D & \ From being overweight to becoming a ‘food heavyweight’ » Randy Santel: Competitive food slayer EG Manilag Staff Writer an! First off, you've got to watch Randy Santel’s videos to see for yourself how beastly this guy can eat. From tackling insanely large sandwiches to inhaling extra-large bowls of ramen, professional competitive eater Randy Santel is making himself a name on social media. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Santel was a kid who weighed around 346lbs, which was his heaviest weight ever. From high school to college, he would use his weight as a power advantage when playing football. But after his football career, he decided to lose some weight and get ripped. In 2010, Santel challenged himself to compete in the worldwide Men’s Health/ Spartacus Transformation Challenge. The challenge was to see who could undergo the best gladiator body transformation within only 12 weeks. With a very strict diet and a brutally intense workout, Santel achieved the gladiator bod and won the challenge. Moreover, he was given the privilege to appear on the 2o10 hit TV series Spartacus. According to his website, exactly A maestro one week later after the bodybuilding competition, he began his very first food challenge in his hometown in Missouri at Pointer’s Pizza with his buddy Dan Graham. The challenge was a whopping 28 inch Pointersaurus Pizza, which they easily slaughtered. They got the meal for free, plus a sweet $500 prize. Little did he know, this was the start of his food slaying journey. Shirts, walls of fame, popularity, praises, free meals, and not to mention cash—these are the things he always gets during his food wins at restaurants across the globe. With the help of his social media accounts, Santel can share his glorious and delicious victories with the world. One of his famous challenges won was his take down of the undefeated 7o-ounce English Steak Challenge at Jacks American Bar & Grill in Oldham, England. The challenge was to be finished within an hour—which everyone who had tried up to that point could not breakthrough. Santel completely destroyed it within 41 minutes. His sweet victory was then posted to YouTube, which has gained 4.3 million views. Another challenge he easily dominated was the gargantuan Filthy Mill Have an idea for a story? M arts@theotherpress.ca PE = burger challenge at The Mill Restaurant & Sports Bar in Milton, Washington. The competitive food slayer wiped out the giant burger in just 6 minutes and 27 seconds, beating the previous record of 18 minutes and 25 seconds. Two hours after the challenge, he ordered another burger. His stomach is like a vacuum... a very hungry vacuum. What really intrigues me the and a gorilla >» Fun improv games at the International TheatreSports Festival Jerrison Oracion Senior Columnist who will perform, the audience rates the scenes from one to five, and the lhe Vancouver TheatreSports League welcomed the improv world to Granville Island for the International TheatreSports Festival this year. Between October 14 and October 20, many performers from around the world did essential improvisation and presented new ways to do things on the spot. Performers also were at the event to discuss improv at the International TheatreSports Institute Conference. The performers used the concepts learned at the conference in some of the shows in the festival—including the shows created by TheatreSports creator Keith Johnstone. I saw two of his shows, Maestro Improv and Gorilla Theatre back to back at the Waterfront Theatre. There were not a lot of people in the audience during the conference, mainly delegates—though there were a lot of people in the audience during the plays. The atmosphere was similar to playing drama games in drama class, and it also was like workshop for directing. In Maestro Improv, 12 performers did scenes directed by two people— the directors would sometimes come into the scene to make it more interesting. In each round, the director chooses Photo via Vancouver TheatreSports Facebook page performers that have the lowest amount of points are eliminated until one of them is left and is named the maestro. The maestro wins a five-dollar bill. In this performance, one of the performers named Jun was going to be in the show but was absent. VTSL player Jeff Gladstone substituted for him while he was hosting the show, and he did a lot of impromptu dancing while the audience was rating the scenes. They even referenced the absence in some of the scenes, one performer sang a song about it, and it was mentioned in a scene where an elderly couple talked about one of their former husbands. There were many great scenes—there was one where Justin Bieber is getting advice from his wife, Hailey Baldwin, during his big comeback. There was also a great scene where two people talked about fir until one of them told the other that he is an undercover conservation officer. In the end, Jun won the game even though he wasn't present to accept his prize. The next show, Gorilla Theatre, was not only funny and entertaining but was also an example of a masterclass in directing. The show works with six performers performing and directing e ‘Zombieland: Double Tap’ movie review ¢ A review of ‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’ ¢ The International TheatreSports Festival ..and more Image via RandySantel.com most about him is his ability to hold a conversation, give courtesy to the restaurant workers, and compliment the food in between the game, while still breaking records. Insane. Now fast forward to 2019, almost 10 years of food slaying, Randy Santel is currently and insanely holding 784 food challenges wins—a record no one has—and he’s definitely not stopping anytime soon. scenes, trying to get the most bananas in order to win some time with a gorilla named Coco. Coco participates in some of the scenes if he is needed, and there are set designers that create the atmosphere of the scenes. The performers can ask the designers get props, and the designers can even be part of the scenes. The audience determines if they like the scene by either saying banana or forfeit. If the audience says banana, the performer gets a banana. But, if they say forfeit, the director of the scene would have to doa punishment. The punishments included asking Coco for forgiveness, a performer must tell a relative that they directed a bad scene, or a performer must do something while being heckled. The performers did a lot of funny scenes, including a scene where the actors must act while the expression on their faces is not the emotion they are acting. For such a scene between a father and son, I suggested that the father feels surprised but looks angry. There was also an interesting scene where a landlord goes inside a party and the person playing the landlord wore a mask. Next week, more on the plays in the International TheatreSports Festival this year and a fiesta bus tour.