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- Sushi is a type of food where art meets the gut: delicate slices of raw fish are served up by Samurai swordsmen for urban sophisticates and foodie wannabees. But there's one type of sushi that brings out the true character in everyone: Fugu, also known as blowfish, is a deadly Japanese delicacy that carries enough poison to wipe out an entire restaurant of diners. Quite simply, either you have what it takes to risk eating Fugu, or you don't. Fugu chefs spend over three years in training to remove the fish's toxins. Can Bob pull it off in just five days? In his most dangerous challenge to date, Bob travels to Osaka, Japan to prepare and eat his own Fugu. Will he survive the ultimate Gultton for Punishment challenge?
- Honey: bears go crazy for the stuff, and so does our Glutton for Punishment. Whether he's spreading it on toast, swirling it in ice cream, or slathering it on Peking Duck, honey is Bob's favorite all-natural food. Beekeepers bring this sweet treat to our tables every day, but how do they do it? Bob has just four days to learn all about the secretive art of beekeeping before he enters the Beekeepers Games, a series of bee-themed events that will force him to confront one of his deepest phobias: Bees! Will Bob freak out as tries to "grow" a bee beard, with 40,000 bees crawling all over his throat?
- Grilling the perfect steak is every backyard chef's ultimate challenge. Too much time on the grill can turn even the finest fillet into leather, and too little time can turn your guests green. Bob's challenge is to learn how to cook the perfect steak in only 4 days, then become the head grill master at Benahan's, a classic steakhouse in San Antonio, Texas. When customers pay over $150 for a 34-ounces Kobe-style steak, they want it done perfectly. An order of medium-rare served without the exactly correct shade of pink will cost Bob his job.
- Wild salmon are to the people of the Pacific Northwest what cattle are to Texans--they're not just good eating, they're a way of life. The fishmongers at Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle don't just sell salmon, they toss it across the market, creating a spectacle of flying-fish that draws hundreds of customers each day. To get familiar with what he is tossing, Bob picks up some salmon recipes from renowned chef Tom Douglas. Then he gets catching tips from Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Nate Burleson. But will any of this save him from humiliation (and/or serious injury) when a 25-pound sockeye flies toward his head at 40 miles an hour?
- There's nothing unusual about pumpkin at Thanksgiving. You've got pumpkin pie, roasted pumpkin seeds, and pumpkin pudding. But in Windsor, Nova Scotia, they take their love of the orange legume to another level--paddling hollowed-out, giant pumpkins across a lake. Bob's challenge is to transform a 500-pound pumpkin into a sea-worthy vessel, then whip himself into shape so that he can paddle with the best. Along the way, Bob learns to cook with his pumpkin cuttings. The race is also a costume regatta, so Bob must dress for the occasion. It's a real Cinderella story!
- Catfish tastes so delicious and light that most people who are eating it for the first time swear they're eating chicken or shrimp - that is, until they catch site of one of these prehistoric monsters. The species dates back to the dinosaurs - more than 60 million years - and they're pure predators, preying solely on other fish for food. Despite this intimidating pedigree, fishermen from all over Oklahoma come to Paul's Valley every summer to compete in the Okie Noodlin' Tournament - a bizarre derby in which anglers are allowed to use only their hands as bait! Bob must dive underwater, place his hand inside a catfish hole, and keep it there until a catfish bites him.
- You see them plying their trade every day as they provide the weary and red-eyed masses with their drug of choice - caffeine. Their job doesn't appear to be remarkably difficult, and it seems surprising that there could possibly be a coffee subculture complete with its own latte art competitions and barista championships. Bob will enter into this world when he enters into the Canadian National Barista Championships. He'll compete by making four espressos, four cappuccinos, and four signature beverages in fifteen minutes, in front of technical and sensory judges and a large audience. Bob will train with Canadian Champion Barista Sammy Piccolo, who warns that it is not as easy as it looks. However, with hard training, Bob might be able to compete after four weeks. Bob's challenge is to pack the training into just five short days. His reward? Entry into a unique and close circle of people who are passionate about the bean and live for the art of caffeine.
- Bob Blumer loves spicy foods. The hotter the better (at least that's what he thinks.) Like a vigilante gunslinger in a western movie he'll journey to the hot, dusty heart of the hot chile empire: Hatch, New Mexico. Located in the plains of the Rio Grande Valley, Hatch is a chile-head's Mecca. Bob will work in the fertile fields of the surrounding Hatch Valley picking chile peppers in a 40°C heat discovering enough new varieties and various tastes to satisfy a steady throng of new converts. And then he'll go further. Bob's challenge is to prove that he really can take the heat by entering the hot chile-eating contest. He'll be going head-to-head with some extremely big guys who see their ability to eat insanely hot chiles as proof of manhood. His reward? Survival, and everything he needs to know to make his very own hot sauce.
- Making it to the finish line of a 26-mile marathon is a grueling test of stamina that few people are capable of completing. But what about a full-fledged marathon that includes runners in costume, 22 wine tasting stations and an oyster bar along the route? The Médoc Marathon, a raucous, wine-soaked run that takes place every fall in the heart of France's legendary Bordeaux region, is just such an event. Bob will need to get himself in top shape not just for an intense physical test - but for a psychological one too. How will he keep himself focused on the finish line when there are so many mouthwatering and potentially impairing temptations threatening his progress? His challenge is to remember that even though it may seem like a party (that's what the other 8000 runners seem to think), it's still a race - and a long one at that. His reward? A whirlwind tour through some of the finest wineries in the world - and the chance to win his weight in first-growth Bordeaux.
- Who can resist a stack of flapjacks dripping with gooey syrup and melted butter? At the Calgary Stampede in Alberta, Canada - one of the biggest Rodeo events in North America - they serve over 200,000 pancakes to legions of hungry party people in cowboy hats. Bob's challenge is to break the Guinness World Record for the most pancakes made in an hour! Each pancake must be equal in diameter and thickness, and those with burnt edges don't count. If Bob can pull it off, he'll earn a Guinness World Record title, plus the honor of being the fastest breakfast cook in the Wild West.
- Grown on volcanic rock, taking five years to mature, Kona Coffee is considered by many to be the best coffee in the world. On the rugged slopes of Kona, Hawaii, picking the perfect coffee cherry is a serious art. Bob will have to work for his cup, by entering Kona's annual Coffee Picking Contest. Bob has just three frenzied minutes to pick against master pickers who can find ripe cherries with their eyes closed. Bob will pick, mill and roast thousands of pounds of beans on a coffee farm to train for the contest. It's a grind, but hopefully the caffeine buzz will keep him going.
- Concessionaires at the L.A. County Fair have been getting creative with their deep fried foods, serving everything up from deep fried frog legs to deep fried cupcakes. Bob checks his calorie counter at the gate to enter in the Fair's Deep Fry Contest - where fair goers judge each vendor's entry on originality, taste and appearance. Bob learns that deep frying is no easy feat - finding the right batter, the right combination of salty and sweet, and the right oil temperature to avoid a melted mess takes hours of trial and error. He hops in his vegetable oil fueled car to test out his deep fried experiments on his neighbors in L.A., with a pit stop to explore the art of tempura at a Japanese restaurant along the way. Will Bob's fried creation hold up on contest day, or will he be up to his elbows in grease?
- At the Sonoma County Harvest Fair, locals gather to enjoy local wines, visit with old friends, and stomp out the competition in the World Grape Stomp. Teams of stompers and swabbies (the stomper squishes the juice out of the grapes with their feet; swabbies push the juice through the wine barrel spigot with their hands) have five furious minutes to fill up their jugs. Bob's challenge is to stomp and squish his way to glory! First he'll have to find a champion swabbie to be his partner, then master his stomping technique. Of course his training wouldn't be complete without a tour of Sonoma's world-class vineyards. Will Bob be able to crush the competition, or will he have to eat his sour grapes?
- Bob Blumer attempts the ultimate "Guinnes Diet". A challenge of having nothing but Guinness Beer during a period of 5 consecutive days.
- In one of Glutton for Punishment's most talked about episodes, Bob survived the Hatch chili-pepper eating competition - and even came in second. Bob's pain and perseverance really touched a nerve, or several. Ever in search of a bigger chili pepper high, Bob will train to become one of the official judges at the famed Austin Hot Sauce Festival. His ultimate task is daunting: he'll have to taste over 400 different hot sauce entries in just a couple of hours! In order to hold his own amongst the judges and save face in front of over 15,000 attendees, Bob will need to develop his tasting palate to detect subtle differences in aroma, heat and flavor, while faced with the sheer volume of volcanic spices. Will he survive this fiery challenge or go up in flames?
- In Pictou, a picturesque seaside town in Nova Scotia, lobster is king. Every year, locals celebrate the end of the lobster season at the Pictou County Lobster Carnival. Bob's challenge is to win the Lobster Banding Contest, a race to stretch elastic bands around the pinching claws of irate, live lobsters without losing a finger. It's the daily grind for Bob's competitors, seasoned lobster fishermen who band crustaceans by the crate. They're willing to take Bob out to sea to learn about lobster catching, banding and even cracking, but they won't give up all their tricks - just watch your fingers, Bob!
- Dirty, sweaty and bug-ridden - Bob hikes into a remote swath of burnt forest in northern British Columbia in search of morels - one of the most valuable and sought after mushrooms in the world. Morel pickers are a wild and rugged breed. They live in the bush, covered in soot from head to toe, fiercely guarding their picking spots. It's always a competition to see who can make it out of the woods with the heaviest load, yielding the highest cash return. Can this city slicker take on some of BC's fastest, strongest pickers, all while surviving in the wilderness amongst black bears and burrowing ticks?
- A consummate individualist, Bob has always chafed under anyone else's authority. But this week it's "yes sir, no sir" as Bob enlists in the Navy. Bob is challenged to work in the galley of a Navy frigate - a moving kitchen where half the battle is just staying on your feet. His ultimate mission? To get good grub on deck for a ship-full of hungry crew, an elite cadre of officers, and one tough Captain - all in the midst of a training operation at sea. Seasickness is nothing compared with a military mob that's armed and ravenous!
- Bob has one week to train with Daniel Rose, chef/owner of a one-man 16-seat restaurant in Paris. In a typical French restaurant, a "brigade de cuisine" is classically headed by the executive chef and under him a number of others. Daniel's operation is a one-man brigade: He runs the entire restaurant solo, from shopping for all the ingredients, prep, cooking, serving the customers and cleaning up. At the end of the week Bob will take over, running the kitchen and restaurant solo for one day. Can he uphold the restaurant's reputation on a night when all the top restaurant critics in Paris sit down to dine?
- Friday night in Chicago's busiest Italian restaurant is a steaming dish of insanity! In Mia Francesca's tiny kitchen, a line of cooks stand shoulder to shoulder - screaming out orders, grinding out hundreds of plates of pasta, trying not to get burned on red-hot sauce pans - all to satisfy a dining room full of hungry pasta-lovers. Bob's challenge is to survive on the line on a busy Friday night. He'll have to be a master of coordination as he works closely with the other chefs - some of whom have been on the line for decades. When Friday night hits, will Bob be able to conquer vats of boiling pasta, or will the other chefs have to serve him up on a plate?
- Bob loves pie... but despite his love of the culinary arts, he's just never had the patience to tackle cooking's more finicky cousin. In fact, he has never baked a pie in his life! This week, his challenge will be to take a deep breath, raise his rolling pin high, and perfect the art of baking home made apple pie. He'll be competing against veteran grannies in the Shelburne Orchard's Annual Apple Pie Baking contest in Vermont. Bob will have to join the apple harvest for a couple of backbreaking day - all the better to become one with his material. His reward? Fresh air, all the crisp, organic Vermont apples he can eat and no more store bought pie.
- Bob is about to meet his match - a little red invertebrate, covered in sharp spikes! The sea urchin looks like an underwater porcupine, but inside is a treasure of delicious roe. The Japanese call it Uni, and it is a delicacy in seafood restaurants all over the world. Bob's challenge is to win a race against the salty dog crew of Vancouver Island's Kuroshio Urchin Harvesting Boat. They are a competitive bunch, determined to beat out a city slicker in a frenzied urchin harvesting race. Bob's training will be rigorous. He will have to get a crash course in scuba diving, then learn how to harvest sea urchins by carefully raking them into a bag on the ocean floor without getting "spined", tangled in kelp beds or hugged by an octopus. Can Bob rake in enough of this spiky delicacy to join the Kuroshio's elite crew, or will he be forced to walk the plank?
- The city of Naples is the spiritual home of pizza. So it's only fitting that it should host the annual World Pizza Cup, the largest celebration of pizza in the world, where pizza making and pizza dough tossing have become competitive sports. Bob is about to take on Pizzaiolos (pizza-makers) who come from all over the world to compete for the coveted title of World's Best Pizza-Tosser - an acrobatic show of dough tossing bravado. Bob has less than a week to learn all the dough handling moves and come up with his own routine to wow a panel of Neapolitan judges who are determined to keep the winning title in their home town.
- The French love their Brie, the Dutch revere their Gouda, and Canadians swear by their cheddar. But when it comes to cheese, no nation has as much pride as Jolly Old England. Bob travels to Gloucester, England for the Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling competition. This 200 year-old tradition involves a mad group of cheese-lovers who catapult head-over-heels down an insanely steep hill in hot pursuit of a speeding ten-pound wheel of Double Gloucester cheese. First lunatic down the hill gets the cheese...or a free ride in an ambulance.