Some guys have all the luck...

I have a new favorite show...and I'm sure watching it is not going to help me lose any weight.

If you've not seen Man v. Food on the Travel Channel, you're missing all the great stuff television has to offer: 1. Great locations, 2. Humor, 3. Real local people, 4. Amazing food segments, and of course, 5. Somebody doing something really stupid at the end.

Let me start with the last one. The host, Adam Richman, ends each show by taking on a food challenge from one of the host city's restaurants. These are tried and true food challenges that have usually kicked several hundred previous challengers in the pants and onto the walls of shame. I've seen Adam do some pretty dumb things in his quest to reign supreme in the ongoing man v. food battle. Sometimes he prevails...sometimes he pukes. Nobody said war was pretty.

Since I've started watching, here are a few highlights from the more entertaining food challenges:

• 15 dozen raw oysters in New Orleans- man won
• 11 pound pizza in Atlanta- food won
• 7 pound breakfast burrito in Denver- food won
• 4.5 pound steak in Amarillo- man won
• 5- 24 oz milkshakes in St. Louis- food won (Adam barfed)
• 7 pound seafood platter and sides under an hour in Long Island- man won

While each of these challenges was entertaining in its own right, I personally like the challenges that involve really hot (spicy) foods...and I mean really hot foods:

• Hell Fire Challenge in Salt Lake City (ironic) which involves 7 different tuna sushi rolls that get progressively hotter with the last one (milk allowed)- man won
• Fire in Your Hole Challenge in Sarasota, FL which was 10 hot wings cooked with Habanero peppers, hot sauce, Cayenne, chili powder, crushed red pepper, and Ghost Chile extract in 20 minutes. He finished 2...food won.
• Suicide Six Wings Challenge in Brooklyn that only 10 out of hundreds of challengers has completed. He actually wore gloves to protect his hands while eating - man won.

In addition to the entertainment value of watching this guy stuff, gorge and burn himself for the sake of pride, a t-shirt (usually) and a photo spot prominently displayed, Adam hits a few of the host city hot spots for local cuisine. For a 30-minute show, you get the info you really want about a city without the fluff of Foder's...where's the good food!

He officially stands at 33-19 against food, and Adam is a pretty funny dude. If there's a lottery for television host, Richman hit the Powerball in my opinion...but Bert the Conqueror would be a close second.