Are you a big eater? Don't mind a food challenge should the opportunity arise? JT is known for his ability to put food away much to his own pride & shame. In this episode he shares a legendary tale of how a eating contest almost ended him. It started with helping a mate bulk up for rugby and then makes its way to Northern England where JT meets his match in the form of the "Meat Sweats" challenge. The food challenge gauntlet was thrown down and JT had to step up- but would he prevail?
Are you a big eater? Don't mind a food challenge should the opportunity arise? JT is known for his ability to put food away much to his own pride & shame. In this episode he shares a legendary tale of how a eating contest almost ended him. It started with helping a mate bulk up for rugby and then makes its way to Northern England where JT meets his match in the form of the "Meat Sweats" challenge. The food challenge gauntlet was thrown down and JT had to step up- but would he prevail?
Speaker 1:
food challenge right. So I like me a food challenge. I've always been up for it, probably not so much more recently, but I I have capacity, let's say so. There's been times in my life where I've been stopped in my tracks or almost herniated. You know my digestive tract from eating um, and I wanted to talk about one of those times. You can put it away away, I can, I can. It's kind of embarrassing in a way and you hold it like a badge of honor. So I mean, most guys do. Well, I just think it's just what else have I got, joe, you've got to play the hand, you're dealt. I haven't cultivated many other skills the elasticity of my stomach.
Speaker 1:
So this one was when I was in england, uh, in 2007, visiting my friend lachlan so lucky um played professional rugby um in the north of england. So what was really interesting, it wasn't premier league rugby union, he'd played reserve grade here in australia, but it looked like maybe, maybe he would, maybe he wouldn't play for Penrith. And then he got scouted by his rugby union team and I think they were paying him like 1,500 pounds a week Nice, that's three grand Aussie, and it was kind of tier two Right, but he lived in a small town and they fucking loved you. The only trade-off is you can never drink good coffee, ever again. I don't think he cared, but the reason why this happened was we had to get him. He got this contract and he was about 81 kilos and he's on 6'1", 6'2" and they were like you can't come until you're 90 kilos. They're like the smallest guy on this team is 90 kilos. So until you clear 90 kilos, fucking sort it out. You have like two months. So I fucking primed him up. You know we were working out and I taught him how to eat and so we're doing the whole chicken challenge. He had to eat a whole barbecue chicken every fucking day. Wow, on top of everything else he was eating, wow, yeah, that's, that was minimum requirement, plus rice, plus skin too, like everything. Yeah, whole thing, fat, protein, suck the marrow out the bones. So I really turned him into a monster. We got him to 91 kilos before he left 10 kilos in eight weeks.
Speaker 1:
Is is big, oh god, full on. He got bigger while he's over there. But the club paid for everything. They pay for their meals. It's very formal, like they have a dinner once a week and they get their drinks paid for. After games they get match bonuses, like it was like. And in their town they're fucking celebrities, like everywhere they go like, oh it's lucky. Yeah, I can't even remember where he played, definitely wasn't in the front rows because he just wasn't big enough huge boys.
Speaker 1:
So there was a um corner shop, kind of milk bar, kebab shop, corner shop, kind of milk bar, kebab shop, you name it and it was run by an indian family, northern indian family, and they were massive rigs, massive units. I didn't understand how these guys were such tanks, right, but they had kebabs and they also had um, like pide, naan, naan it was like an oversized naan Right on. And so they had this thing called the meat sweats. And so Lockie's, like I got a challenge for you, jt, and I was like, oh God, he's like we're going to do the meat sweats challenge. So it costs like 30 pounds to get this thing and they put all the meat in there. You've got chicken, lamb, beef, chicken, all the salads, and they do it with two oversized naans, think of like a large pizza base. It's like a missile of food. Fuck, it's giant. And they wrap it up. They wrap it up, yeah, with salad, boom, right, yes, and they give you a can of drink and some chips kind of token, right, and the challenge for meat sweats is you've got to eat the whole thing. But they gave it to us for free because Lockie's part of the team and I was there as his guest and they're like good luck boys. And we're like fucking whatever, let's go One, each One, each Eat it for free and you don't have to pay kind of thing.
Speaker 1:
No, it was like legendary status if you could finish the meat sweats, like local fame, because the brothers could, but almost no one could, right, and Lucky said I've never been able to do it. So he challenged me. So I was like, all right, let's fucking do this. So we're sitting at this table, a small apartment there, with his his mum was there too and we're eating and he's like, oh, it's a bit dry. And so he starts sipping on his drink and I'm like, fucking amateur, how dare you? You think you're gonna finish this by sipping on carbonated beverages, punk. So I'm just smashing, smashing, smashing.
Speaker 1:
I get to about halfway and I'm like I'm feeling full. I'm like, oh, someone turned the temperature up in here. And then, a little lucky, you start, bam, on cue. Yeah, he's starting to emit moisture. You know, you can see on the brow like lips getting a bit sweaty and and he wasn't looking good, and he was on the spicy um, there was a little bit of chili sauce on there. Yeah, so is that. And then, uh, I get to about three quarters and I'm in pain, like my stomach hurts, like I'm full. I think each one was about two and a half to three kilos.
Speaker 1:
Now, from what I understand, the human stomach can only hold two kilos of food, depending on how big you are, as a human right. So, fuck, I'm, I'm, I'm like now I can't breathe properly. I'm breathing around my stomach. You know, it's so full, and I'm like, no, I have to finish anyway. Lucky's like I'm burning up. I'm burning up and he keeps like, uh, you know, um, sipping his drink. He keeps sipping his drink. I'm like it does refresh you. It's like gives you a bit of extra, bit, extra room each time. No, but you're not gonna get there because the liquid's gonna take up space that solid food could take up, plus the gas of the carbonation.
Speaker 1:
So I get right to the bottom and now my stomach is full and I'm filling up my esophagus, like I can feel it mid chest and I'm like, and I'm looking at locky, he's halfway and he's like, man, I don't know if I'm gonna do this, and I'm like you have to. Like I'm trying my best here, man, like I'm gonna try and do this, you need to do this, man. And um, anyway, he was like, oh, he didn't want to tap out, so we keep going. I get to the bottom, you know. You know you get kebab juice. The bottom gets fucking ultra soggy and yeah, it's just kind of mess. It's a mess right. So I've got like a solid sandwich worth of mess at the bottom.
Speaker 1:
I'm feeling a bit unwell talking about right now, pumped like two kilos of meat, meat, salad and bread and I'm just like just gagging a little because I can feel it rising right, like I'm it's not in my stomach anymore, I'm just jamming food and I'm getting pain in my chest. I'm like am I going to fucking die? Like what am I doing? Like will this be the death of me? You know this fucking meat sweats. You know I'm pumping sweat, like I'm almost semi-naked now, just trying to cool down to be able to handle the heat of this thing.
Speaker 1:
And then Lockie taps out. He's like nah, bro, I've got to go to practice later tonight. I can't. No, I'm going to, I'm done. I was like fuck, I was like I'm going to do it. So I was just like, if I wait any longer, the full mechanism kick in, I'm done. So I just fucking forced it. I just went hold it in and he was so shocked he's like I can't believe you did it. Man, I'm going to tell the boys I can't believe you did it. And I was just like I kept trying to swallow. You know, when you're kind of half choking, like the food wasn't going down, I'm like, come on. And I was just really quiet. He's going, you've got to be quiet, mate. I'm like I'm good, good, anyway.
Speaker 1:
So I just held on to it long enough and then, like he had to go downstairs do something else, I had to go for a bit of a vom. It wasn't even like a full vom. I had to get whatever was in my esophagus out. It was just the whole thing pretty much. No, no, no, no, no, only a bit. It would have been better if I spewed the whole thing up. Yeah, but because I had so honestly it's weird because I had so much food in me, I couldn't, I couldn't contract my transverse to get it out. I couldn't spewed up that last bit that I forced down. And then I I would have been better, but I was like still in my head being like, don't fucking spew it up, fucking pussy. So I just kept it in and I was in pain for 24 hours.
Speaker 1:
Oh wow, uncomfortable, didn't sleep, body temperatures off the charts. Wow, I just felt horrible and uh, yeah, you can. You gotta be careful because you can't kill yourself doing that. Yeah, I'm sure you can. Yeah, a friend of mine, her, um, her uncle, killed himself in an egg eating challenge in in hong kong. Wow, he ate 54 boiled eggs and then died of a heart attack because his body just couldn't, couldn't process it. Ah, so, anyway, it was a near-death experience.
Speaker 1:
But I got the title, wrongly or rightly. Um, the the ind were like, yeah, meat sweats. So they just started calling me meat sweats, fuck. So they're waiting for you to return to that town, the king. I will never go back. I will never return. I will keep my crown intact. Nah, man, I haven't got that capacity anymore. It's my younger days, mid-20s. I've got a mate. Just one addition on that. So you did the whole chicken thing.
Speaker 1:
I had a mate who played rugby league here in sydney and, uh, or here in australia and, um, he needed to get bigger and so they put him on. You know, he was playing for cornell sharks, um, so you know they had dietitians and shit, yeah, and they put him on the muffin diet, oh yeah, and they said, um, just keep eating what you're eating. But at the supermarket you got these six packs of muffins. Yeah, you're gonna eat a whole six pack every day, and so it was two after breakfast, two after lunch, two after dinner. Oh wow, and he, he shows pictures of it. He just swole up.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, he's like bro muffin diet. He's like it works water retention well, yeah, yeah, and it's just so much extra calories, right, yeah, like they're just, they're like Sugar and Vegetable oil and wheat. Yeah, yeah, like it's just fucking junk. But, yeah, got him swole. Yeah, I mean, look, people do it with bread, people do it with whatever.
Speaker 1:
I mean the is. It's like you get protein. This is protein and fat, but it's this is. It's just stretching your stomach as well, right, it's, this is fucking three and a half thousand calories. Can you sit here and eat three and a half thousand fucking calories depending on the size of the chicken. Right, like, yeah, that's brutal, you can do spatchcock quail. Well, I did the whole quail challenge. I do a quail family. But yeah, man, that was just. I think after that I may have. It's like great fighters. They have a really good chin for a long time and then just that one knockout and then they got a glass chin. That was you, I think that was me. Meat sweats ended me for my true capacity. Damn son, we'll never get to see what your actual potential was, could have been. That's right. Yeah, myth and legend people. There it is.