Kevin Connolly of BBC News Magazine decides to take the 72-ounce challenge at the Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo, Texas.
As I prepared for my own attempt to consume 72oz (that’s 4.5lb or just over two kilos) of beef in less than an hour – together with a prawn cocktail, a roll, salad and baked potato – I felt a perceptible tightening of my stomach muscles. It was a feeling with which I was to remain distressingly familiar for the following few days. […]
Attempting to eat it produces a series of bizarre delusions; those of us who’ve done it talk knowledgeably about “meat sweats” – which kick in as your body struggles with the unnatural load; and the “meat stare” – the blank look which settles on you as the inevitability of failure sets in.
There is also a curiously hallucinogenic quality to ingesting that much meat in that short a time – you can hack away for a whole hour and feel as though the steak hasn’t really been reduced in size at all. That happened to me, even though I ate around 2lb of meat in about 55 minutes.
As you’ve probably guessed, it didn’t go well for him. But the article — and its perspective and history of the 72-ounce challenge — is worth reading anyway.