The Art of the Eating Challenge



Competitive eating and eating challenges have generally been seen as an American phenomenon but have been gradually growing in popularity here in the UK. The END spoke to Kate Ovens and the Rub Smokehouse restaurant to find out more.


By James D'Arcy


The Challenger

Kate first started doing challenge’s when she ‘’was studying at Newcastle University. I had always enjoyed watching Adam Richman’s Man V Food and thought to myself ‘I reckon I could do that’.’’

Kate’s first challenge was the ‘Gut-Buster Challenge’ a 24oz cheeseburger with bacon, garnish and some potato wedges, which had to be finished in 20 minutes. Kate was the only one out of her friends to complete the challenge and has been doing them ever since.

While Kate isn’t a competitive eater and does the challenges for fun she does ‘’try and exercise and eat right building up to a challenge’’.

What exactly makes a good eating challenge? ‘’Definitely the tastier the food challenge- the easier I find them.’’ Burger challenges are also a good go-to ‘’because I know roughly how to tackle them and how many oz.’s I can eat before I will start finding it tough.’’

What she did find tough was a 27-inch pizza. It had ‘’a generous 90 minute time limit. But by about 20 mins I had finished most of it- then for another 50 mins I essentially just looked at it. It defeated me but…I got incredibly close.’’

To budding competitive eaters it’s important to ‘’enjoy it and be smart when it comes to dieting/exercising in the mean time.’’ ‘’Without the dieting and exercising in the mean time- it’s not really possible to not gain a bit of weight from doing this.’’

Finally, what’s next for Kate? ‘’Hopefully more presenting work but if not- perhaps more digital marketing as that’s a massive interest of mine.’’   

The Restaurant

How do the restaurants come up with ideas for these challenges? We spoke to Michael Wathen from The Rub Smokehouse in Birmingham to find out more.

The inspiration comes from the directors ‘’who are big foodies…and have a love for the American style BBQ food and flavours.’’ The main challenge the restaurant offers is the ‘Nugzilla’ where contests must devour a giant 6,000-calorie chicken nugget in the fastest time possible.

The Nugzilla ‘’has been seen by over 70 million people around the world…the fastest time stands at 6 minutes and 20 seconds … anyone who can beat this time will receive £600 in rub vouchers.’’  

While Mike has not tried to complete the challenge himself ‘’all employees try the dishes so we know what the competitors/diner can expect.’’ The Nugzilla isn’t the only challenge offered, eating events are hosted around the calendar with a recent chicken tenders event having ‘’150 guests participate.’’  

New dishes are created every month with Mike’s personal favourite being ‘’The Philly Cheese Steak Burger. Double cheeseburger, tons of cheese and shaved rib-eye steak topped with a cheese steak wrap. A little bacon and peppers and onions. BOOM!’’

While originally emerging from the USA the market for competitive eating looks set to stay ‘’its an up and coming trend that I think will continue to grow.’’ ‘’We see a lot of regulars who attend our events and enjoy the competitive nature of stuffing their faces.’’

  







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