Why Casey Webb Considered Himself A Man V Food 'Underdog'
Casey Webb has been the face of Travel Channel's "Man v. Food" since 2017. Like his predecessor, Adam Richman, Webb travels the country taking on eating challenges at local restaurants for prizes that might be no greater than a T-shirt and a photo on the wall. Many of these challenges would make the average person balk, such as when Webb went up against the Inferno Burger – a steak-sized burger slathered with blazing ghost pepper paste and a pile of jalapenos, nestled among the peaks of a mountain of ghost pepper-topped fries fit for six people.
Not every challenge Webb faces involves going up against a sheer wall of Scoville units, however; often times the challenges are about taking on massive amounts of food in bulk like when he went toe-to-toe with the "Porkasaurus" challenge, a monstrous plate of breakfast that weighed more than three pounds with every breakfast good you could imagine, from hashbrowns to bacon to eggs, stopping just shy of throwing in the kitchen sink. But while Webb throws himself at these eating challenges like a pro, he might not feel like one.
The underdog host
In a 2018 interview with The Columbus Dispatch, Casey Webb said, "I wasn't a professional food eater before doing this. I still don't consider myself one. I'm an underdog who just shows up and gives it a try." Speaking with the Travel Channel, Webb revealed that he was just working as a bartender when the opportunity for the show came up. he grabbed it with glee, expressing excitement that the show let him "combine my two passions – the restaurant business and performing." For him, the biggest victory might not involve the eating challenges themselves.
While speaking with the Dispatch, the mentioned that he truly enjoys the show's potential to drum up business for the restaurants he visits, which don't just get television exposure once but possibly multiple times through episode reruns. So one could argue that in the battle of "Man v. Food," man wins because of food, even if Webb loses. The host told Food & Wine that while filming the show's first season, he looked forward to meeting locals over the course of his challenges. Before he eats a morsel, he's talking to locals and chefs, drawing the hidden charms of the business into the camera. Casey Webb might be a bit of an underdog when it comes to the eating challenges, but his people skills shine in every episode.