Who is this Casey Webb? They say he has years of culinary experience but you could sure fool me. All he does is stand around with a goofy, stupid look on his face ogling food no matter what it is. He never asks timely questions of the chefs, just stands there with that stupid, wide-eyed look. The challenges are equally as stupid as at least with Adam Richmond he won once in awhile.This used to be a fun show to watch but now it is being driven into the dirt by a hugely underwhelming host. Did you not do any demographic and public opinion testing before making this cat litter box cleaning, occasional TV commercial making idiot your star?

For a couple of years now they're showing more and more Cooking- and Food-shows on German (private) Television, something that has been lacking for quiet a few years (this is, unless you enjoy a 60-something lady cooking "Toast Hawaii", a combination of toast, ham, cheese and a slice of pineapple). Gordon Ramsays "Kitchen Nightmares", Andrew Zimmerns "Bizarre Foods", Bourdains "No Reservation", to name but a few. Among one of the more entertaining of those shows is "Man v. Food" which, in my opinion has some very positive features, but also some rather negative aspects. Let's start with the bad first: For one, Adam Richman isn't the most charismatic of presenters. Quiet the opposite: occasionally he comes across as pretty obnoxious, something between a hyped-up Frat-brother, wanna-be Hip-Hopper and a professional glutton. Sure, the variations of the concept are limited, but then again: there are only so many ways with which to stuff food into one orifice within a limited time. During the final, "challenge"-segments, it occasionally also hurts the taste-buds to see plates of food, that look definitely delicious, being so mindlessly destroyed within a limited time. But maybe that's only the food-snob within me speaking.Which brings us to the good: Many Europeans, who have never visited the US, have the preconceived notion that Americans live on Hamburgers, Steak and the occasional fried chicken alone. Apart from the mindless gluttony of the challenges, the show gives some very nice travel-tip for outsiders, showing them that there is another world apart from McD's, Burger King and (for the obesity-conscious) Subways. "Man v. Food" gave me quiet a lengthy list of "to-dos" when I visit the States the next time and once I sit down at the Orochon-Ramen-house in Little Tokyo, I'll do so on recommendation of "Man v. Food". However, no "challenge" for me. See, I do enjoy enjoying my food and taking less than an hour for a good meal does seem like swallowing in haste.In other words: Thanks for the recommendation, Mr. Richman, as well as for the freak-show.As far as the more "exotic" food-shows go, I'd give it a 6/10

I first saw this programme while I was staying in a cottage near Swansea last summer and the first episode I saw was the one where Adam Richman visits various barbecue food restaurants around Kansas and attempts to chomp down a massive sandwich containing seven different barbecue meats. A little while afterwards, I tuned into Dave (an entertainment channel in the UK) for further episodes and I was hooked, in spite of my parents disapproving of this programme (thank goodness I no longer live with them) due to my mum finding it obscene and my dad feeling sorry for people in third world countries suffering from malnutrition while Adam had the opportunity to participate in challenges that involved him eating colossal servings of food throughout the USA.About six months after watching my first episode, I began to go off it because Dave kept repeating the same episodes over and over again so I eventually tuned out.Overall this was an addictive programme to begin with but it rapidly became repetitive. 7/10.

OK…maybe this show is not a cardiac workout…or maybe it does no promote the government's intended dietary guidelines. I did not like this show at first, but it did grow on me. In the beginning, the program seemed shallow since the apparent show's goal was to have Adam Richman eat as much as he could in the quickest amount of time while traveling all over the country. Oops – that is the goal…silly me. Well, Adam has branched out and is now occasionally eating the hottest things ever made. In any case, I did note two redeeming qualities and once I identified them, I was kind of hooked. The first quality was that Adam travels and tries things that I might try myself (way smaller portions of course.) The other quality is that the show is entertaining (for me – not for the rest of my family though.) When this show is on the tube and my other favorites are not scheduled, I will definitely watch this show (or take a shower)