Man V Food Challenges That Got Gross

Adam Richman and Casey Webb have each had a stint as the host of "Man v. Food," which means they've both held one of the coolest jobs in the world. Traveling around the country and hopping from big cities to small towns in order to find some of the most interesting food challenges would be a dream for many. As wonderful as the job description sounds, there typically isn't much glamor once the hosts actually sit in front of the food. In fact, sometimes hosting a show like "Man v. Food" can get downright gross.

For the most part, "Man v. Food" features good eats in the challenges — it's just the enormity or spiciness of the food that can get dicey. Good food from across the country can turn sour under these exaggerated conditions. The unfortunate results can be some pretty painful and uncomfortable moments for Richman and Webb.

From sickeningly sweet and horribly spicy challenges to plates so enormous they are nearly impossible to consume, these food challenges were pretty gross to watch. If you're a sympathetic puker or gag at the thought of sauce smeared across the hands and face of a grown man, steer clear of these tummy twisting "Man v. Food" episodes.

There aren't many foods that Adam Richman won't eat, but when your job is chasing massive food challenges, some are bound to stick with you. For Adam Richman, the 15 Dozen Club at Acme Oyster House is that challenge. More than five years after he beat the 15-dozen oyster challenge, Richman told the Mirror that he had not eaten many of the slimy mollusks since. Downing 180 oysters at once will do that to a person, apparently.

The challenge clearly left Richman with a gross aftertaste, and it didn't look much tastier in the eyes of spectators. Seeing the 15 plates stacked around Richman makes the challenge look daunting, but it's nothing compared to watching him down 180 raw oysters. The thought of oyster after oyster sliding down Richman's throat is probably enough to make your stomach turn. If not, witnessing the "Man v. Food" host nearly cough up one of his remaining oysters will just about do it.

Richman was all smiles before the challenge started, and honestly he stayed pretty happy the whole way through. It appeared to be one of his easier challenges, but considering he was put off oysters semi-permanently, we can infer that the after-effects of the challenge were pretty gnarly.

"Man v. Food" does a great job of cutting the more disgusting parts of challenges out of the final edit that fans see on their screens. We rarely see any upchucks or bathroom shots, but it's really not hard to imagine the after effects of some of the more intense challenges. When Richman conquered the 12 hot wings from Hell in Smoke Eaters Hot Wings' Hellfire Hot Wing Challenge, his pain was palpable from the other side of the screen.

The heat he felt while eating the fiery wings likely has nothing on his night of recovery. Commenters watching the video on YouTube seem to have similar thoughts, noting they didn't envy the bathroom trips Richman likely took after the challenge. This is why the Hellfire Hot Wings has earned a place on our grossest challenges list.

Frankly, Adam looked devastated for almost the entire challenge, like he was in some trance of super spice. He wasn't able to drink anything or use any napkins for the duration of the challenge. If the thought of the heat doesn't turn your tummy, the lava sauce smeared all over Richman as he eats just might. To win the challenge, Richman was forced to lick the sauce off his fingers and stew in the heat for five full minutes. Torture isn't our thing, and this one was a hard watch.

Adam Richman headed to Sarasota, Florida, for a surprise challenge and left with footage of what would go down as one of the most infamous "Man v. Food" challenges to date. Richman didn't know what he'd be facing at Munchies 4:20 Cafe. The dish that was uncovered before him was not one of the colossal food challenges the restaurant was known for, but it sure was one of the spiciest ones he has attempted.

It consisted of a measly 10 wings, but they were coated in sauce made with ghost chili peppers. As spicy as they were, this challenge was gross for a slightly different reason. The owner of Munchies tricked Adam Richman into eating something way hotter than was safe. In an AMAA on Reddit, Richman revealed that the owner of Munchies made his wings extra hot by adding an entire bottle of ghost pepper extract, making it an incredibly dangerous food challenge. This was done under the radar, and production only found out because the owner's mic was still on when he talked about it.

Richman ended up losing the challenge, not being able to get through the 10 dangerously hot wings. The smell alone was enough to nearly ward him off the plate, and hiccups set in right after he ate the very first wing. This was Richman's least favorite "Man v. Food" challenge, as well as one of the hardest to watch due to his visible struggle.

There's only so much dough one person can (and should) handle. Considering how unappetizing it was to watch Casey Webb take on the massive cinnamon roll at Lulu's Bakery and Cafe, 3 pounds is just too much. There's something about a grown man plunging his hands into a gooey cinnamon roll that just doesn't sit right. The thick icing of the pastry is a delicious sweet treat, but the enormous amount on a Lulu's cinnamon roll is akin to drinking the rich, viscous substance. If Webb didn't have some tummy troubles after that load of sugar, we'd be shocked. It probably took him a few days to get the smell of cinnamon completely out from under his fingernails and nose as well.

This challenge no longer exists, thanks to a different kind of gross experience. When food challenger Randy Santel tried to follow in the footsteps of "Man v. Food" and attempt this challenge, he was turned away somewhat rudely. After being told over the phone he could have the opportunity to compete in the challenge, he and his entourage were kicked out of the cafe. Lulu's faced quite a lot of backlash for this and closed not long after.

Some food challenges are designed to make a contender sick, and downing a massive amount of dairy will do just that. We've already said that "Man v. Food" usually steers clear of showing viewers the bad side of food challenges, but there are some key exceptions. Production couldn't help but give us a shot of Adam Richman upchucking at Crown Candy Kitchen in St. Louis. Richman was so close to completing the diner's Malt Milkshake Challenge but ended up taking a trip to the back as most of the malts came right back up.

The challenge itself is pretty simple, even if it's an icy torture. Competitors can choose to drink five milkshakes or five malts, each consisting of 24 ounces of ice cold dairy. The kicker, though, is that they only have up to 30 minutes to do so. Combining the two factors of milk quantity and a very limited time is a recipe for disaster, which everyone who has seen this particular "Man v. Food" episode can attest to. The milk sits heavy on the stomach, and you can only add so much so quickly before it's going to find somewhere else to go!

Though the malt challenge was one of the most famous instances of someone being sick on "Man v. Food," it was not the only one. In this case, it wasn't Adam Richman who hurled up his guts at Big Pie in the Sky, but Drew, his chosen partner for the 30-inch pizza challenge. A typical large pizza is around 16 inches and feeds around four people, which means this challenge was about double a large pizza. Richman split this massive pizza with another food lover, leaving them about a pizza each.

You likely know someone who can eat a whole pizza by themselves, but the real complication of the Carnivore Challenge is the massive amount of meat piled on as toppings. The pizza is a whopping 11 pounds, with slices the size of your head. There have only been 24 teams to beat this challenge, and the "Man v. Food" host would have been the very first if he had come out victorious when he attempted it.

Adam Richman came relatively close to finishing his half of the big pie, with the crusts and some toppings left on his plate. Even if he had pushed through, though, Drew didn't put much of a dent in his half before upchucking in the back of the restaurant. Richman would have had another 15 minutes to finish his plate if Drew hadn't lost his lunch, but a loss is still a loss.

Listen, just because you can technically do something, it doesn't always mean that you should. Mallie's Sports Grill & Bar did something it definitely shouldn't have by creating the Absolutely Ridiculous Burger. At 190 pounds, this burger just can't have been good. Cooking a patty that massive is guaranteed to mean a mostly overcooked block of meat. Besides the subpar quality simply for the sake of novelty, the sheer waste is gross enough to earn it a spot on this list. Also, splitting a hunk of meat with 40 people is a bit much.

Luckily, the massive amount of food needed to create such a burger didn't totally go to waste. 40 people came together to try and take the burger on. The only thing that would have been grosser than 40 people splitting what was essentially charred ground beef with burger toppings, is if they had all eaten the burger "Lady and the Tramp" style. Luckily, everyone had their own plate of the burger mess.

The group of 40 diners weren't able to complete the challenge, but did food really win this one? Over 20 pounds of food went uneaten, which is a bigger loss than the challenge itself.

If watching hot dog eating contests turns your stomach, stay away from this episode of "Man v. Food." Champion eaters can down dozens of hot dogs with little problem –– 16-time Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest champ Joey Chestnut has eaten 83 hot dogs in 10 minutes. Adam Richman is no world champion eater, but he completely annihilated 17 hot dogs covered in homemade chili at Roast Grill in North Carolina.

Speed-eating hot dogs, or even just eating a large quantity of the all-American dish, is not a pretty sight. Richman kept it pretty clean when taking down the chili dog challenge, but watching him force down his 17th dog with a belly full of meat and chili was tough. The host was prepared for the meat sweats, seeing as he started the session with a sweatband around his head. It was the blocks of bread from the bun that seemed to slow him down the most, though. While it appeared to be a tough challenge, we're just glad it all didn't come back up again.

Adam was so desperate in the last five minutes of this challenge that he just piled all of the remaining food between two buns and chowed down. Watching a man slowly eat himself into near-coma is pretty off-putting. What's even more unappetizing is watching a man who has already stuffed himself to the brim with food try to force down a whole lot more food. Richman's huge meal turned into finger food as he messily slammed and squished the remaining items together. There was nothing good about the resulting semi-compact disk of food. Unfortunately, this gross technique didn't lead to a win for Richman.

In his defense, though, Richman didn't have much choice in this challenge if he wanted even a fool's chance of winning. The time limit for the Adam Emmenecker Challenge was a mere 15 minutes. Within this time, challengers need to down a wide range of food, including but not at all limited to: a burger, brisket, chicken tenders, and a pound of waffle fries. With a reward of $5,000 if a challenger breaks the record, though, the Adam Emmenecker pretty much has to be near unbeatable.

Adam Richman often took on spicy food challenges during his reign on "Man v. Food," and Casey Webb followed his lead and continued to find some of the spiciest food around. The El Diablo Burger Challenge at The Bowery in Orange County involved quite a bit of food doused in incredibly hot sauce. This naturally means a lot of open mouth eating was involved, which can get kind of gross. We don't blame Casey Webb for deep breathing through mouthfuls of scorching burger meat, but we also don't love seeing it.

The sauce used on the El Diablo burger was made with three different types of hot peppers. Ghost chilis, Carolina reapers, and scorpion peppers are the hellish trio used to create the thick demon sauce on the burger. The burger itself is a huge and saucy stack of meat, making for quite a messy combination.

Webb is typically a pretty neat eater considering the wild meals he has passed to him on these food challenges. However, it wasn't sticky hands or a saucy face that made this challenge a bit dirty. This meal was so hot he was frequently screaming to the heavens with his mouth full of half chewed up meat. He fought through, open mouth and all, but the unmannered technique didn't earn him the win in the end.

Have you ever heard of the meat sweats? It's a very real thing, and anytime Adam Richman or Casey Webb come down with a case, it's a little icky. Richman was glistening from it during the Great Steak Challenge at Steak on Main outside of Baltimore, Maryland. Both hosts have tackled some massive steak challenges on "Man v. Food" and this was one of the biggest, making for some of the grossest meat related sweat.

The challenge's name is a little misleading. Adam Richman wasn't just faced with one large steak, but five different steaks and a pound of sides. That's like five steak dinners all at once, when one good steak dinner alone can have you popping open the top button of your jeans. Richman took on 74 ounces of meat, with each steak offering a different cut. At that point, you may as well just say the whole cow was on his plate.

All the bites of beef and meat sweat were for naught, because food won this round. Richman had a handful of bites left on his plate when the hour timer went off. The sheer amount of meat he consumed was a bit unappetizing, yes, but the fact that he lost with so little left on his plate was pretty gross as well.