Man fails 3kg combined grill problem by ‘4 chips’ as steakhouse refuses to pay

A steakhouse has been branded ‘mean’ for refusing to award a customer his £100 prize after he failed to finish their 3.2kg mixed grill challenge – leaving behind ‘a few scraps of chips’.

The punter, known as Andrew, made a valiant effort to consume Cattlemans Steakhouse’s gargantuan meal in Paignton, Devon, within an hour, with his attempt being live-streamed on social media last Sunday (May 19).

The colossal 3.2kg Mega Mixed Grill consists of a 20oz rump steak, 12oz of gammon, four sausages, three chicken wings, a chicken breast and a 6oz cheeseburger. Footage reveals Andrew making quick work of the majority of the meat within the first 20 minutes before his pace began to slow.

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With only five minutes remaining, he was left with a small amount of chips and three onion rings, but he started retching and nearly vomited. He conceded defeat with three minutes to spare and posed for a cheerful photo with the almost-empty dinner tray, which the steakhouse shared on Facebook.

However, they were flooded with comments accusing them of being ‘harsh’ and ‘mean’, suggesting they should have overlooked the ‘scraps’ and awarded him the £100 prize. Owner Gary King, who launched the steakhouse seven years ago, stood by his decision to deny Andrew the win, stating ‘you can’t move the goalposts’ – a sentiment echoed by many supporters.

The 58-year-old did express sympathy for his nauseous customer and expressed his hope to see him return for another attempt.

The video of Andrew’s nail-bitingly close attempt has racked up over 140,000 views on Facebook, with their post about the gut-busting challenge getting nearly 1,000 reactions and 400 comments.

Gary said: “After 20-25 minutes your stomach is saying to your brain ‘I’m full and I can’t eat any more’ so the more you eat in that period the more chance you’ve got of getting it all down your neck.

“He was of that mentality and he started really well but then he got to the stage where he didn’t have a lot of food left but he hit the wall with a big, hard thud.

“He was on the verge of throwing up and he just physically couldn’t do it. I felt sorry for him.

“I got attacked on social media by people telling me I should have given him the prize but it’s a challenge and there’s goalposts so why would we move them? He says he had eaten a sandwich earlier in the day and he wished he hadn’t. He was gutted and he’s keen to come back and do it again.”

Gary reckons he’s only seen about 30 people smash the challenge, despite over 300 brave souls having a crack at it.

He even bumped up the prize dosh from £50 to £100 for Andrew’s bash to egg him on, but no dice still, he’s hoping the lad will be back for another go.

Luckily Andrew didn’t have to pay the usual £50 for failing as he booked for the attempt to be broadcast on social media for free.

The steakhouse’s cheeky Facebook post read: “Andrew took on the Mega Mixed Grill Challenge. Look how close he got! It’s still a failure!

“You must eat everything within 60 minutes and he just could not even eat one more chip… so lost out on the £100 prize money.”

He upped the prize money from £50 to £100 in Andrew’s attempt to spur him on but it didn’t work, yet he hopes he returns to try it again.

However, one person commented: “That was so harsh, he should have been given that [sad face emoji].”

But the steakhouse replied: “We can’t move the goalposts.”

Another chimed in: “Omg I would have let him off with that one to be fair. He has eaten most of it anyway lol.”

A third added: “Four chips and he didn’t even have to chew them. To me that should be a win. They are just mean.”

But one argued back: “That’s what rules are for, or by your standards every one gets a beautiful wrapped-in-a-bow pink participation trophy.”

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A fourth said: “That should have been a win. Try it again Andrew! “.

However, some users backed the decision and mocked Andrew’s loss.

One said: “Come on, Andrew. You could have put a chip up each nostril and the rest would fit in your cheeks! “.

A second said: “Does he get to see the timer? Or just couldn’t be ar**d? I find it hard to believe you could fail by so little”.

The steakhouse said: “He just couldn’t eat any more. He had time left.”

The user responded: “For £100, I’m sticking that mouthful away.”

A third said: “Properly robbed by a couple chips and an onion ring wow.”