Challenge #2

The 2nd day in Las Vegas meant my 2nd food challenge. The day before I had joined the 24" Club at Johnny McGuire's Deli by eating a 24" sub (I ate the Trucker) in 28:22 which stands as the 2nd best time at that location behind Rich LeFevre who downed his in 20 minutes.


T-bonz, Mommye, and 3M are along for the ride. We show up at the Sahara Resort and Casino a little after 4pm. I am not as hungry as I prefer to be going into a food challenge, but I am focused. As we enter the Nascar Café I notice two bar-height tables that are in a roped-off section by a chalk board listing the rules of the B3 Burrito Challenge. One of the tables is a normal table and the other one is an official "Man v.Food" competition table that was used by Adam Richman when he attempted the B3 a few months ago. Wasn't he clearly seated at a normal four-person table? But I digress…


There's a good crowd. Some sitting at tables, and some seated at the bar. The Pittsburgh-Cleveland football game is on the TVs. Lots of people there to watch the game. Little did they know they'd get a sideshow, too.


The burrito arrives. It's big. And there are HUGE mounds of sour cream and guacamole on top. I HATE sour cream and I HATE guacamole. And I HATE black olives (they are inside, and on top of, the burrito). But in competitive eating situations or food challenge situations, the target food item is what it is. The manager serves as official timekeeper. She was low-key about giving me time updates. I liked that a lot. Our waiter places it down in front of me.


I begin by using the knife and fork to cut off a bite on the left end of the burrito. I do not know if it was the knife/fork combo or me, but it was an awkward bite. I cut the burrito in half, put down the knife and fork and attack the burrito in Furious Pete style. Though I had to swallow. Our waiter would later tell us that of the burrito finishers all of them ate the burrito with their hands instead of utensils.


I am on a great pace. Consistent speed. The burrito is really good, too. I finish the burrito in just under 20 minutes. Phenomenal. The wait staff is digging it. The assembled crowd is in it. With the burrito finished, I have to clean up the droppings. Eating the burrito was really messy. Much fell out. Probably close to 3 pounds of stuff fell out onto the plate. I transition from burrito to droppings very well. For my first bite of the droppings I grab the knife and spoon. Again, using utensils is awkward. I decide to put down the knife/spoon and go at the innards with my hands.


That might have been a bad decision because the droppings are soft, almost mud-like, so with each handful I do not get too much in my mouth. I seem to be treading water. But I'm not treading water because each time I form the soupy stuff into a log it is smaller than before. Maybe not as small as I'd prefer, but smaller.


After over HALF AN HOUR of consuming the stuff this way, I have an urge. But I hold it back. A few minutes later, another urge. Again I hold it back. But I can't hold back the 3rd urge. Luckily there's a trash can right in front of me. Two boots. They had placed a plastic grocery bag behind me but I don't know if I would have been able to open it and shoot straight.


So at just under an hour, I am done. Maybe a half-pound remaining. That sucks. Looking at the Wall of Shame the people who didn't finish still had burritos intact - like they had not attacked. Or ate much more cleanly than I - which is not that hard to do. I only saw one picture on the wall where the guy seemed close to being finished. That sucks.

The B3 Wall of Shame
The B3 Wall of Fame (finishers)

748 people, well 749 counting me, had tried the B3 Burrito Challenge. 14 people have finished it in the allotted 90 minutes. With my failure I don the pink "Certified Weenie" t-shirt. That's fun that they do that. Vegas gets another $19.95 from me.

The red neon atmosphere made for tough picture taking conditions at times. But T-bonz got some great photos. And she was working the crowd. I do not understand why she gets so into me being stupid, but it makes me happy.


In hindsight, I am pleased that I switched up from using the knife and fork to using my hands to eat the burrito. Very good decision. But my decision to eat the droppings with my hands was not good. The manager did bring me a spoon, and I tried once using it, but didn't. I should have asked for a slightly bigger spoon.

Next time (hello March?), I will go in knowing to use my hands to eat the burrito, and then switch to a good spoon to clean up the dropped stuff. It would also be good to drop less stuff when eating the burrito but that might not be possible as the saucy shredded beef and the runny beans just do that, and the burrito is served as one long tube. Maybe I'll cut the burrito in half and consume each half from that middle cut to the end. I just thought of that. The not-too-well-closed-ends-but-better-than-open-ends would hold more of the innards inside. On my attempt I did cut the burrito in half, but then ate it left to right. Dumb.

I also won't eat a 24" sub sandwich before eating the burrito. I thought the sandwich would be a great stretch. It probably was a great stretch but my body did not process the sandwich fast enough.

I had not before tried 3 big eats in 3 days. Usually I like to have a couple of detox days between eats like these. But that's what I'm doing, so just do it.


There is a complete photo gallery here.

Next: the burger!