Stephanie Torres attempted the OMG burger at The Catch in Anaheim for an upcoming episode of "Outrageous Food" on the Food Network.

October 19, 2010 at 12:54 am by ojrifkin · More posts about:Burger Eating Challenges, Orange County, Stephanie Torres, Television | Permalink * Comments (24)

24 Comments »

  1. Matt "Mega Toad" Stonie said (Registered June 22, 2010)

    October 19, 2010 @ 1:02 am

    WTF that fucking resturant told me i couldnt attempt it cuz ive done challenges before,

    see what $$ plus the promise of PR does to people, bullshit i say (lets boycott)

  2. Stephanie Torres said

    October 19, 2010 @ 1:50 am

    They told me I could do it since Ive never been in contest before. I told them Ive done some challenges. Im disappointed they didnt let you compete. They told me just no pro eaters.

  3. Rhonda Evans said (Registered March 6, 2008)

    October 19, 2010 @ 9:21 am

    The term “pro” often gets misused (IMHO). To me a pro is someone who supports himself financially via competitive eating. The only person who does that is Kobayashi and possibly Joey. Everyone else works a full time job in another vocation.

    I think what food service establishments really mean is that eaters who are under contract or affiliated with an established CE organization are ineligible to compete.

    Just because an eater has participated in challenges before should not make any difference. Otherwise, why even have the challenge?

  4. Johnnie Excel said (Registered October 5, 2010)

    October 19, 2010 @ 10:59 am

    Eating challenges should be open to anyone willing to try it. That’s what I like about the B3 in Las Vegas, you have guys like Chestnut and Goose setting the bar and it doesn’t diminish the popularity of the challenge. I would want to do it just to see how I measure up against them, that’s where the real thrill of competition comes in.

    With that said, I’m going to see if they’ll let me do this Matt. ^_^

    Also good job on attempting this challenge and getting some television time Stephanie, I can’t wait to set some records on Sunday!

  5. Stallion Italian said (Registered August 27, 2010)

    October 19, 2010 @ 12:03 pm

    Sometimes timing is everything. Also, perhaps for television purposes, they wanted a female. Some might call this discrimination, but at least until recently, the number of male competitive eaters greatly exceeded the number of females. Women are definitely not the weaker sex, but they are often prettier than the males. That’s how I see it, anyway.

  6. NReda said

    October 19, 2010 @ 3:37 pm

    For television purposes, they also needed someone WHO STOOD A CHANCE of actually finishing the burger! Whatever their rules may be, it would have looked foolish to televise some random person eating 30-40% of the burger.

  7. Stephanie Torres said

    October 19, 2010 @ 6:31 pm

    They were only going to have this one dude, a regular costumer, do it. But I so happen to be at the right place right time. Since Ive done a challenge with the host before, he got me in because he wanted to see if I can do it. At the end of the shoot, they all came up to me and said thank you, that I really put on a show. My parents even told me that it wouldnt have been the same without me. And get this, the Owner still wanted payment for the burger! So in this case it was half: let her do this because shes small and can handle food (shes here), and half just by chance (not planned).

  8. stephanie_wu said (Registered August 17, 2010)

    October 19, 2010 @ 7:10 pm

    I want to see Matt do the OMG Burger! As long as you’re not in the top 50 for MLE, I’d think they’d let you in. They just don’t want pros there. Plus I don’t see anything on their website banning even pros.

  9. Johnnie Excel said (Registered October 5, 2010)

    October 20, 2010 @ 1:09 am

    Sorry guys, I just called the Catch and they won’t let neither me or Mega Toad try the challenge. Apparently they take your ID and search for you online to see if you have competitive eating experience. The manager was being a real douche. 🙁

  10. KevinRoss said

    October 20, 2010 @ 1:21 am

    Stephanie. . .That’s pretty insane that you were doing a TV show for them and they wanted payment for the burger. . .I hope you laughed in their face when they asked!

  11. Oh, come on, Rhonda said

    October 20, 2010 @ 2:06 am

    Joey is an “engineer”. And making around $75,000 a year from that job.

  12. Damon Wells said

    October 20, 2010 @ 11:20 am

    It sucks that a restaurant owner would create a challenge STRICTLY for profit, yes I know when you run a business you want to make a profit, but challenges should also be fun.

    Being labeled a “pro” eater is almost a negative these days, restaurants are pretty much discriminating eaters from doing these challenges because they googled you and noticed you did a contest or two. That’s crap! Not to mention if they really did their research I’d say maybe 20-30 top 50 ranked eaters prolly wouldn’t be able to finish the challenge anyways, present company included. I think that would be better press to say “we’ve had X amount of world class eaters take this challenge and fail”!

  13. Johnnie Excel said (Registered October 5, 2010)

    October 20, 2010 @ 1:10 pm

    I totally agree with you Damon, real eating challenges should be open to anyone. What attraction is there to have a challenge open only to people who probably can’t complete it?

    The Catch really takes the fun out of it, I’ll be heading over to Broken Yolk Cafe instead. ^_^

  14. X-ST said (Registered October 20, 2010)

    October 20, 2010 @ 8:04 pm

    @KevinRoss. The production team covered it for me. So I didnt have to fork over 60bucks. Also, Before the challenge started, I didnt even know I wasnt allowed to soak the bread. Literally, one minute before the GO they laid out the complete rules. I think I really want to do this again, now that I know what to expect. I want to be able to go with a group of great eaters and would be badass if all of us did it.. then theyd have to pay the price!

  15. X-ST said (Registered October 20, 2010)

    October 20, 2010 @ 8:07 pm

    BUT if they dont let the group do it. then whats the point. The Catch owner really needs to change his view and bring back the fun to the table.

  16. Matt "Mega Toad" Stonie said (Registered June 22, 2010)

    October 21, 2010 @ 2:27 pm

    honestly as of now, i really doesnt make a difference weather they let me do it or not, there are better fish in the sea definatly then the OMG, its just a burger, just the $500 incentive was very nice lol…. so ima move on to better shit thatll probley 100x more fun, and if they ever change there mind and offer me the prize, or at least a free burger and a shirt ill make it down, just dont count on me to prioritize it

  17. KevinRoss said

    October 21, 2010 @ 2:33 pm

    Steph, It’s still crazy that production even had to pay the $60. . .how dumb is The Catch in not realizing they’re getting promotion and the $60 is totally inconsequential and they should be happy to foot the cost of the burger. Seriously, the management of the Catch sounds so retarded. I hope they go out of business!

  18. anonymous said

    October 21, 2010 @ 8:50 pm

    Just go and do it..Do they card you? Whats to stop a bunch of us going down and doing it?They cant deny us from eating…But once again free publicity for them and a bellyache for us…Dont do these challanges if you dont get the equal publicity

  19. X-ST said (Registered October 20, 2010)

    October 22, 2010 @ 3:25 am

    Yes they do card you. I found that out after. They didnt card me though, cuz the host was telling them who I was already when I didnt even know it haha. My mom overheard the owner talking to the filmers, “who is gonna pay for this, do you expect me to just give it to her, do I ask her or her parents to pay.. who is going to pay for it” I guess to get him to shut up they just said we’ll pay for it. He even almost DQd me when I started puttnig tobasco sauce on. He probably already rewritten the rules that cant use that now! Its not like theyre not nice people down there, but man, they can sure be bitches. The president was an awesome guy though, I think he was the one who said, its just tobasco sauce. its not breaking the rules. So all in all, The Catch is overpriced on everything, good bar section though, great for sports watching, but stingy owner and a staff who has to follow that.

  20. KevinRoss said

    October 22, 2010 @ 10:57 am

    I wonder what the value of having your restaurant shown on a food network program is? I’d venture to say about 100x the value of the large burger!

  21. stephanie_wu said (Registered August 17, 2010)

    October 22, 2010 @ 11:49 am

    At least 100X! It’s like them having do a 30-minute commercial about your restaurant, and then re-airing it repeatedly on national TV over the next few years. That’s why so many restaurants are trying to get on Man v. Food, judging from the message forums on the Travel Channel.

  22. Damon Wells said

    October 22, 2010 @ 12:01 pm

    it really does come down to the owner and what kind of person they are. I’ve been places where the owner was extremly occomadating, when I was with Kevin Ross at the Crown Candy shop the owner was super cool, giving free meals, shakes, shirts, darn near gave us the keys to the shop. Then there are places like the Catch, where they wanna DQ for ADDING hot sauce, how can you complain about adding volume (even as minute as hot sauce)?

    I’m glad the catch isn’t letting pro eaters try the challenge (orange county sucks when it comes to food challenges), if your willing to pay $60 for a burger then I have a bridge I’d like to sell you. I’ll stick with my El torrito sunday Brunch, $11 with a coupon, I can have all the tacos my heart desires.

  23. KevinRoss said

    October 22, 2010 @ 12:56 pm

    LOL Damon, thanks for bringing THAT up again.

  24. NReda said

    October 22, 2010 @ 1:28 pm

    The Catch will probably ban the use of water next. It’s not that long ago that the owner was bragging to me, “No one’s gonna eat this. Maybe a pro eater here and there, but we’ll rake in so much off the failed tries.” (That’s nearly a word-for-word quote)

    Then Tom Gilbert rolls in, demolishes it with considerable time to spare, and they’re running scared about suffering a second payout, going so far as to google names and ban anyone who has a trace of competitive eating experience. That comes across as really cheap to me… I keep sayin it but it’s unlikely that anyone with zero experience will just waltz in and consume an 8 lb burger in 60 minutes.

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