PLANO, Texas — A new behemoth food challenge has come to North Texas, and it's undefeated so far after four eaters tried to best it for the first time this week.
The Bada Bing Challenge officially launched at Kenny's East Coast Pizza in Plano Wednesday night.
The rules are simple: You have 45 minutes to eat a 32-inch pizza with a friend and you can't get up from the table.
If you emerge victoriously, the pizza is free, and you get a t-shirt, a gift card and a spot on the wall of fame in the restaurant.
If you fail? You have to pay $50 for the pizza and will be featured on the restaurant's wall of shame.
Kenny Bowers, the owner of the restaurant, said he's always been enamored with food challenges.
Bowers owns six restaurants in North Texas. His most known is Kenny's Woodfire Grill in Addison, which opened in 2006.
But he created the Bada Bing Challenge after the success of the El Jefe Grande Challenge at Kenny's Burger Joint, which is also in Plano.
The El Jefe Grande is a 3-pound beef patty smothered in french fries, queso, chili, onions, jalapenos, a half-pound of bacon, lettuce, tomato and pickles.
It's 7,000 calories and you have an hour to eat it. Only one in fifty eaters actually beat the challenge, Bowers said.
"I really wanted to do a two-person challenge, because the El Jefe isn't easy to beat," Bowers said. "We tested it out and we think it's doable, it's not a giveaway but I think if two people focus on it then they can do it."
The Bada Bing Pizza is pepperoni, around 10,000 calories, and is roughly 4 large pizzas in all.
"We tried to bring the pizza to a radio show and we couldn't fit it on the elevator," Bowers said with a laugh. "We had to take it up the stairs."
The only other known pizza challenge that compares is the 30/40 Challenge at Serious Pizza in Dallas.
In that challenge, you have to finish a 30-inch pizza alone in an hour and then finish a 40 oz. beer.
Good luck with that one.
To kick off the challenge, Bowers invited two elite Yelp reviewers to try it Wednesday night.
Richard Troung, 33, and Jacob Rha, 23, made sure to pick teammates who were hungry.
"I'm hungry, I've been starving all day," Troung said. "We went and practiced a little last week at a CiCi's. I just don't want to throw up on TV," he said with a laugh. "Don't want you guys catching that."
Troung brought along his friend Greg Ryan to help him finish the pizza off.
"After seeing the box, I'm a little nervous," Ryan said.
Rha and his eating teammate Justin Tak, 23, have a younger metabolism to work with.
"He told me about this event two days ago, and I'm just here to be here," Tak said.
"The strategy is to eat the toppings first and then the crust at the end," Rha said.
Once legal waivers were signed (yes, that's protocol) the starting orders were given and the eating commenced.
Both teams began gloriously, as the entire restaurant watched with horror and excitement.
But about more than halfway through, Troung and Ryan had no fight in their eyes.
"I think we're done," Troung said.
Yet Rha and Tak were flying and had a clean pan with 10 minutes left.
"I think we got this in the bag," Tak said. "We are cruising, we got this, I feel good," Rha said.
Everyone in the room thought they would raise their fists triumphantly before time was up.
However, the final piece gave them the last laugh. It couldn't be finished before time expired.
"I wanted them to succeed, but I suspected they might fail," Bowers said.
A valiant effort, nonetheless.