that they'd poured an entire
bottle of Jet Black Ghost Chili extract into the wing sauce to, quote, "blow him out."
"We have it, JT, we have it on the microphone."
"The reason why I'm especially mad, it's not because of my record, I don't give a s--t
about that.
It's that it's cavalier and very dangerous."
After Richman voluntarily bowed out, you might think he'd support his replacement, the new
Man v. Food host, Casey Webb.
Webb's career as host kicked off in 2017 during the show's fifth season — but the world
wasn't too happy about losing Richman.
Once Webb took the spotlight, the social media outcry was loud and a bit harsh.
One fan commented on Richman's Instagram post,
"I turned on [Man v Food] yesterday and was disappointed by the choice of your replacement.
That guy has nothing on you!"
Richman surprised everyone by responding to the fan — and his reply was a little saucy.
He wrote,
"Replacement?
LOL — nah.
Just someone driving a stolen car."
Ouch.
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