Man vs Food

The Really TV channel have spoiled us once more (following Hair Battle Spectacular and Ace of Cakes) with an exquisite import of small screen American reality goodness. The big behemoth that is Man vs Food.

MvF is Fronted by Adam Richman who travels across the US of A seeking out eateries in towns and cities that have huge and spicy dishes on offer that he has to consume completely, usually within a strict time limit and without leaving the table.

The size of these mega meaty banquets could easily sate a family eight for an evening meal. The entertainment show (think Top Gear) is verging into the realms of competitive eating - which hasn't quite made it to the UK shores yet - a regular spectacle in the US. For the first half of the show Adam wanders around finding relatively small town famous dishes to try and give a little air time to, before the main event in the second half.

What makes the show is that he's spurred on by whipped up and frenzied crowds. They get him absolutely buzzing with motivational speeches, fist pumping antics and straight to camera monologues about the feat of endurance that he is currently undertaking.

The show was pioneered by the Travel Channel and in some way it is like an alternative tourist guide to some of the places that wouldn't normally get an ounce of exposure on TV. I admire the fact that it is promoting the world this way and if it ever came to these shores, it would end up in places like Tavistock or Sleaford. Imagine getting a haystack of halibut from the Peppered Pig in Goole and letting small towns of the UK showcase their own famed culinary highlights.

It is escapism TV and compulsive viewing as Adam attempts an different eat feat in every episode. Could I eat a 14lb cheese toastie? 5lb of chips with a 10lb burger? Probably not, but I'd give it a go.


If he completes said task he can get on to hallowed walls of fame which adorn the walls of each eatery and there's usually a t-shirt as a winning memento as well. Adam also has a weird ymca hand dance that represents M V F (Man vs Food) which he pulls out two or three times a show. A wonderful 27 minutes, that ran for four seasons in America and as the votes were counted at the end of the run, the final scores were Man 48 vs Food 36.

Car Boot Corner April 2012

It's moved to the big field, we repeat - it's moved to the big field.

That means the time taken to navigate the new beast was up from 90 minutes to 3 hours. They trebled the field coverage and the number of sellers. So that equated to a higher quality of car boot bargains to purchase and more things which suited our tastes and home decorations . Oh boy it did not disappoint.

We made a novice mistake (didn't bring any bags) and so had to go back to the car after we purchased these two marvellous, but rather unwieldy sized books. I've wanted a pin picture book for a while and it was mine for merely 50 English pence and I shall start work on some of the designs courtesy of Golden Hands and will pop up the results here in due course. We also helped a lady part with her unwritten postcard collection - Colour Masters, John Hinde etc all ready to be written and sent out, sending greetings from near and far. An orginial tin that Sellotape used to come in (it is cyan after all) and who can't resist some animal future birthday cards?

However, it was Tracey who was happiest at the end of the session - the holy grail of 80s originals, size 3, roller boots are now in our possession. We shall be turning Bournemouth seafront into Malibu as we both now own some classic roller boots. Magna Carta we salute you.