POTTSVILLE, Pa. -- Standing at 6 feet, 5 inches and weighing 285 pounds, some may mistake Randy Santel for a professional football player, but he's actually one of the top professional eaters in the world!
"It's funny. Most of the people who are professional eaters now, they all got started through a dare. Myself, I won a national body transformation contest. As a way to celebrate, my buddy found out I had just finished. He asked me to do a 28-inch pizza challenge, and we did that and won $500,” Santel said.
Santel's following is massive! The Missouri native has almost one million YouTube subscribers and has completed nearly 800 food challenges across the globe.
So naturally, he was up for this challenge in Schuylkill County. It’s called the Skook Grilled Cheese Challenge at Wheel Restaurant in Pottsville, and it’s not for a weak stomach.
"We decided that our normal grilled cheese challenge was probably a little too easy for him, so we amped it up and created the Skook Grilled Cheese Challenge,” Wheel owner Savas Logothetides said.
In 30 minutes, Randy had to take down this massive sandwich consisting of two 12 by 12 inch slices of bread, six different kinds of cheese totaling a pound, a pound of kielbasa, 12 perogies, in addition to a bowl of tomato bisque soup, six croutons on top, and washing this entire "meal" down with a Yuengling!
He faced a few hiccups, but ultimately completed the challenge in just over 18 minutes!
"It was my first-time having pierogis in forever, and then the kielbasa, everything on there was great,” Santel said.
"I had to meet him. He was so close, I just couldn't pass it up,” Daniel Pittenger of Scranton said.
"I love watching Randy's videos on Facebook. It was great to actually come see him live with my son Maddox here,” Tim Kistler of Orwigsburg said.
To check out Randy’s YouTube page, click here.