I attempted my very first restaurant food challenge back on March 19, 2010 with my friend Dan “Zeus” Graham. It was The 28-inch “Pointersaurus” 2-Person Team Pizza Challenge at Pointer’s Pizza in St Louis, Missouri. That day, I cannot say that I expected to one day have 1,000 unique restaurant food challenge victories!! Well, on Saturday, May 29, 2021, I plan on going for overall win #1,000 in Memphis, Tennessee vs The 4-Person Team 25lb Burger Challenge hosted by my friend Shawn Danko and his restaurant Kooky Canuck!! Kooky Canuck was featured on Man v. Food: Memphis, TN which was one of the very first episodes of the original series.
I completed the solo 7.5lb “Kookamonga” Burger Challenge back in 2014. Click here to watch the video!! Then a few years later, my friend “Magic” Mitch Dombrowski and I defeated the 2-Person Team 12lb Burger Challenge. Watch that video below if interested!!
Kooky Canuck’s 4-Person Team 25lb Burger Challenge is basically double the size of the 2-person burger challenge in the video above. My team will consist of longtime friends Ramsey “The Mantis” Hilton, Naader “Freak Eating” Reda, “Magic” Mitch Dombrowski, and myself. Between the 4 of us, there is more than 44 years of food challenge experience. Ramsey will be flying in from Boston, Massachusetts. Naader will fly in from California, and Mitch will come down from Green Bay, Wisconsin. Ramsey and Naader have always been inspirational for me during my career, pushing me to go harder and keep doing more and more restaurant challenges.
Ramsey started after I did, and one of my favorite memories was being there for his first time doing 2 food (pizza) challenges on 2 consecutive days. Soon after, he was going on giant food challenge trips. Naader started before me, and was very active, oftentimes doing many challenges with friends on consecutive days. He was my initial inspiration for thinking I could do the crazy multi-month tours that I’ve done in the past. Many of you already know the story with “Magic” Mitch Dombrowski. He started doing all the video editing for me back in March 2013 and we have been working together ever since. He has been on many tours with me, including almost all the major international tours, and my social media channels wouldn’t be where they are now without all his help over the years. Thanks also to Arthur Davis too who joined us in 2016!! Mitch and Arthur always do a great job editing the videos together!!
The burger will be brought out around 1:00pm CST and we will all start filming. The challenge will be live-streamed via my Randy Santel Facebook page for everyone available and interested who cannot be there to attend in person. (Note: I’m working on getting setup to livestream the challenge via my YouTube channel as well.) I will arrive at Kooky Canuck about 2 hours early to start getting set up so we can be ready to meet & greet with everyone who arrives beforehand. All of Randy’s Store stuff will be available before and after the challenge, including 5 different options of shirts (S to 3XL), 2 sizes of FC hats (S/M & L/XL), FC Leonidas Bears, and both available editions from Randy’s Atlas Rising comic book series. Cash is preferred, but we will have a Square available to accept cards too. I can sign all merchandise purchased as desired, and I’ll be available for photos before & after the challenge as well. I’ll also have photos with me to sign for everyone in attendance, and those are free. This will take place inside, so weather will not be a concern.
The owner Shawn Danko has been my friend for many years, and I look forward to supporting his restaurant via this 3rd and final food challenge event at his restaurant. There will be lots of reserved seating for everyone coming to the event. Shawn is helping to put together an “after-party” for later that Saturday evening, on Beale Street. More details on that will be announced at the event, and anyone 21 and over is welcome to join us afterwards!! There will be many much appreciated people driving/flying in for the weekend!! With everything going on these next 2 weeks leading up to the event, I am not able to help with any planning related to hotel/accommodations availability. If you plan on drinking and partying with us afterwards as part of the festivities, please make plans accordingly so there will not be any drinking and driving. Thanks for all support & I look forward to seeing everyone at Kooky Canuck on Saturday 5/29/2021. If you have any questions or concerns, contact me via the contact form or via my Facebook page.
Photo credit to Bob Shoudt – Click here to watch his team win and set a new record!! (Click here to watch Brandon’s video!!)
To go back and check out other Randy’s Blog posts, please click here!!