Restaurant refuses to pay out after man smashes 10,000 calorie bangers and mash challenge
A bloke said he was left 'devastated' after failing a mammoth 10,000 calorie food challenge because he didn't slurp a spoonful of gravy.
Although Nick Marden managed to clear up everything else on his plate, Cattleman's Steakhouse didn't cough up the £250 prize money he was competing for.
The 43-year-old travelled to the restaurant in Paignton, Devon, on 11 December to take part in the 'Impossible Bangers and Mash challenge'.
It wasn't his first rodeo, as the operations manager moonlights as a competitive eater and travels up and down the country attempting food challenges.
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So the content creator, who runs the 'Wayward Feaster' YouTube channel, was pretty sure he'd be able to wolf down what Cattleman's Steakhouse were offering.
As part of the 'Impossible Bangers and Mash challenge', diners have to dig their way through a whopping 10,000 calorie meal.
Participants ought to be at least peckish before they arrive - as they've got to somehow put away 40 pork sausages, two litres of onion gravy and a 5.5lb mountain of buttery mashed potatoes in under an hour.
Nick took a decent stab at it, but 'with less than 100g left to go', he hit a wall and wasn't able to mop up the last few morsels.
Take a look at him in action here:
As a result, Cattleman's Steakhouse ruled that he wasn't deserving of the prize pot, which came much to the surprise of a lot of social media users.
After the restaurant shared snaps of Nick's efforts online, a host of people insisted that he should have walked away a winner.
One person said: "The fact he didn’t win that on one spoon of gravy is ridiculous, that guy deserves at least half the reward for that attempt."
Another wrote: "Seriously, give him the win."
A third added: "As if you classed a spoonful of gravy as a fail."
And a fourth chimed in saying: "You gotta lick the plate clean? Grow up, he's a winner."
But according to the owner of Cattleman's Steakhouse, Gary King, rules are rules - and 'the challenge is to eat everything', including every last drop of gravy.
He said: "A challenge is a challenge, and it's not a goal until it's over the line, is it? That's it.
"I was convinced he'd done it until I saw him eat the last bit of potato. I could see that he slowed and had hit a wall.
"He was sick and the rules are that if you're sick, the challenge is finished, it's done. He failed with a spoonful left."
What a lot of social media users didn't realise is that Nick had to stop the bangers and mash challenge with just 12 minutes left on the clock, as he ended up spewing up.
The rules state that if a competitor is sick, the challenge is stopped. So after 48 minutes of stuffing his face with sausage and potatoes, Nick realised it was all for nothing.
The champion eater, from Bristol, has taken his loss on the chin though - although he did admit that he was left fighting back tears after finding out he had failed.
"There was so little left when I started to feel unwell," Nick said. "With less than 100g to go I was a little bit sick. I was that close to the finish line, it was about as close as you could be.
"We all know the rules going in, there are absolutely no hard feelings on my part about that.
"I was devastated, I'm not going to lie. I was trying to fight off the tears. The rules are the rules and I didn't complete it so as far as I was concerned I was owed nothing."
Nick didn't go home completely empty-handed, though, as Gary did award him £150 for getting so far into the 10,000 calorie food challenge.
Explaining he didn't want the competitor to be 'out of pocket', the restaurant owner said: "He's such a nice bloke, he travelled down on the train from Bristol just to do one challenge and travel back and I don't want him to be out of pocket. I didn't give him the money for completing the challenge, because he didn't complete the challenge - he failed."
The experience hasn't put Nick off having another go, as he says he will '100 percent' be returning to tackle the mountain of bangers and mash once again.
"You can't fail by that fine a margin and then lay and lie, think of the redemption arc," he added. "I got closer than anyone has got in this country, just a little bit more training and I'll be back."
Gary explained that only one man - a professional eater from Canada - has been able to completely clear his plate.
Topics: Food And Drink, Money, UK News
Olivia Burke