The 72-ounce Steak Challenge (2024)

Where: Big Pie in the Sky – Kennesaw, Ga.

Challenge: This pizza weighs 11 pounds, is 30 inches across, and must be eaten in under one hour. Two people are allowed to tag team this event, and it costs $50 to enter.

Prize: $250 is awarded to all successful teams.

Where: Clinton Station Diner – Clinton, N.J.

Challenge: At 105 pounds, The 8th Wonder is the largest burger in the world. It's 28 inches in diameter and 11.5 inches tall. Ten people are given only 60 minutes to demolish this beast (that’s 10.5 pounds of food per person).

Prize: A cash prize of $5,000 is given to all successful teams, but the odds are stacked against them; no one has ever conquered this challenge.

Where: Jack-N-Grill – Denver, Colo.

Challenge: This 7-pound breakfast burrito is no joke, consisting of 7 potatoes, a pound of ham, a whole onion, cheese, chili, and, of course, a dozen eggs. There’s only one rule: no bathroom breaks.

Prize: Free food FOR LIFE is awarded to any woman who can finish this meal.

Where: The Big Texan Steak Ranch – Amarillo, Texas

Challenge: Successfully consume a 72-ounce steak, a buttered bread roll, a shrimp co*cktail, a baked potato, ranch beans, and, to make it a nice balanced meal, a salad. This is the perfect challenge for Ron Swanson.

Prize: The meal is free.

Where: Exeter’s Urban Burger Restaurant – Exeter, England

Challenge: Eat seven, 6-ounce burger patties, 14 slices of bacon, seven slices of cheese, and two giant portions of double-fried fries. Contestants only have 20 minutes to finish this beast.

Prize: A free meal and T-shirt.

Where: Acme Oyster House – New Orleans, La.

Challenge: Consume 180 oysters in one sitting. But that's nothing compared to the restaurant's record holder, who has successfully eaten 43 dozen oysters. THAT'S 645 OYSTERS.

Prize: A free meal and T-shirt. So worth it.

Where: Nitally’s ThaiMex Cuisine – St. Petersburg, Fla.

Challenge: This 48-ounce soup is made from bhut jolokia, also known as ghost chili, one of the spiciest peppers in the world. Contestants have only 30 minutes to devour the whole thing.

Prize: $1,000 goes to successful competitors. But you "must be sober" to compete — that's rule No. 4.

Where: Jester’s Diner – Great Yarmouth, England

Challenge: A kid’s challenge, you say? Think again. It's called The KIDZ Breakfast Challenge because of its sheer weight: “It weighs the same as a small child.” Nine pounds of bacon, sausages, potatoes, mushrooms, black pudding, bread, eggs, beans, tomatoes, and hash browns top this sucker off.

Prize: Eat all 6,000 calories in one hour for a free meal.

Where: Shelby’s Kitchen and Deli – Deerfield Beach, Fla.

Challenge: A 24-inch pancake is merely the plate for this challenge. Don’t forget to top this beast off with four fried eggs, six sausage patties, a pound and a half of bacon, a pound and a half of home fries, and two slices of toast. Early bird gets the full stomach.

Prize: A free meal and a full stomach.

Where: Sizzle and Grill Steakhouse – Cardiff, Wales

Challenge: As if a 69-ounce steak wasn’t enough, try adding some gammon (ham/smoked bacon), lamb chops, pork chops, chicken, sausages, eggs, mushrooms, peas, salad, and a side of French fries. Eight people have died while attempting this challenge (maybe).

Prize: A free T-shirt and meal.

Where: Munchies 420 Café – Sarasota, Fla.

Challenge: Eating 10 hot wings doesn’t sound too difficult, but these wings are coated with extract from THE HOTTEST PEPPER IN THE WORLD: the ghost pepper. Contestants have only 20 minutes to complete the challenge. Just a heads up, Adam Richman of the Travel Channel’s Man vs. Food was only able to eat two of these bad boys before giving up.

Prize: Winners get their picture put on a wall of fame, but losers are showcased on the wall of shame.

Where: Mick & Angelo’s Eatery and Bar – Niagara Falls, Canada

Challenge: Contestants have 90 minutes to eat virtually every Italian dish you can think of: spaghetti, grilled sausage, lasagna, chicken parmesan, cheese manicotti, cannelloni, garlic bread, vegetable soup, and even an apple crisp. That’s seven pounds of food. There’s only one rule: you can’t leave the table.

Prize: A T-shirt, a free meal, and a picture on the wall of fame.

Where: Pho Garden – San Francisco, Calif.

Challenge: Dump two pounds of noodles, two pounds of beef and tripe, and a never-ending broth into the largest bowl you’ve ever seen, and you’ve got The Pho Garden Challenge. Contestants have only one hour to eat the bowl’s contents.

Prize: A picture on the wall of fame.

Where: Knucklehead Hot Dog Diner – Roseville, Calif.

Challenge: Five quarter-pound hot dogs, three pounds of chili, and a pound of French fries, all topped off with handfuls of shredded cheese. This monster weighs over five pounds and must be eaten in under 20 minutes.

Prize: A free meal.

Where: Paddy Long’s – Chicago, Ill.

Challenge: Don’t let the picture fool you; that’s five pounds of ground sausage, pork, and beef, all of which is wrapped and slow-cooked in brown sugar bacon. Choose between fries or potato salad to complete this meal (which, heads up, would normally serve 6-8 people). Everything must be eaten in 45 minutes or less.

Prize: A picture on the wall of fame.

Where: Trimbo’s Pizza - Butte, Mont.

Challenge: This 80-ounce Stromboli is filled with mozzarella cheese, pizza sauce, fried peppers and onions, capacolla, salami, pepperoni, black olives, mushrooms, spinach, and ricotta cheese. That's 5 pounds of food. Yeah, good luck.

Prize: Eat the whole thing in less than one hour for a free T-shirt and your picture on the wall of fame (or shame, depending on how much your stomach can handle).

Where: Port Royale Grille – Islip, N.Y.

Challenge: This challenge starts off easy: Eat either a soup or a salad. No problem, right? Now eat a full rack of ribs, a 14-ounce grilled rib-eye steak, a pound of pulled pork, a half-pound of BBQ chicken, French fries, coleslaw, and baked beans.

Prize: A free meal.

Where: The San Francisco Creamery Co. – Walnut Creek, Calif.

Challenge: This monster sundae consists of three bananas, eight scoops of ice cream (flavors are of the contestant’s choosing), eight different toppings, whipped cream, nuts, and cherry to top it all off…and maybe a brain freeze or two.

Prize: Those who successfully devour the sundae in under an hour will receive free ice cream for a year.