If you are a foodie like me, then surely, you share the same burning desire to delight your tasting sensations anytime you see or smell the sweet aroma of food. Now, aside from eating, there is something equally exciting to do with food – food challenges!
Food challenges have been a big trend that tends to go viral often.
The phrase “food challenge” often makes people think of the memorable scene from the film “The Great Outdoors,” in which John Candy takes on “The Old 96er,” much to the dismay of his digestive system. Food challenges have gained popularity more lately because of the Travel Channel’s “Man vs. Food” program. As a result, restaurants around the nation are increasingly using food challenges as a marketing tactic to establish their brands, attract new customers, and just for fun.
Well, have you ever felt extreme hunger? I mean, ravenous enough to consume a 12-pound pizza? Or perhaps you enjoy a good culinary challenge and can picture yourself working against the time to finish a hamburger that has 3 pounds of beef and 1 pound of fries?
Twenty-seven-years-old Raina Huang, who weighs just 130 pounds, simply loves food-eating challenges, On her TikTok profile Rainaiscrazy, Huang has 1.7 million followers as a result of videos of eating contests in which she consumes enormous amounts of food in rapid succession.
The 27-year-old competes in hundreds of food challenges and competitions across the country and has never been officially recognized as a food competitor. According to her, she was “not a professional eater because I’m not part of the professional eating league, and I don’t compete the Nathan’s Hot Dog (Eating Contest)”
Now, Raina signed up for a 28″ pizza challenge, she traveled all the way to Wieand’s pizza shop, which requires participants to eat a large pizza within an hour with no breaks for a $100 prize.
However, upon arrival, she was greeted by restaurant owner Steve Wieand who savagely ripped into the unsuspecting customer after finding out she took part in such challenges as a hobby. He accused Huang, who is of Asian descent, of trying to scam his business out of $100.
The business owner became infuriated when Huang asked if she could film herself eating the pizza.
“He called me a ‘dirty, lying wh***’ straight to my face…” The 27-year-old eater posted a tearful video on social media after being booted out of the pizzeria, telling her followers, “ I’ve never had a restaurant experience this bad, I was just here to do a pizza challenge. I don’t understand.”
A surveillance camera recorded the confrontation between Wieand and Huang. This evidence, which ABC 7 Denver subsequently acquired, shows that the restaurant owner refused to let Huang into the establishment before harshly criticizing her for attempting to participate in his food challenge.
A 28-inch pizza must be consumed in its entirety within an hour to complete the OMG Pizza challenge. Along with a $100 cash award, winners also get persistent heartburn. In addition, StevO’s offers a $100 BBQ eating challenge and a WTF spicy wing challenge. It should be emphasized that there are no restrictions on who can compete on the website. This added to Huang’s confusion when she wasn’t allowed to take part.
Huang stresses that she is not a true professional eater, but clearly has successfully beaten dozens of different eating challenges across America. In one of her clips, for instance, she demolishes an 18-inch pizza and 40-ounce soda in just eight minutes.
Stephanie Wieand, Wieand’s own daughter, said that she didn’t agree with the way her father handled the situation in statement to the local media.
She said: “I think that it could have been handled better. All I want to say is that I apologize to Raina and to everyone… I would say that he definitely feels bad.”
In response, unhappy customers and supporters have flooded StevO’s Yelp page with one-star reviews – forcing the site to shut down reviews.
Watch the video report below: