Uploaded July 2018 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
After a trip to the Atlanta area for work, I stopped on the way home at Love Empanadas in Dalton, GA to attempt their 6 lb Whole Lotta Love Empanada Challenge as my 25th food challenge win!
The challenge consists of 1 lb of each of 4 stuffings of your choice. There are a lot of delicious choices and I chose spinach & mozzarella, chipotle chicken, beans and cheese and pizzanada for my stuffings. They're encased in a 2 lb baked empanada shell. It was flaky, not greasy at all, and tasted incredible. Challengers are given 30 minutes to consume the whole thing and if successful, the empanada is free and you get a dessert empanada to go! I chose Nutella for my dessert empanada.
At the time I took this challenge, the only previous winners were Eager Ethan Teske, Brandon Da Garbage Disposal Clark, and Matt Hannan.
The food and the staff here was top notch and I had a great time doing this challenge!
Music credits: Aruna - Save the Day (Tom Fall remix) [Black Hole Recordings]
After a trip to the Atlanta area for work, I stopped on the way home at Love Empanadas in Dalton, GA to attempt their 6 lb Whole Lotta Love Empanada Challenge as my 25th food challenge win!
The challenge consists of 1 lb of each of 4 stuffings of your choice. There are a lot of delicious choices and I chose spinach & mozzarella, chipotle chicken, beans and cheese and pizzanada for my stuffings. They're encased in a 2 lb baked empanada shell. It was flaky, not greasy at all, and tasted incredible. Challengers are given 30 minutes to consume the whole thing and if successful, the empanada is free and you get a dessert empanada to go! I chose Nutella for my dessert empanada.
At the time I took this challenge, the only previous winners were Eager Ethan Teske, Brandon Da Garbage Disposal Clark, and Matt Hannan.
The food and the staff here was top notch and I had a great time doing this challenge!
Music credits: Aruna - Save the Day (Tom Fall remix) [Black Hole Recordings]
![Jiffy Burger Challenge!
To cap off a long weekend ski trip in the Denver, CO area, we stopped by Rock Rest Lodge so I could attempt their Jiffy Burger Challenge, which Ive had on my to do list for a couple years now! As strange of a flavor combination that it is, I am such a sucker for peanut butter on a burger!
The challenge details are a 3.5-4 lb burger, composed of 4-8oz patties, american/pepperjack cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle and a massive slathering of peanut butter. The burger is served with at least a pound of curly fries and challengers have 30 minutes to consume every bite in order to get the meal for free! Even if failed, the cost is about $25, which is not bad at all for the amount of food you get.
Music Credit:
Boom Jinx & Andrew Bayer - Keyboard Cowboys (Original Mix) [Anjunabeats] Jiffy Burger Challenge!](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/X80WAh1CCLQ/mqdefault.jpg)
![Simple Simons The Beast Challenge!
Since a water boil advisory derailed our plans for a very special challenge (more to come on that in a later video!) Big Eater Mike and I made lemonade out of lemons and decided to head to Beebe, AR to Simple Simons Pizza to attempt to become the first team to conquer their Beast Challenge!
The Beat Challenge is a team pizza challenge in which a team of 2 people have 45 minutes to eat a 29 pizza. The base requirements are one meat topping, which weighs in the pizza at 11 lbs. Since I was paired up with an all-star eater I decided to get cheeky and up the ante (and the nutrition) by adding 2 veggies, which brought our grilled chicken + tomato + bell pepper pizza to 13 lbs!
Winners of the challenge get the pizza for free, a t-shirt, and their picture on the wall of fame!
Big Eater Mikes Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOHE6ZINf2EvXCjVLRIp0EA
Music Credit:
Ørjan Nilsen - Iconic (Extended Mix) [Armind] Simple Simons The Beast Challenge!](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/XABXZaEYN68/mqdefault.jpg)




![2020 Nathans Hot Dog Eating Contest Des Moines Qualifier
On August 10 2019, I took a trip to the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines to compete in the Nathans Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest regional qualifier! This was my first attempt to punch my ticket to Coney Island to qualify for the Nathans Finals on July 4, 2020.
The womens division boasted #35 Sophia DeVita, Rene Rovtar, and Michelle Severin, all competing for 1 berth in the womens contest and the mens contest consisted of yours truly, The Branimal facing off against my buddy #34 Derek Hendrickson AKA Heavy D. Derek was coming off of a great performance at a rib eating contest and hungry to make a splash at his third Nathans qualifier; my 4th qualifier.
Due to a fantastic crowd, great quality hot dogs, and fierce competition, multiple PRs were set in a very tight race!
Big thank you to Bardog Tavern for making my trip possible: https://www.bardog.com/
The Adventures of Heavy D
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwF9N6llgXGa-yPMc1ZZVUg
Music Credit: Luke Bond feat. Tyler Graves - Left of Us (Extended Mix) [ARMIND] 2020 Nathans Hot Dog Eating Contest Des Moines Qualifier](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_rwEfA_Mhpc/mqdefault.jpg)



