Meagan Downing | Lariat Photographer
By Rachel Ambelang
Staff Writer
Why anyone would volunteer to make themselves feel sick is beyond comprehension, but Penland found three male students that were willing to try for their Man v. Food competition.
The students all picked nicknames for their competition, Bottomless Brody, No Mercy Miner and Endless Eating Evan. They had one hour to try and eat a four and a half pound steak, a baked potato and a salad. Whoever finished the most at the end of the hour would be the winner.
Houston freshman “Bottomless” Brody Allsep, was one of the contestants. “I came in one day and saw this [sign up sheet] and thought ‘hey, I can do this,’” Allsep said. He said that he would happily win this competition while watching the Rangers win the World Series on the screen right above him.
Both the students and the fans they brought with them went to extra lengths to make the most of the competition. Some of the fans made posters, and both Waco freshmen Andrew “No Mercy” Miner and “Endless Eating” Evan Barrios thought ahead to bring drinks with them.
Surprisingly, all the competitors started to eat slowly and took the time to cut individual pieces of the steak, granted they were much bigger pieces than a normal person would eat at one time. All three of them had a red barf bucket next to their foot just in case they decided to pick up the pace and one of the Penland employees made sure the competitors knew not to miss the bucket if they felt the urge to use it.
A crowd began to congregate around the competitors as curious onlookers began to pick who they thought would win. Barrios’ fans started the chant, “Eat the steak, Evan eat the steak” to which Miner’s fans quickly responded with “Rip ‘em up tear ‘em up sic ‘em Andrew.”
A microphone was passed around the audience for specific cheers and one student decided to give his brilliant advice on how to win saying, “Eat a lot of steak, and if your stomach hurts, keep eating more steak.” Even the boys laughed despite the fact that all three of them seemed to be losing enthusiasm as they devoured the huge piece of meat in front of them.
No Mercy Miner pulled through in the end with the judges deciding that, although he didn’t eat the most steak, he ate the most of all three of the different foods he was given. Miner walked away with $25 as the grand prize and said he was glad he won.
Barrios came in second with a prize of $20, but did not seem to be sure that it was entirely worth it saying, “I don’t feel so good”.
Allsep came in last place, but was happy to walk away with $15 and definitely looked the least phased out of all the competitors since he chose to not eat as much of the meal.
Penland is holding another Man v. Food competition in a few weeks, but this time it will be pancakes instead of steak. So, if you feel like you have the stomach for it, or if you just really like pancakes, be sure to find the sign up in the Penland Food Court.
