|
|
|
Randy Santel, Overland Park, conquered the Monster Burrito at Crown Center in Kansas City and was the first to devour the Tower of Doom Burger at the Brewhouse Sports Bar in St. Louis.
Around 2 a.m. Sunday he added another victory, becoming the fourth person to finish the 24-inch Gorilla Pizza at Wheat State Pizza. He has now won 48 food challenges, which made him ineligible to take home the $500 prize.
“We normally bar competitive eaters, because we want to leave this open to local people,” said Jack Shelton, Wheat State Pizza owner. “But with Randy we worked out a deal that if he won, $500 would go to local charity.”
Santel, a former offensive lineman for the Missouri State Bears, said that he checks Eat/Feats on the Internet to learn about food challenges.
“I’d known about the Gorilla Challenge before, and thought this was the right time for it,” he said. “But I’ve never done one this late at night before. Usually I do them around 3 p.m., right between lunch and dinner.”
Shelton said the time was chosen for maximum crowd exposure.
“We usually peak around 1:45 a.m.,” he said.
Santel wasn’t worried about the Gorilla Pizza, which includes crust, sauce, cheese and a single topping of the eater’s choice.
“I think I’m going with a meat,” he told Shelton. After deliberating between pepperoni and ham, he went with the ham.
While waiting for the pizza to bake, Santel explained that competitive eating isn’t just a matter of shoveling in the food.
“There’s a science into all this,” he said. “Usually for 18 to 20 hours before a big challenge I’ll stop eating solid food and just have liquids. Last night I ate 10 pounds of watermelon and drank half a gallon of water.”
He explained that this helps with stomach expansion and also helps clean out his system.
“During a challenge you can’t take off and go to the bathroom,” Santel said.
He does a challenge or two each weekend, but still maintains his weight at 235 pounds.
Santel is actually something of an expert in body transformation, and won the 2010 Men’s Health Magazine/Spartacus Transformation Challenge.
“I used to weigh 345 pounds in high school,” said the 6 foot, five inch Santel. “I played football at 320 pounds.”
To win the transformation challenge, he lost 25 pounds in two months and added muscle.
“They flew me down to Auckland, New Zealand, and I played a gladiator in one of the episodes of ‘Spartacus: Gods of the Arena’,” Santel said.
Randy Santel, Overland Park, conquered the Monster Burrito at Crown Center in Kansas City and was the first to devour the Tower of Doom Burger at the Brewhouse Sports Bar in St. Louis.
Around 2 a.m. Sunday he added another victory, becoming the fourth person to finish the 24-inch Gorilla Pizza at Wheat State Pizza. He has now won 48 food challenges, which made him ineligible to take home the $500 prize.
“We normally bar competitive eaters, because we want to leave this open to local people,” said Jack Shelton, Wheat State Pizza owner. “But with Randy we worked out a deal that if he won, $500 would go to local charity.”
Santel, a former offensive lineman for the Missouri State Bears, said that he checks Eat/Feats on the Internet to learn about food challenges.
“I’d known about the Gorilla Challenge before, and thought this was the right time for it,” he said. “But I’ve never done one this late at night before. Usually I do them around 3 p.m., right between lunch and dinner.”
Shelton said the time was chosen for maximum crowd exposure.
“We usually peak around 1:45 a.m.,” he said.
Santel wasn’t worried about the Gorilla Pizza, which includes crust, sauce, cheese and a single topping of the eater’s choice.
“I think I’m going with a meat,” he told Shelton. After deliberating between pepperoni and ham, he went with the ham.
While waiting for the pizza to bake, Santel explained that competitive eating isn’t just a matter of shoveling in the food.
“There’s a science into all this,” he said. “Usually for 18 to 20 hours before a big challenge I’ll stop eating solid food and just have liquids. Last night I ate 10 pounds of watermelon and drank half a gallon of water.”
He explained that this helps with stomach expansion and also helps clean out his system.
“During a challenge you can’t take off and go to the bathroom,” Santel said.
He does a challenge or two each weekend, but still maintains his weight at 235 pounds.
Santel is actually something of an expert in body transformation, and won the 2010 Men’s Health Magazine/Spartacus Transformation Challenge.
“I used to weigh 345 pounds in high school,” said the 6 foot, five inch Santel. “I played football at 320 pounds.”
To win the transformation challenge, he lost 25 pounds in two months and added muscle.
“They flew me down to Auckland, New Zealand, and I played a gladiator in one of the episodes of ‘Spartacus: Gods of the Arena’,” Santel said.
He did well with the Gorilla Pizza, washing it down with gulps of water and iced tea as a large crowd of Pittsburg State University students gathered to watch. Among those cheering him on was Kyle Kovich, previous Gorilla Challenge winner who holds the record of finishing the pizza in 39 minutes, 28 seconds.
He said he hadn’t even known that there was going to be a Gorilla Challenge going on.
“I wasn’t even planning to come here tonight, I just decided to drop in,” Kovich said.
In the end, his record held. Santel finished in 40 minutes, 45 seconds.
“It was good pizza,” Santel said.
He videotapes all his challenge, and posts them online. He’ll also allow some of his videos to be used for a one-hour special May 25 of “Man vs. Food” on the Travel Channel.
Among his upcoming challenges will be a trip to New York on his birthday to tackle an 87-ounce steak.
He and a friend, Dan Graham, have formed Atlas and Zeus Promotions. Santel is Atlas.
After the Gorilla Challenge, he headed for his car.
“I feel better now that it’s all settling in my stomach,” Santel said. “It’s going to be a long drive home, but any pain I might feel is offset by the feeling that I won and $500 is going to charity.”
