The Untold Story Of Matt Stonie | Eating 20,000 Calories Per Day

Welcome back to Ice Coffee Hour. My name is Matt Stony and so far the podcast has made $1 million. I No, there we go. That's close. A million. I was I was think I was thinking, you know, my little Dr. Evil $1 million. That would be nice. It was $183,000. $250. There we go. That's a good chunk of change. It is. It is. It's decent. So, thank you so much for coming on. It's been long overdue because you also live in Las Vegas as do we. And uh we finally were able to get you to come on the podcast to share everything. You're going to give us all the details. All right. About how much you eat, how you're able to grow these videos, how you're able to grow an audience of 10 million. Uh give us all your personal finance details, how much money you make, your net worth. Just going warming up a little bit. Just slowing slowing into it, you know. No big deal. But uh no, I mean it's it's been it's been awesome. you know, I' I've I've seen, you know, um like like you said, you know, move to Las Vegas and stuff and I know we've been just, you know, hopping and skip away and stuff. So, been super excited to be part of, you know, stuff like this cuz the business side of YouTube is so something I'm I feel like I'm warming up to at this point. So, it's a it'd be awesome to, you know, talk with you guys and just see what you guys think. Where are you from originally? Um, I lived in San I mean I was born in San Francisco and I lived in San Jose my entire life for the most part up until we moved here and it was it was largely a space affordability decision like it wasn't even so much for the taxes which a lot of people talk about which is obviously a huge perk but um we got two dogs and we were paying like 4500 in rent for this a little,000 foot apartment in San Jose and then you know just coming out here we're going to get a lawn and it's it just made sense. Yeah. to provide everyone with a little bit of background to do you some justice. Okay, Matt Stony, I've been watching him for I don't even know, maybe like eight years, seven years now. It's crazy. He basically gets a lot of food and can eat a lot of food and and he also eats food fast, too. So, you're like a competitive eater. You're one of You got like 13 million subscribers or something ridiculous. The most subscribers a guest has ever had on our podcast. Not that we're counting or comparing. I think Zack King. Okay, sure. Zack King. There we go. the second most but it's an honor to have you. We're so excited and uh yeah, thank you so much for coming on. Yeah. No, I mean it's it's it's still wild to me that, you know, um like we'll talk about it, but like last year I got out a little bit more and did more collabs and met more people and did more, you know, ventured out, tried to be change it up from just filming in my own kitchen and stuff, but it's still mindboggling to me that I went from just eating hot dogs and and burritos and Michael Phelps 12,000 calorie diet to like, you know, being part of podcast and stuff with guys like you. You got it. Wow. Now, what are you talking about? We were in a podcast with guys like you. You flipped this guy. flip this. Uh first of all, how did you get started with all of this? Did you did you know from a young age that you had like an ability to eat food or like how does this come about? Cuz surely if you you know were you 10 years old and you're just like I have a gift for this? No, I mean when I do look back I was kind of a food guy like I I distinctly remember I was at like one of my friends birthday parties about Raging Waters and they got two pizzas and there was like 10 people and each pizza had like six slices or eight slices. I was like not everybody's getting two slices. And so I took my pizza and I ate it fast so I can get a second slice. So I've always been kind of I always love to eat food and stuff, but um no the the competitive eating it really just it came out of nowhere for the most part. I mean it's all started well it all started there's like a 5B burrito in San Jose. It was featured on Man Versus Food and I just like I saw Joey Chest and I'd eat it and I was like oh I got to try that. I failed a couple times until I finally did it. But it really kicked off when I did a lobster we eating competition. It was just a block away from where my grandparents were living. It was free lobster rolls, 10 minutes. Who can eat the most lobsters gets $1,000 in cash and I was working the arcade that year. I was getting like $7 an hour. I made like like 600 bucks for the whole summer or something. And at the end of the summer, I ate a bunch of lobster and made $1,000. And I was like, "Oh my god, I'm doing the wrong thing. I got to start like eating food." So, um, yeah. No, that's really the start of it. And then How old were you then? 21. Okay. That can't sign a waiver. Did you go to college before then? 18 18. Yeah. Uh, did you go to college? No, I mean that was that was the summer before I started going to college. Okay. So, um, I started I I started I did about two and a half years of college before the YouTube stuff really started to make sense to, you know, change change paths and stuff, but um I, you know, I did a couple years of like I was all in like math and sciences. So kind of worked with my competitive eating, took nutrition courses, anatomy, biology, and just coming up with weird hypothesises of like how can I figure out how to eat 50 hot dogs and stuff and how can I not be dead the next day and stuff? So um when you ate the lobster rolls, something clicked for you and like this is this is it. How did you learn how to do that? Like did you train for the for the first thing you ever did? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Well, so I've always been like I mean everybody says a competitive person and stuff, but like I I did a lot of tennis and like stuff in high school and stuff. So I kind of had this like mental like I needed to prepare for things. So I ate like a bunch of broccoli and like like like zucchinis, steamed zucchinis and stuff just to like expand my stomach, cabbage and all that to prepare for it. And and I think the big thing too was a lot of retired competitive eaters, they kind of scoured the country for these amateur events and they tried to like, you know, collect the thousand dollars here and there. And so a couple retired competitive eaters, professionals, they were there and I knew like I I couldn't just phone this in. So um and that was part of the also ploy of like, hey, I got something going on here cuz I beat the dude by half a lobster roll. And the adrenaline and everything of being on stage, I was like, this is so fun. That's crazy to me that there are professionals out there who go to those events just to get the cash. It reminds me they do them, you do you type of thing. But it reminds me when I was a when I was a real estate agent, there were people out there who only went to the open houses for the free food and you would see the same people at this like every single week you knew you advertised food, they would show up. It reminds me, wait, you're criticizing them, but like two podcasts ago, you're the one who said you used to do that. Well, listen, cuz they're going to come to mine. Okay. Okay. Somebody else's to do that. It's like it's like a taste your own medicine type of thing. So, they won't come back next. They'll feel bad about it. But that's interesting. Um, so yeah. So, you didn't like you prepared a little bit, but you wouldn't say you knew what you were doing when you prepared. Oh, yeah. I mean, it's tough. It's all relative. I mean, my training regimen and what I would do nowadays to prepare for contest is totally different from what I did back in the days. But I also wouldn't recommend any if you're trying to get into competitive eating or you're preparing for a challenge, I wouldn't recommend doing what I do currently cuz like this is years of not only just like figuring out my own body, but just figuring out the body and the body adapting to consuming so much sodium at one time and all that. Yeah. I want to know how to prepare. Is that what you Well, I one other quick question. How much do you think in like if you're a good competitive eater, how much of that is something that you're born with versus how much you train for? cuz you I mean you make it seem like you didn't train that much from your words, right? And you beat these guys who are like career competitive eaters. I mean, I trained a lot. I mean, I think compared compared to a couple people on the circuit, um I I've always been kind of I felt like I've had to work for I'm also one of the shorter guys on the circuit. A lot of the guys like 63, 64T guys, so they got a bigger torso, bigger rib cage and everything. Um but um no, I had to work really hard to get to where you know to like winning contests and stuff. I don't know what compelled me to push as hard as I did for that first contest. Or maybe they were sleeping on me or something, but um I mean it'd be ignorant for me. I get this question pretty commonly and I it'd be ignorant of me to say I wasn't born with some sort of like elastic stomach or a strong esophagus or a you know big jaw muscles or something. But um you know, especially since competitive Eden is pretty still in its infancy as far as like you know, big sports that like you don't have people on payroll just analyzing the sport and watching what we do. It's it's it's still pretty homegrown for the most part. So I couldn't quantify it. But so how do you prepare? Like what what did you start out with? What did I start out with? Um well I started off by doing challenges like I mean have you seen Man Versus Food TV show? Yeah. Adam Richmond and all that. Um, so I started just kind of going around the country just trying restaurant challenges, collecting t-shirts, free meals, that sort of thing. So it was there was really no focus challenge. It was like this week I'm traveling, I'm going to eat a burger. Next week I'm going to eat a bunch of like a 12 egg omelette or something. Um, it wasn't until I started doing competitive contests that I really started honing in on specific foods. And um, it's really as simple as that for the most part. It's like my first professional contest was deep fried asparagus. So, I just deep fried a bunch of asparagus and I started eating it because um especially, you know, when you're training for these things, a lot of it's mental. Like, it's it's it's a really repetitive thing for the most part. It's like like sprinting on a like a path versus like I don't know like I compare to powerlifting a lot. Like there's some like there's nuances to different lifting methods, but you just got to grow your muscles for the most part. And what about like your size? Because you're not like a particularly large like a huge person. I would figure that the people doing these like competitive eating things would be like, you know, like NBA player type physiques, you know, cuz then they could just fit more food, right? I mean, some of them are big. I mean, there's a guy named Gideon Oji. He's he's he's killing it recently and he's like 69 or something. He's a humongous dude. Joey Chest, I think, is 6'2 or something. Oh, he is? Yeah. There's a I mean he I mean he's you know he's a lot of the guys are pretty big. If you look at the Nathans, I'm pretty sure compared to a lot of them. You got to convince yourself. You got to find ways to keep pushing and stuff. And I just, you know, Kobayashi back in the day, he was a small dude, too. He was like my statue roughly, even potentially smaller. So I was like, if he could do it, I can do it. I remember hearing about Kobayashi like a lot. Yeah. And it was always cool to see him like in the newspaper or whatever at like watching him on TV. But then you did I mean the the big eating contest is Nathan's. Yep. Right. Like that's that's the main one where you stuff down like absurd amounts of hot dogs and you like dip the buns in the water and it looks crazy. And you did Nathan's what was this like like two years ago? So, I mean, you've done it multiple times, but you won it. Yeah. No, that was I mean, I've done Nathan's I think nine times. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it 10 cuz co kind of made that it just cut it off kind of. But, um, yeah, I've done Nathan's between 2011 and I guess 19. Um, so I've been a regular there, but um, yeah, it's 2015 where I topped Joey Chestnut. That was a pretty big moment cuz he had he had and still does to this day dominate that contest for the most part. So, um, because I think he beat Kobayashi for the first time in 2007, and that's the only year he's lost since. So, it's it's a pretty incredible, uh, winning streak. So, that was that was that was a huge I I still remember it was like an auto body experience. Like, you just didn't expect it to happen and it just like it happened. I remember hearing about that when it happened and I was like, heck yeah. I was so stoked because I knew Joey Chestnut. He was like the reigning champion and I, you know, watched your video so I was a fan and you did it and you won and I was just like so stoked for you. It's crazy because you're not like good at competitive eating. You're like, you're fantastic. You're dominant. It it's not understood how you're actually like I don't know. I feel like people look past it. You're actually very dominant in the sport. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, I mean that that that means a lot because I mean yeah I mean I I I put a lot of work into it and you know it paid off and I I think um to to your point you know you talk ask her about like natural talent and stuff. I think a lot of times um the hard work and like the the regimen that I had leading up to events is what helped me be consistent throughout the year. Like I think Joey like he's really dominant in Nathan but he tends to be spotty. gives up a contest here and there and stuff just because he doesn't like prepare as much for it or something. Whereas I always prepared like I I figured out a new technique or something that would something that would give me the edge in each event and stuff. And I think that helped I think with my overall track record. I'm curious with these guys who compete. Do they do this full-time or do they got a job and this is like a weekend thing or they'll they'll train and compete and they'll do this on the side? Most people it's a sidetime thing which which is a love and hate relationship because I'd love to see the sport grow. I'd love to see more people be a to you know it become more lucrative and people can make a career and focus and and that's what that was a turning point for me is I knew if I h if I was going to top Joey if I was going to win Nathan the big contest I'd have to commit full-time. Um, but most people, you know, you can't. There's not a ton of money in the sport still. And a lot of people have lives and families, which like I said is bittersweet for me because it also makes it fun because a lot of people just do it because they love doing it and stuff. So, it's a great group of people to hang out with and interact with. But I'd say, you know, myself, Joey, Mickey Sudo, women's female champ or she couldn't compete last year, so former female champ, but you know, she'll be back. Or and Kobayashi. Um, yeah, there's there not too many people that do it full full-time. Yeah. If anything, if anything, there's more competitive eater YouTubers that do it full-time, which is, and not to be snobby or anything, it's kind of weird because competitive it's YouTube is not you're doing it yourself type of thing, but that's the most that's the phrase that sticks. So, Got it. So, to give people an idea for Nathan's, how long do you have to eat hot dogs and how many hot dogs did you eat in your most successful year? You have 10 minutes. 10 minutes. The contest used to be eight, but then when the numbers got high or no, it used to be 12 and then they brought it back cuz they're like, "Oh, too many hot dogs." Yeah. Yeah. Right. But um they haven't changed it since even though the record's gone up. Um No, I did 62 the year I won. Oh my god. So, what is that? How How many What's the average per hot dog? 62. That's one minutes 10 seconds. I mean that the Yeah. Yeah. Roughly. I mean, it's much faster. Like the the math behind it, you traditionally is by 3 minutes you have to be halfway done. Oh my god. So by 3 minutes you if you hit 31 you're on pace for 62. Oh my god. Because you slow down. It gets miserable. Your jaw gets tired. You get full. It's not only that. Oh, so you get full. That is a like a definitely a component of competitive%. How do you not throw off? I would I would get to the point where does that disqualify you if you throw up? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If if you ever they call it a reversal forcing on the on the stage and um that's it's one of those things where I mean I guess and this is where competitive reading is not as pretty you know behind the scenes is like I push my limits harder behind like in training stuff. So when I go on stage I'm 100% ready for it. So I do like 12 15 minute practice runs just to push my limits so that when I go on stage I'm not doing something I've never done before. I'm not in unfamiliar waters you know. So, and how many hot dogs would you say into the 62 would you say until you like start feeling full? I mean, God, that was so long ago. Um, Nathan's is a weird one because everybody prepares for it so much. It becomes almost like riding a bike. By the time you're up on stage, you're just kind of in autopilot. Um, but I distinctly remember it was a contest I I prepared for, but not too much. It was a brand new contest. They only did it one year. hard-boiled eggs. Mhm. And I think I ate 121 in 8 minutes or something like that. It was but it was so bad. Like that was I mean I've done some impressive stuff in my days, but I just remember I was getting full and I look back I was like, "Okay, I'm getting full. Where are we so far in the I look back it's like two and a half minutes into the contest. I was like this is going to be this is going to be like a a long night out here." So it it changes, you I think if you're more prepared for something, you just you mentally know what's to expect. You lost that one. Yeah. Unfortunately, second place to Joey. Wow. So, when you eat hard-boiled eggs, do you chew them? I would assume. I I chewed them. Yeah. I I think Okay. I forget what I was doing. It was pretty fresh, I think. Cuz they're kind of slimy on the outside, so I feel like you could just swallow it because if you chew it, it's dry on the inside. If you chew it, I I would imagine it's more compact than just swallowing them whole. It's it's always it's always between what you two guys are saying because you gota you can't chew too much but if you don't chew too much it doesn't sit well in your stomach. So I think Kobayashi has the Guinness record for eggs and I think he just swallowed them in that there's like a video of him just you know just um and I think during the contest you could tell Joey was chewing a lot less than I was. Huh. So um swallowing them like retrospectively. Yeah. Having those eggs they wouldn't sit properly if they were whole. So a little bit chewing. I'm curious how many people after they finish, you know, have a reversal. You have to use the restroom, right? And you got reversal in the toilet, bathroom. Cuz I don't know if I would be able to eat that much and then just be like, "All right, I'm going to Yeah, you but you haven't trained." That's true. That's true. Yeah. I mean, I can't speak for other people. I mean, like, generally after the contest, I'm pretty wiped out. I'm just in my own I'm just like deep, deep rest type of thing. So I I mean I know what happens, you know, like you can we do extreme stuff, you know, and we push our bodies to our limits and some days like maybe it's really hot out, maybe the foods like like sweet stuff's just pretty rough sometimes just like sweet contest so much sugar. But um for the most part, I mean, like I said, you know, I push my limits in practice so that nothing bad happens on stage. So generally speaking, after you catch a breather and that that's another I it's not the direction of this podcast. I feel like it's like talking about the intricacies. It's like it's really hard to keep like oxygen flowing through your system because you're using the same pipe. So like the breathing and stuff is something that can choke you up and like sometimes after an event like all you need to do is just breathe a little bit. You'll feel good. You'll feel a lot better. Yeah. Is it ever dangerous to like not obviously like you could choke and stuff like that but to eat so much food and to like stretch out your stomach? Oh, of course. I mean it's doing anything in excess in extreme like tennis people get tennis elbow like tennis players get tennis elbow um you know like MMA fighters that's obvious you know like football players you know with with head concussions and stuff um doing anything in an extreme environment like this isn't inherently healthy. Um but the the important part and what I I credit to you know part of my success at least is just knowing where my limit is. And I I don't I don't cross that line on a frequent basis. Like I know where it is. I I play with the edge and I just But then recovery is also the other big part of it. Just doing proper recovery and giving your time enough your body enough time to rest in in my case diet, exercise and all that stuff. So it's not it's not healthy. I wouldn't like if somebody's saying like is what you do healthy. Of course not. Like we're eating way an excessive amount of food. But um you know there's plenty of things that people do that aren't healthy. It's all about moderation, right? And you're pretty fit, too. So, I'm assuming you probably have like a pretty gnarly like workout routine and stuff. Uh, I don't feel too fit. I I feel like I've been slacking off a lot. Um, because I found that diet is more helpful long term because just the taxation on the body. It's like it's impossible to go on the treadmill and see 10,000 calories on the treadmill. So, um, so I found diets like the best way to handle what competitive eaters do because you just can't you can't physically work off that much with I mean I used to do it a lot more, but then I would just feel like garbage in the offseason. I just be like fatigue and just like not, you know, sleeping right and stuff. So, as of recently, you focus on diet, you take a couple extra days off, you can eat it and just listen to your body. But first, I want to thank our sponsor, Grammarly. It's crazy to think that it's already the third month of 2022, yet I feel like I've already sent out six months worth of emails. Where is the time going, and how do I get it back? Well, Jack, if you want to save time writing emails, just install Grammarly. Sorry, guys, Alex isn't here for this. I just have to improvise. Grammarly is an all-in-one writing tool that helps you communicate clearly and effectively, even when you're short on time. I mean, just ask Graham. Ever since I installed Grammarly on his computer, he's been able to write scripts and send emails in just a fraction of the time. Grammarly is just like having a professional writer go through all of your work 247. Their free version is also amazing since it protects you from basic spelling, grammar, phrasing, and punctuation. But the real magic happens when you upgrade to Grammarly Premium. Grammarly Premium offers clarity suggestions and even full sentence rewrites to help you clearly convey your message and avoid miscommunication. Asking out your next Tinder date via email, while Grammarly's built-in tone detector can help you sound as confident, professional, or as formal as you need. They also offer vocab suggestions to help replace overused words, phrases, and also words. You really do need Grammarly, man. Get through those emails and your work quicker by keeping it concise, confident, and effective with Grammarly. So, check out grammarly.com/icedcop and sign up for a free account. And when you're ready to upgrade to the premium account, you can get 20% off just for being a listener. Once again, that's 20% off Grammarly Premium at grmm ly.com/icedcop. Thank you so much, Grammarly, for sponsoring this episode. And back to the podcast. When did YouTube come in? It came in start doing that. Yeah. No, I mean it it's always weird to describe it because I feel like especially nowadays a lot of YouTubers, they're like they've been wanting to become a YouTuber and they I'm going to become a YouTuber. It was it was never so cut and dry for me. Like I uploaded my first uh lobster roll contest and I uploaded the challenges I did cuz I saw Man Versus Food and I like I saw what he was doing there. I enjoyed the content and um there was a couple people like Epic Meal Time back in the day. They were doing their thing. Love their love their content. So I always I fell very it it didn't take long for me to fall in love with the process, the creative process of taking this event that I thought was fun like a 30 minute took me 35 minutes to eat a burger. It was fun for me. I was adrenaline everything. I watch the tape back. It's boring you know. I'm just sitting there smacking for 35 minutes. So my first videos I was putting like my favorite music just and speeding it up and through it and uh yeah just I just it was something super rewarding and super interesting to me to like make this content more palpable for I wasn't even thinking about a broader audience at that point but it was like even for just for me just like making it more entertaining to watch um but not losing any context either you know not like just doing like long cuts and stuff just like figuring out how to right package it in more condensed form so it just evolved you know Um, I think I just, you know, video started taking off the Michael Phelps diet challenge. That was my first viral video. And I was like, explain that. I know I've seen it, but explain the challenge or explain the how you came up with the concept, how you filmed the video, how when did it go viral? How did that change for you? I think I forget. I think it was 2012 when I posted it. But I mean, Michael Phelps, you know, he was Olympian doing everything crazy. he was, you know, headlines and everything and he he posted something about his 12,ou his crazy 12,000 which apparently later he said he's like exaggerated about or something but um no I mean who wouldn't eat that much food you know on a normal basis I I get it but um he posted it and every like all the news they're like talking about oh it's 12,000 calorie a die he the the best Olympian in the world eats three pizzas a day and like all this like like you know the rock did the same thing he posted these pancakes and pizzas and so um being in the competitive of eating space. I was like, "Oh, dude, that sounds like I want to do that." You know, like it sounds fun, you know? So, um I just bought the food, bought a swimming cap, stupid, you know, put like black goggles on, just, you know, played the part a bit and uh yeah, that was my that was my first viral hit. Um I don't even remember how I like interpreted that or like digested information. And it was obviously mind-blowing to get a million views on a video, but um yeah, I there was never a point in time really for the most part outside of when I kind of stopped doing schooling um where I was like, this is what I what I'm doing. It was always progressive. I was always like just yeah, is it fun? Is it is it does it pay? Does it can it pay the bills? Type of thing. Am I enjoying it? Am I making progress? And um yeah, I mean like like I like I started off at the top saying, you know, I'm still learning the business side of YouTube and everything like it's just constantly evolving. So when you were posting YouTube videos, did you have a schedule? No, I've I've always shot and I still shoot for like one a week and stuff and um never really had a schedule. I felt like to me the most important part was conveying to my audience that there would be more content and that there was going to be something that's coming. Maybe it comes in a week, maybe get two this week, maybe you have to wait a month or something, but that there'll always be something coming to look forward to. And if you waited longer, I'll post a better video or something. I got to do something bigger, you know, like. And it's not something this week, it'll be better next week. Yeah, exactly. Type of thing. So, you know, there's always been that pressure of, you know, if I take a break, I got I got to come up with that banger, you know. But, um, yeah. So, I've never adhered to a schedule and I think it's it's always something I've been wanting to do just for my own sake, you know, just being on a clock, you know, human psychology, just trying to not be scattered all the time. But, um, yeah, I mean, I think right now I'm trying to shoot to do like two to three a month. Got it. But at what point did you realize YouTube was full-time for you or that you could do it as a career? Because you mentioned going to college for two years. Yeah. Did you drop out? Um, I guess that's the term you'd use. I just stopped. I remember I was just sitting in class one day and I was just like I was look I was at I was looking at a petri dish like mold and I was just like I was just like I I I want to be thinking about my next challenge and making my next YouTube video and stuff. So, um, I don't I don't vividly remember when I said like this is a career sustainable. Yeah. I remember seeing my first AdSense says like $10 today. I was like, "Oh my god, I made a $10 bill today." I I remember that distinctly. I I don't Yeah, I don't really recall. I mean, I remember the first time I I I I cracked 100 grand in a year and I was just like, "Damn, dude. This is this is something serious." And um How long did it take uh of you doing YouTube to crack $100,000? I want to say 13 14. So, like maybe four years on YouTube. to get to that point. And I think that was also combined with the competitive eating. Yeah. Cuz I I I would say probably until like 17 18 I was still priority competitive eater. Yeah. Like YouTube was still just that I mean I took it seriously, but it was still like like if it was between making a YouTube video, preparing for a contest, it was always preparing for a contest. So, it wasn't until like 17, 18 when things started really blowing up, the channel was millions of subscribers where I was like, you know, maybe I'll skip this contest because I got to pick and choose my battles so I can focus on the YouTube side of things. How do you pick what you're going to eat on YouTube? That's a tough question. Um, gut feeling at this point. I I don't have like a rigid like um methodology for what I pick. I I I try to keep it switched up like sometimes spicy, sometimes large, quick, fast, savory, fast food, homemade cooking, you know, just trying to just give variety and stuff. But um yeah, that that's all that's that's the that's the golden question all the time is just like what's that next video that people are going to make people happy or sometimes it's like hey, what's that what's that that video that's just like a Yeah, the trending stuff too cuz you did the Mr. Beast chocolate thing and I noticed that did particularly well for you which is smart, right? That's why you No, that was cool. That was the first time I've ever gotten like product early to like stuff and like we've been trying to work in like reaching out to like fast food places like if they got like the Travis Scott meal or something coming up just getting their hands on it a little early and stuff. It's tough working with food establishments with competitive do they not take you seriously cuz I feel like for like if Subway came out with a new like meatball marinara or something like that like them giving it to you to put a video that would be massive promotion. I mean, from my vantage point, it Yeah. makes it's a no-brainer if if an opportunity like that ever came up. It's okay. I mean, there's a little history to this. Like, so I remember one of my original viral videos, it was back in like 2013. I ate four Chipotle burritos and a Diet Coke or something. Blew up or whatever. And it was like, no, no big deal. But it blew up. And I remember seeing like on Twitter Chipotle, their handle replied to somebody said, "Hey, check out this video Chipotle." And they're like, "We prefer to see our burritos enjoyed." I was like, "Oh, are you serious?" Did that hurt at all or no? But it was like I got the message type of thing. It was like I I knew her, you know. Yeah. But you know that some probably some you know interning their Twitter. No, but then but then so the flip side of that coin is I think recently I forget which house it was one of the streamer houses. They had a Chipotle eating contest. I was like, "Okay, you know, things might be changing a bit." And I think you know that was when I was fresh too. It was 2013. Yeah. Yeah. And um you know, I think there's a hesitancy because even I battle with it is like how do I make what I'm about to do appealing and not gross? Like I I filmed the zombie video. I promoted a a video game recently as a zombie game and I was like they wanted me to eat like ribs and like like how do I make this so people don't like hate this video and just feel grossed out by it. That's hilarious. And I was like okay I'm going to I'm just going to show all the beautiful barbecue and stuff and then I'm just going to cut through the eating, you know, and stuff. So, it's it's a trick and it's been it's been a challenge. Like we're talking about like the ASMR, like snacking your lips. Like, I leave some in there so they know what's going on, but I don't go full-blown ASMR, you know? Yeah. So, it it's a trick. And, you know, I feel like, you know, as with I've seen YouTube over the years, it's like, you know, just um traditional companies and media just warming up to the idea of the value. So, they've not reached out to you as like the go-tos. They do influencer marketing. Chipotle does like like David Dori, you know, he has the Chipotle deal. Yeah, but I feel like this is just as good if not like I wish I had a gold card or whatever they call it. That'd be pretty cool, you know? Um I'm not out there looking for that. Like, you know, at the end of the day, you know, it's it's a trade-off at the end of the day, you know, and you know, if it happens, it happens. Like, I just I'm going to roll with the punches. You know what would be a match made in heaven? Houston and Houston. Yeah. Oh, do you know Houston Exotics? He's a YouTuber here in Vegas. He has like he rents out cars and stuff and tells crazy stories about people who like drive his car. He had one of the most successful podcasts on here. We were blown away. It was so good. But yeah, he uh he pulled up an Alexis LFA. He has the wildest stories. He has a 100 Lamborghinis and he has a chain of restaurants called Houston's Chicken here in Las Vegas. Really? Okay. But he has what is it? The the hottest blackard. Yeah. But no, well he is the black card. So basically you could go in the Houston's restaurant and just order whatever you want for free. But he has the hottest uh chicken or the hottest food on record. What What is it like 2 million Scoville? I don't know what it is, but something crazy that you have to sign a waiver to get this thing. You could just go to another franchise and just order. Yeah. He's rejected people like when they try to order it, too. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Like children. Yeah. Like a child like a mom wanted a child to get it or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. But if you did that, we could put you in touch with Houston. And like dude, that's that's that's on a to-do the short list now. I mean, that's that's right down my I mean, spice. I have a I have a weird relationship with spice cuz when I started, I was like, I no spice. I got to take care of my stomach and stuff. But damn, those videos do good. Those spicy challenge videos, they do so good. If you ate the hottest chicken sandwich, you did like 10 of them. 10 of them, dude. Graham, don't put him in danger, man. But like, show an average person. Show Jack eating one of them and then show you eating like 10. No, but Okay, but that's the misconception. I can eat a lot of food, but I still have human tissue. Yeah, I'm still I'm still made of the same carbons and whatever, you know. Yeah, it burns the same for me for the most part. I mean, I I I think psychologically I can deal with the discomfort and pain, you know, food wise and stuff, but it burns all the same for me. I'm no special spice. There's some people out there that the spice the spice world is a whole different like spice heads and stuff, but um I'm cut from the same cloth as far as that goes. Just saying. I think that would be a It would be a banger video. We could put you in contact with them. Yeah, that'd be great. That'd be awesome. Yeah, but black is actually black. Yeah. Yeah. It looks like an American Express card that's custom made. Uh but it says uh what is it? Houston on the top. Yeah. Oh, no. The the chicken. Oh, the chicken. I don't know if the chicken Oh, I thought I said that like like the black chicken or something. No, no, no, cuz that's the spicy stuff that looks like that. Dark red. I've seen a picture of it. I mean, just imagine like this deep like tissue red looking. We got to eat that, Graham. We got to try that. Come on. Just one bite. Can we get some in like 30 minutes? We should. Can we get Houston to swing by with some of the hottest chicken? Yeah. Um, would are you serious? I'll call him right now. Are you guys serious? Absolutely. This is I I do this for a living. Hold on. I also have another surprise. We'll get into that. Yeah. Hold on. Let's just so you guys know, I can barely eat hot Cheetos without crying. Really, brother? What's up? Wow, you picked up. Hey, uh do you mind? Are you're on the podcast right now. Is that okay? Let's do it. Hey, so I'm with Matt Stony right now. Are you familiar with who he is? No. Okay. He's on he's on YouTube. He's got 10 million subscribers and he just 15 million subscribers. Terrible. 15 million subscribers. Yeah. Tell us how much YouTube I've been watching lately. I know. Uh so he does food challenges and we said this would be the the best collaboration is to uh put together Houston's Chicken and Matt Stony and we were talking about the the hottest chicken sandwich. What do you think the chances are that you would be able to get someone to bring down the hottest chicken sandwich in the next like 35 minutes so he could we could all try it on the podcast? Is Is that at all possible? 35 minutes is a little tight because it's fresh made to order. There we go. It's going to take us about 12 minutes to make it and about 25 minutes to drive it to you, but it's possible. Um yeah, I mean we'll be here for a while. That's a good end of the podcast, you know, sweating or Yeah, we could we could do it right now. Yeah. Like 40 minutes. I would I would have absolutely no problem getting this to you. I also would like to invite Matt. We have a challenge that we're about to launch. This is actually like crazy. You're calling me. If you can eat 10 Houston, we have a problem. Tenders. That's what we just said. Someone listen. It's $5,000 if you could eat 10 tenders. Yes, dude. So, this might have to be a separate video, but maybe we just save it for that and then we do like a collab if you want or I don't know, whatever. But he could be the first person to do that food challenge. Yeah, he'll win. You may as well pay him now. Yeah, seriously. I don't know. I have never been able to even smell that tender, let alone. So, I'm not sure. It's 2 million Scoville units per tender. It's pretty wicked. I'm a professional, right? This is my job. Yeah. I I can't back down. This is He might be I just got to put the blindfold on. I still We still should eat the the sandwich though because that's not going to be as hot cuz you have the lettuce. If we could do the sandwich though, if if you could have someone bring it by. You know what I'm going to do? This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to send you sandwiches that are not the spiciest. I'm going to send you Liftoff, which is a lower level before the spiciest. And that's going to get your appetite wet. That's 50% of Houston. We have a problem. It's 1 million Scoville units. Okay. That is absolutely out of this world. Insanely spicy. And you can expect double from the tender. Okay. What do you think about that? It's up to you. Is that hot enough or is that hot or should we go send them to you? We got to go to hottest. Yeah. You know what? If we can get the hottest, we got to go. If we can get the hottest, even if it's just one chicken tender, we'll make it happen. Okay. There we go. Houston. Thank you, man. Listen, I'll send you one tender and if Matt can handle the challenge, we'll uh we'll we'll go for that. Wait, Houston, if you could could you maybe send like cuz I think we want to try it, too. Of course. I'm going to send you extra food. Going to say that you can eat one tender on this podcast and I invite you for the challenge after this. Perfect. And I'm going to I'm going to put this under your black card, Graham. So, don't worry. Houston, thank you. Not sponsored by Houston Chicken link down below in the descript. But go check them out anyway. Check them out. Chicken is not sponsoring this video by chance. Thank you. Thank you, man. I'm gonna get that there. Let me get off the phone. Let me call my GM and I'll have it right to you. Just text me uh text me your address, Graham, for a second. We'll do. All right. We'll do. Thanks. Bye. Holy Wow. It just got It just got interesting. Yeah, it did. So, we got that we got that looming on the horizon for the next 40. You guys stick around. Okay. We need the retention. There we go. There we go. AVD getting that up. Yep. Holy cow. Wow. Okay. Good on him. Wow. Houston's a man. Wow. I'm working the night. Here we go. Wow. That's nuts. Good on Houston. Yeah. I did not I didn't expect that. And you regret on this side of the table? No, not at all. I'm so excited. I was going to ask um you know, you're saying that Chipotle and big brands don't you know, they're not really as interested in working with you, but for me, what about have small brands like local places reached out? Because think about it as a local business owner to have Matt Stony coming into my restaurant to do like whatever challenge early that that's huge. Are do smaller companies reach out too or no? I mean I got a few ways to look at this. I mean short answer is no. I haven't had that opportunity too much. I mean I think a lot of the content I've done is predominantly just like in my own kitchen and stuff and I've done that for a handful of reasons to leave the door open for expansion down the line to get out and travel for challenges and stuff. But um yeah, it hasn't that opportunity hasn't presented itself too too often. But what I do know is at least on the competitive eating circuit, a lot of contests, smaller contest, you know, but a lot of the contests are actually like local um towns eat and stuff that are like showcasing their their local dish and stuff. Like the first contest I ever won was the Slug Burger World Eden Championship and it was in Corinth, Mississippi. They have this thing called a slug burger cuz it cost a slug back in the day a nickel or something. It's just the fried pork patty with mustard, onions, and pickles. You know, what's not to like about it? And um so a lot a lot of small, you know, small towns, small businesses and stuff, they do sponsor these events to to kind of get the name out there. It's interesting because we actually have relations with Jack in the Box. Like they they watch like all of our content. They comment on us. Like I'll DM them on Instagram. They'll get back to me. Yeah. It's crazy. They follow you on Instagram. Yeah, they follow me. They don't even follow me. No, we're close. Jack in the Box. Yeah, they're the best. We love Jack in the Box. I think they I think they dropped the comment on something I did recently. I think I uh what was it? I I did I did a Tik Tok or something or with with the thing and they the comment, right? Yeah. I mean their their team like they talk with influences stuff like that. I'm sure that's what more brands should be doing. Imagine Chipotle's just browsing YouTube, commenting on YouTube. I mean, well, now they do it kind of on TikTok and stuff like that. No, but they should be doing like on YouTube. They should have someone whose full-time job is just to watch and comment. Like they have to get 20 comments out a day. Like we get all the spam comments like there's no way. McDonald's should be doing this stuff. Yeah. You know, all the brands. Yeah. I think Wendy's was like the original. The social media team that was kind of killing Taco Bell does it pretty well, too. Taco Bell. A handful of a lot of people have moved. Some some are hit or miss, you know, but uh it's it's it's smart, you know. That's that's that's what you need to do nowadays, right? So, let's walk through a little bit of like your your finances throughout your life because I mean, you said when you first started doing competitive eating, you were working for like $7 an hour and then slowly, you know, pretty slowly actually, like it took you four years to to crack $100,000, right? Between both YouTube and competitive eating. Um, how did that progress from then on until like now? Um, how did it progress? It was mainly just views. That was pretty much what it was. I mean, like we kind of talked a little bit at the top, you know, competitive Eden, you know, there's not like, you know, there's not anything crazy out there. Contest usually, if you win a contest, for most of them, it's like 2500 to first place. If you factor in like the weeks of practice and all that stuff they have to go through, you know, you kind of, you know, it's not like anything crazy and stuff. And Nathan's even pays only 10,000, right? Which whole another discussion. I don't know. Fourth of July, ESPN 10,000 the first place. It's it's rough. But um but um yeah, it was really just more views on YouTube, working with sponsorships. That was another big thing, too, is finally, you know, working with some brands and everything. Um but it's been pretty and like you know, like I said, you know, the business side of stuff, I kind of took it more as just a personal passion hobby of mine. Maybe I missed a few opportunities here and there, but um yeah, I mean, it was really just comes down to the views. And I I know, you know, just from watching the podcast and your guys' content and stuff, I can attest the ad rates and all that stuff. Competitive Eden, it's tough. It's not that great. It's tough. I mean, we've been working on it and we've been making a lot of progress over the past couple years. Um, but, you know, it's Can you give us a a ballpark on uh like let's say get a million views? Sure. Um, my channel would be anywhere from like 15 grand to probably 30 on the high end. 30 would be high. I mean, I think it's tough. I think last time I checked I was getting like roughly like three per three per dollar. Yeah. Something in that ballpark. It was a lot worse, too. I think Oh my god. We already to get that number up like 50% in the last year, honestly. Yeah. So, it's it's that's crazy. It's been It's been tough. And I mean like you know I've talked to a lot of people who are kind of in the same boat you know just their content like especially like I think nowadays like kids content is really tough and stuff but um you know you know what can I do? I'm a competitive eater right food that's the content so just deal with it. Who's your who's your audience? Um mainly I mean I think demographic wise 18 to 24. Um male predominantly. Yep. There we go. That's from Ventura. Yep. Sweet. California is the biggest by far. There we go. But um yeah. No, I mean that's it's pretty cut and dry. Nothing really too crazy. I mean, is it is it US audience space or is it around the world? It's US. I think a lot of times Canada and the UK creep in there as top contenders, but I think India's been a huge emerging market. A lot of people from India have been watching. Um, oddly like Philippines and Indonesia oddly enough are weirdly large markets and which is interesting because also like competitive eating is huge in Japan or they call it they do it's not competitive eating it's like um food fighters and stuff but I guess they have their own market because I haven't figured out to get into Japanese audience yet. So yeah I mean that's pretty much it just male 18 to 24 the main main market for the most part. That's interesting. I thought ad rates would be at least higher. Yeah, it's Yeah, it's it's it's it's a struggle. I mean, I'm I'm I'm happy with it, you know, like I'm I'm not sitting there like like cursing out the YouTube algorithm or anything like like I've made a living. I'm I'm happy with what I've done so far. Of course, I'm always striving to do better, but um you know, there's some case studies like last year I did a chicken sandwich tier list video and that thing got like seven like like double what I'd normally get on ad rates and stuff. So, just like figuring out like like fast food almost as well. Like I've seen that. It kind of makes sense. Why would they advertise on your videos and stuff? I don't No, I mean I watch my videos to get those ads, but I mean I guess I guess that's probably something to do with it. Like that was the month you was just refreshing all the time. Yeah. Right. Um yeah. So I mean like I said, you know, I'm happy with what I'm getting. Of course I know, you know, just from seeing other people and that's it's been a learning process. You know, I know you talk with Reed Night Media. I joined Night Media recently and they've been kind of showing me the the ropes and like what to expect and like what to get from sponsors and stuff. I remember like I forget the year um that's like years ago I was getting at the time I was like stoked to get sponsors but retrospectively they were they were they were pinching pennies on me. I was getting I was getting just cut at the knees and stuff and then um my girlfriend actually who who helps me out and works with me now um she saw other people like she watches like makeup tutorials and where they get good returns and she was just like what are you saying you got this much? and I was like that's what I get and um she's so she helped me out and helped turn that around a bit but yeah I mean it's again I can't complain but always striving to move upwards at this point um do you try to ensure that every video has a sponsor in it? I'm not so picky about that. In fact, if anything, I try to ensure that not every video has a sponsor in it because, you know, like I also said, you know, I haven't really gotten too many food sponsors, so the tie-ins aren't so like seamless and perfect all the time. A lot of times it's just like, hey, check out this this company, you know, check out this company. And, you know, um, so I I try to make it not feel like every single time I But it's been good. It's been good, you know, for the most part. I've been had plenty of sponsors to be happy with. So, tell us about your team. Is it just how did it start? Obviously just you um then how did it evolve from there? Is it always mostly been you like filming, editing? Do you have a a team? Do you have assistants? Working on it. I mean I'm I'd imagine it's constantly a progressive process. But um yeah, right now it's just myself, my girlfriend, and we just recently got a videographer to help film stuff. So that's it. Yeah, right now it's I've had I'm not even go into it, but I've had tough luck with hiring people like let's go into it. Now's the time to go into it. What's what's happened? I mean, it all started it all started when I was looking through contracts and I hired a lawyer to look at contracts and paid him so much, you know, hundreds like a thousand plus dollars. Like, oh, it looks good. I was like, what about this? And he was like, oh, yeah, that's concerning. I was just like, what what did I just pay you for? I was just, it all started there. And um I I'd imagine the hiring process is not an easy thing. I mean that's why companies you know they're not easy to make and stuff but you know it's just finding that those right group of people and been working with a lot of editors. So, it's not just us three. Like, we've been working with editors and stuff. And it's not full-time positions. Like, we're just testing them out, trying to find if if it fits and everything, but um for the most part right now, it's we're pretty small. Uh close team for the most part. And uh yeah, trying to expand. So, is it you doing all the filming, editing, thumbnails, titles? Um yeah, mostly. That's really impressive. You don't hear many 10 million plus subscriber channels doing it all themselves. Very few. Yeah. And I mean part of me is, you know, a little proud to say that naturally, but also part of me is like that's not where I want to be consistently. And I also don't want to take away, you know, like hide the videographer's been a great job. I don't need to worry about getting the good shots and everything. So, he's been helping a ton. And uh you know, we've been working with editors. Sometimes their thumbnails are better than the ones that I come up with. Um sometimes the videos like they come up with some good ideas and it just makes it that much easier to finish the product. Yeah. Um, so it's it's the goal is to get to the point where I can, you know, have less obligations on my shoulders constantly so we can focus on more the creative side of things. We tried a creative director last year, didn't work out. And um, yeah, it's been it's it's been tough, especially when you see a lot of YouTubers nowadays, they got teams of like people like 20 30 people. It's like, oh my god, that's that's that's something else. It's impressive, right? How much would you say you work right now? Like hours on a week? Yeah. Uh, I mean I that's a tough one. I mean I'm sure you can attest to this too. Like you don't it's not 9 to5. It's it's hard. Sometimes you spend days slacking off and just you know just chilling out and some days you're just grinding like non-stop. Um say 50 60 a week. I've never That's not That's not We understand like that's it's the same for us. There's no 9 to5. Yeah. I'm almost thinking for your content though, if it's working, why you don't necessarily need to hire more people. If it's if it's the system's working, I'm I'm always a fan if it's not broken, don't try to fix it. That's been my thought for many years, but you always got to I mean, at least and you know, you always got to find ways to just vertically just keep growing and just like, how do I make my content better? Well, if I'm constantly glued behind a computer editing all the time or I'm just like stuck on an edit, I'm just sitting there for a day just like why can't I get this intro? Why can't I figure this out? like that could be used with me thinking of the next big crazy food challenge work just just training just taking care of myself. was under the assumption that you had like a team around you at all times because uh we've been trying to schedule with you I think through Alex or was it you Jack I was doing for months and and he's like Matt has this schedule available and it was like 3 months in advance these this month uh between these days let us know if that works and we're like yes that works well you know as we got close this schedule moved around and now it has to be in a few weeks from then at this day it was like oh god I just it gave us the impression or me it's like wow he must be like really busy uh or like he must have a big team to because when you need to talk to someone to talk to another person I'm like oh wow that's sure yeah I mean okay yeah so I I guess I I neglected to mention I I touched on it but yeah I I joined my night media management company uh last year and stuff so that was that was even talking with my managers over at night media so I get I mean I I don't I don't know lingual wise like if they're considered part of my team cuz but they are part part of my team. They they've been infinitely helpful. They've provided so much value and stuff and so much guidance. It's been great. So, what do they do for you? Um, they pitch they p they find sponsors and stuff. They find opportunities. Um, you know, they connect, you know, like like us and stuff for podcast. They did a lot of collabs, more collab like was doing a lot of collabs last year. um filmed some like some shows um you know like like we like we got the the C3 um the Poké Balls that were launching like they were the ones that kind of had those connections and pitched I guess myself out there. So, no, they've been, you know, they've been very helpful in that regards and also just giving guidance, you know, um just like little things like just talking with Reed and Nick over at Night Meet about like focusing on average view duration and getting those up because my my videos were they pop in and they leave and and so my average view duration is low. So, how do you get that up so that it hits the algorithm better and the CPMs go up and all that stuff? So just and it's like looking at thumbnails and being like why would you do that or this like you should do this and just like being a mentor in many aspects as far as like especially the business side but also just in general just being successful on YouTube. How is that for you, let's say? Because I would kind of think to myself, if you built up a channel to 10 million, it would be really hard for me to take advice because I'm like, well, obviously what I was doing was working. Could it be better after everything could always be better? But if it's working so far, I I take everything with a grain of salt. And I think that's also part of the reason why it's been hard for me to expand a little bit because I've been so in like if I hire if I'm hiring somebody, it's not to like do something that's like like I couldn't even think of an example like like an accountant like hey can you balance my books or something? Yes. It's like hey can you hire somebody to edit the videos that I've been editing for 12 years and make it similar to the style and whatever standards I have and being able to sit with that and be content with that. think that's kind of been a mental block for me which you know again always just trying to keep an open mind and be progressive constantly learning and stuff because like I kind of said you know they provided so much value so much insight and things that they've that we've that I've implemented through their guidance and stuff has been great has worked out fantastically. So I'm I'm not a know-it-all know by any means. I'm not going to pretend that that that's the case. So um yeah always down to learn always down to improve. Now, I saw one interesting video I want to bring up. Um, it was the YouTube originals that you did, the eating challenge, and I saw a video reviewing the eating challenge. I saw that. I watched those, too. Yeah. I don't know. Whatever. That video, it popped off. Yeah, cuz it was like your face almost crying in the thumbnail. Have you seen this? Have you seen You saw the video, Matt? I think it was like Matt Stony didn't deserve this or something. Yeah, that was it. And I remember clicking on it. I was like, "Oh no, what happened?" I'm thinking like it's this major scandal. I click on it watching. Yeah. I was nervous, too. I was scared for you. And I click on it. I'm like, "Oh jeez." But it But it's You do see your face. It made sense. And it made sense. I felt bad. I really felt bad. Me, too. Like I was watching and this guy's explaining. I'm like I mean whether or not what he's saying was true with resonated with you, but the way that he phrased so everyone would understand it. Yeah. you did a YouTube originals thing where basically you get people that like do make certain types of content on YouTube like very successful people and then they have like other YouTubers that aren't successful within that given niche or whatever try to do what they do. For example, one of them I think like uh let's just use yours example like was competitive eating. So they got you and you judged these other people that don't make YouTube videos around competitive eating, try to eat competitively, right? And they were kind of I won't say making a mockery of it. One of one of them was more than the other. Yes. True. But I will say they weren't taking it as seriously as they were taking the other challenges. Sure. The competitive eating because it to them maybe it seemed like it was so like like absurd to dip a, you know, bread in water and stuff like that. that, you know, maybe it is, you know, it could be absurd, I guess, in in some context, but but yeah, they it didn't seem like they took it very seriously and you looked very disheartened because I'm sure that you put a lot of time and effort into, you know, showing up there and maybe you were nervous to show up and then they go and they, you know, don't try very hard. Yeah. I mean I mean the format of the show was it was it was the four contestants and they all kind of had their own day of having the other ones try their own thing and then I was like the finale. So I think my mine was a surprise. I don't think they expected to do anything competitive Eden related and stuff. Um, yeah. I mean, I I'll say this much. I wasn't as bummed out about it as I think a lot of the comments and stuff were. And just like the comments were backing you crazy. I appreciate that. That, you know, in it own kind of weird twist away. It kind of felt a little good, but um, all of us felt bad. I felt terrible. Yeah. like my audience is watching out for me and stuff, you know, which I I totally get and I I see that vantage point like personally when I was sitting there in the moment it was weird, you know, it's like watching people throw hot dog buns and and stuff and not do what I was doing like but I guess and you know I get it. It I mean part of the fun of watching someone dunk a hot dog but bun for the first time is cuz it's gross, you know? So So I mean I wasn't as bummed out. I know I know where the perspective was coming from. Do I wish they would have tried better? Definitely. Yeah. Well, like I did I did um I did a collab with the Try Guys not too uh not too far apart from each other and a couple of those guys they were trying like I think it was Keith and um forget but um two of them were going at it going at it and then a couple of them were like you know so gingerly about it. So everybody's got their own thing and I'm I'm understanding of that. They're jumping into my world which is kind of intense and crazy. So everybody react differently. Unfortunately, them they didn't they didn't they didn't vibe with the competitive Eden nature as much as we would have probably liked them to, but uh you know it it was fun to be part of the whole production and everything, but a little more effort would have been nice. Well, we're here to make it right cuz we're getting the spiciest chicken. Okay, I'm keeping an eye on that note. This not better be the next video. Oh, you guys took a little nibble. That's chicken sandwich. It gave up. No, I'm going in. All right, another 20 minutes. 20 25 minutes it'll be here. I'm nervous. Yeah. But I but speaking of that, I would be the type I hate to I'm just going to admit it. I would be the type to be very gingerly about how I'm going to dip. Um cuz I don't eat like I I can't do that. I could eat like if I'm really hungry and I'll scarf the food down, but forcing it. Um I just noticed I get like stomachs issues. I'm a fast eater. I'm known amongst my friend group as the fast eater. Like like I'll finish my meal before someone has like gotten like halfway through or whatever. But that's a complete different thing than actual like dipping it in water, you know what I mean? Like Yeah. I mean, it's it's a mindset. I've seen some people just like pop up out of nowhere and just do good at an eating contest because it's it's a weird switch. It's you've eaten your whole life. You chew your food, you swallow it after you've chewed it enough and there's no real inherent rush generally unless you're like on like lunch break or something. Um so you're kind of going against your natural grain of something you've done literally since your whole life. Yeah, some people have that you could just turn it off. And for me, it's like like like I work out, but powerlifters, I couldn't do that. Like I I just feel like my arms are going to fall off and I just can't imagine getting swole and ripped and just lifting 450 lbs. Like I just couldn't I just can't fathom doing that. Some people they like doing that and it's just their thing and they can turn that switch. So some people got it, some people don't. But I think it's mental. I think if you mentally focus, you can just make it happen. What does your diet look like after an eating competition? Because let's say you pack down like 10,000 calories. How many calories would you say is in one of those challenges? I mean, challenges vary. Like, you know, some of them are 10,000. Some of them are just a quick 5,000, 6,000. Some of them are 20,000. It's boring. It's a boring diet. Yeah. You know, it it's mainly water is your best friend because um your body can handle like your body can decide to handle calories in its own way. Like not to be gross about it, but your body can only physically absorb so many calories. That's just the way it works. But vitamins and minerals, your body doesn't have a choice for the most part. That's why dehydration is a thing. Like you just your body can't say, "No, I don't want to deal with the salt." The salt's going to be there. It's going to be in the bloodstream. It's going to dehydrate you. You're going to need more. So, I always try to balance it out. Like, if I do a sweets challenge or something, even though I don't need more calories, I'll definitely like try to get a protein shake in or something or have a burger or a steak or something. You know, it seems weird to eat after eating so many, but you want to achieve that balance with your body cuz it's the imbalance that throws your system off. Um, like I said, water is your best friend. I take various supplements, certain electrolytes and stuff just again just for that balance. And when I started it was brutal, just you get dehydrated and stuff. Nowadays, I just blow up like a balloon. I just like like literally like I think it's just like like all the salts and waters and stuff to get into your tissues. It's just like edema. I I forget the phrase, but it's just the swelling of the tissue. And but but how are you in shape? Like I said, I don't feel like I'm in shape. See, but you look in shape. Like you look more toned than I do, and I go to the gym. It's all that editing. I'm just there all day long just Yeah. No, I mean Yeah. I mean, I I go to the gym, you know, so I I I like to run and stuff. It's kind of a full body workout in some some ways. So, yeah. I don't know. I mean, I think I mean, I guess, okay, I guess a good way to put it is it's out of necessity. If I wasn't taking care of myself, if I wasn't physically in great shape, then I wouldn't be able to physically compete at a high level. Sure. And my body wouldn't like it wouldn't accept all the the pressure and the training and stuff. I have to I have to be in shape. Like and that's why a lot of people ask competitive eaters like why is everybody like skinny like the Kobayashi's of the road like Mickey even Joey like he's you know he's a big guy but he's in shape you know whereas 30 years ago it was a bunch of dudes on Coney Island that were like 400 lb and stuff and it's because when it became serious you had to be in say like you had to cardio breathing and it's exhausting. It's it's a 10-minute sprint when you're up there on stage. So, speaking of like, you know, being in shape and and, you know, stuff, um, this is a little bit controversial in the YouTube community, but what are your thoughts on like Nicocado, Avocado, and that whole transition? We were all thinking it. I knew it was coming. I got to bring I knew it was coming, man. Okay, so I'll I'll I'll preface by saying this. I've got zero like the mukbang community and everything like it's different from what I do. Like I kind of said earlier like competitive eating YouTubers like you're not competing with people. It's like you know that that lingo like you know snubnose lingo if you want to call it but um no I got absolutely zero problem with like the ASMR community even even though it's not my thing like they are making entertainment for a group of people and that's that's all what it boils down to. Some people want to hear people smacking on a peanut butter jelly. Some people want to see people just talking and eating. Some people want to see you eat it as fast as possible. And you're just you're filling the need. You're filling like I don't like some movies. Some people like, you know, everybody's got their own preference. I got no curls with it. Nicocado um took it too far. That's all it is. He he he found a formula that unfortunately um I don't even know. I mean, I guess outside looking in, unfortunately worked for him very well. And he just stoked that fire constantly without worry about repercussion. He's he's probably still doing pretty good. And I mean, at the end of the day, it's his it's his body. It's his choice. It's his if he's fine with it, fine. I mean, you know, but would I endorse that side of No. I'd always endorse people being healthy, looking out for their physical and mental health and all that stuff. For those of you guys that don't understand, uh, Nikocado basically started out as like a a fairly skinny, you know, somewhat fit person. Vegan vegan stuff. Yeah. And then basically would do like mukbang, which is when you get a bunch of food and eat it and people like watching you do that. Different than competitive eating. And uh, and basically like he continued to do it because his audience loved it. And he continued growing uh, with it like absurdism type of humor. And then like now he's pretty like, you know, he's pretty large. You know what I think? I'll give my take on this. Um, I think I part of me believes it's an act. I mean, part of me thinks that he's playing a a a character and uh I don't know why I found his entire story like so fascinating and I've reached out to him, I think once before, to see if he'd come on the podcast. No response back. I don't think that's ever going to happen. I would love to get him on the podcast cuz I found it so fascinating. I've watched so many of those like Nicocado, Avocado, like the rise and fall videos. I've watched them all and so they're really good. But he's one of those people that has such an interesting story and like and it's just it fascinates me of like how you don't know how much of is it how much is an act if he's really this way, if he's playing into it. Um uh like it reminds me with Dax Flame how a lot of people thought oh he's just it's it's acting and you know uh but for me I was like no that just seems like Dax and and sure enough it was it was just him like that's him with Nikocado I'm like that I think it's an act and from what I've seen it seems as though he realized a certain action got him a lot of attention on YouTube and that made him a decent amount of money. So you would lean into that. Yeah. And it seems like the more extreme he's gotten, the more money he makes and the more views he gets and the more subscribers he gets. So from a business, it's like why wouldn't you keep going in that direction? And on YouTube, you can never like not continue to push yourself. You can never go back from that. Like if he stopped doing that content, I'm sure yes, people would be happy for him. But would that get him the same views? Probably not. Um, so even though he gets a lot of people watching me like, "Oh, wow. This is a train wreck." And just tune in for that, at the end of the day, like when you look at the numbers, he's winning from it. So the more it works, I think the more he's going to do it. Uh, the downside is that it's probably at the detriment of his health. Oh, yeah. But, you know, if he's at a point where he's like, "Well, if I do this for another five years and then I have the rest of my life to get back into shape." And if you think something like that, maybe that's the only way I see it. Or maybe it's I mean, I could be wrong, but without question in my mind, it is at least in some part an act. Like there's no way that he's acting like that all day long. like it takes a special person to do the stuff that he does, but he's definitely leaning into what the audience and like I I think back to and you know I think back to like you know stuff like the Logan Paul drama and stuff like his justification was he was just on this this this train that he just didn't want to stop and then it ended up you know bad decisions and stuff and yeah I mean that's that's that's just the nature of a lot of beasts like that type of happened. Um, which was leading to a question I want to ask you because I haven't seen any drama that you've particularly been involved in and stuff, which is something that I proud of myself over the years too. And I every once in a while I want to see like the Nicocados of the world or certain like um like like the rice gums, you know, all that stuff. Like I don't want to I'm not jealous. Yeah. But there's that part of you that's just like am I doing something wrong here? Do you ever get that itch? No. Controversy. Let's say not let's not say like blowing your TMZ like you're bad. Oh my gosh. Just like do something that just you're talking drama. No, I I I think it's any any sort of drama for the most part. Yes, it's good in the short term. I think in the bad long term it's bad. And I' I've tried I've no you can't say any sort of drama. A lot of it is. It's it's bad for somebody between two people. It's bad for what what you know the whole issue. Yeah. I mean look at look at him now. People love to watch his personal growth. That's the case. It's like as long as you can prove to people you're changed and you're different, people don't love it. But you could change and not go through that. Like if you have the choice to work on yourself and better yourself without that, I would much rather do it without that. I don't I don't think but what if what if that's at the sacrifice of, you know, not being yourself because you're a little bit edgy. You know, lately it seems as though like the higher the stakes get like like the the more you put yourself out there, the bigger the risk there becomes that you say the wrong thing even unintentionally. But yeah, I mean but I mean like you know to me it's interesting because you know you see um these these case studies of people who have turned it into something that's you know interesting and stuff and like I'm a big UFC fan. I go out to a lot of their fights and everything and the biggest draws are the guys that just talk and just but then part of the charm of it or charm if you want to call it is you kind of know that that's not them. I think you see you see a lot of people like Kobe Coington just did a fight and he's all like MAGA hat Trump. He's like this ridiculous character and people hate him for it and like like the Floyd Mayweather too. Like he wasn't doing anything until he started flaunting his money and they were like, "Oh, here's the haters and stuff and and people just kept buying his fights cuz they wanted to see him knocked on the floor." Neelk and Danny Duncan. It makes sense with their brand, you know, that they'd be so erratic. And Neelk just did a podcast with Donald Trump. Yeah, I saw it was it was removed. Did you watch? I did not watch. I did not see it was removed. Uh yeah, they put it on their Oh, you didn't know this? What? Yeah. Oh, you didn't know it got removed. It got removed for what? 5 million views. Um disinformation on I thought misin was it misinformation. And that's funny because Trump said in the podcast that it will get that it's going to get removed. Um so well digressing. I mean I'm I'm just I'm curious because that's something that I've I I've thankfully avoided drama the nick of I just think the bigger like no one will care if you get 10,000 views on a video or you have you know 100,000 subscribers. It's not worth anyone's attention, let's say. But when you get into the larger numbers and more people watch, it becomes uh uh easier, not easier, but there's more eyeballs on you and the chances that someone will find something is higher. So that's why like at least from my perspective, the that the more the channel is grown, the more careful I become as a result. And I think also too it kind of leads into like what your intentions with YouTube and just in general like if you're looking to build a brand like my case, you know, I do the competitive eating like I want to keep doing this and I want like I like making videos. Um then why would you risk it and stuff? cuz I I remember seeing you know certain people come and go and stuff and like like yes you get jealous of like you know seeing people on billboards and stuff like oh I'm like man what are they doing right that I need to do or like just to like make get to the next level but at the same time like I've been able to do this for 12 years and I'm still doing okay you know and stuff so it's always it's just one of those things where you're just always thinking about like you know but yeah you've surpassed the lifespan of like most YouTubers at Because when I first started, I'm like almost everyone that I ever watched was 5 to seven years and and if they hit seven, they they've done it. Like that was like that's age 90. Like that's like a 90-year-old person in like YouTube time, you know? So seven years is a long time. But to past 10 is almost like unheard of. And then to go beyond that, it's just it's a small group. Yeah, I mean I didn't start as soon as like the Philip the Franco like he was in before me and everything but you know it's it's you know there's a pride involved with it and you know at the same time you know you always want to feel like you're just getting started. I mean like you know just like we talked about your bankroll coffee and stuff and like establishing those brands and like really learning the space and taking advantage of the opportunity. Yeah. Don't want that to stop. Speaking of which, you know, before we get our taste buds annihilated, um I heard that you have a Pokéball line coming out and it's similar to like a a Mr. Beastburgger where people are going to be able to order and stuff. Is Am I getting that right? Yeah. How'd you come up with that idea? That was Night Media. I'm guessing it was Yeah. So, um a um a large restaurant company um they're they're working on launching a brand. It's called C3. Um, and they're working with a bunch of creators, not just myself. Like Danny Duncan, we met him at the Pokemon thing. He's launching a chicken sandwich and stuff. And so a lot of it was like, hey, like what's the type of food that you eat? What's the type of stuff that you like? Like um how how can we like convert that into what will be now like ghost kitchens like Mr. Beastburger and um back and forth, you know. But I grew up on rice bowls. Like I love eating rice bowls. I spent a lot of time in Hawaii. My parents met in Hawaii, so we visit there a lot. and Poke Bowls just it worked out great with the company. They got a good supply chain for high quality fish and rice and everything. So yeah, we're launching Stony Bowls hopefully in the sometime in the near future. Super excited about it. And um yeah, we did bring some whole plethora. I'm excited. Drove all the way to Mandalay Bay, pick those up here and bring them over. See, I see I don't know why I thought you would have like an assistant go and pick this up. You personally went you I I was surprised you came here alone. I was a little late. You no usually that was awesome. You sometimes show up with entourage. Yeah. The upper like upper echelon people, but like you know they'll show up with like an assistant or a videographer or something like that. You ever like a lawyer sitting in the room or something? Is that close? Close to that. Sure. It's It's kind of awkward because they'll ask a question, they can I answer this? Yeah, that's like we would rather you not. Sorry. I can't like I I heard them. You don't have to repeat what they said. Although you Graeme, you said that uh when you did a video with Kevin Olir, he was just himself, right? Yeah. He just showed up. Kevin Ol, he didn't have a driver. He didn't have an assistant. He drove the car himself and just walked up with a briefcase. It was incredible. I was so surp Oh, he did? I thought he drove himself. No, I remember seeing something. He always does Uber. Okay, but sometimes it's the people you would you would most expect to show up with an entourage or like an assistant or somebody show up just alone and then the people who uh you would expect to show up alone show up with like, "Oh, by the way, I'm with five people. Is that cool?" And I'm like, "Well, got to check out the new see the aquarium and stuff." Okay. Well, try some chewing. I was even thinking like if we're going to do a spicy challenge, we got to get something in our stomach, right? It would burn so much harder if we don't get something. So, what did what did you bring? And and by the way, could you walk us through really quick, how much money you make from this? What what are the I'm so curious what the profit margins on this? Cuz I'll tell you with coffee, if I make a dollar a bag, well, right now I'm not making any money, but uh if I made a dollar a bag, I mean, it's just that would be considered good. I mean, this is pre-launch and this is the the infrastructure and stuff is all being taken care of by C3. Um, I get like I think like the deal was like a small stake and stuff. So, it's not really like a profit thing for the most part. An opportunity to be part of something bigger. Got it. Because a lot of there's like I forget how many creators are on the roster, but it's a pretty big list. So, um, so yeah, we'll see. Is Danny with Night Media? I don't think so. Okay. Which was was weird to see him at the Pokemon event. I was like I know he's just really into Pokemon. I never knew that. I never took him as a Pokemon guy either cuz the stunt comedy does. Yeah. We uh we got dinner a while ago. This is right after Look at Paul's video came out uh about the Pokémon cards. And Danny was collecting PSA 10 Charizards first edition. Yeah. And he said he bought like he bought like several sets and stuff like that. Wow. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Where where did you get these from? I don't Oh, sorry. I don't want to interrupt your story. Wow. Anyway, well, you will be able to get them all across the country delivery. Can you uh can you get some B-roll of that with your phone just so that people I have extras too. I got I got two of each bowl so I don't need to get any shots later. Holy Oh, he said the sword. Again, this is this this space is totally new to me. I when the opportunity came up, I was like, "This sounds so great." But the more we worked with C3 and making this product, it blew my mind how the product that we came up with. And on top of that too, we're also with it, we're launching giant, you can order a giant bowl with all these in one thing, too. That's such that's so on brand. Should we get chopsticks or So wait, so I'm so curious. So when you pull up at Mandalay Bay, do they know who you are and they're like, "Oh, wow. He's picking up his own food. They're they're a humongous company. They own so many they own Kumi. Gosh. They're operating out of Kumi or the Mandanda Libby. Are you going to eat with us? Yeah, of course. Okay, cool. So, let me just real quick. So, let me just go over here. So, what is this? I'm so hungry. Are you guys pokey fans? Yes. That's Graham and I we try to have a date once every week and we usually get pokey. Yeah. Really? Yeah. Because Jack moved out and uh we stop seeing each other see him anymore and then he texts me when he's at the gym instead of giving me advanced notice. Yep. Okay. Well, you know, I won't get in your way of starting. That right there is our chicken teriyak bowl. It's, you know, it's a standard chicken teriyak. You know, just chicken breast. So good. You know, sauteed onions and stuff. Hey, you can let him. The uh Houston has delivered. There we go. We're getting our prep ready. Perfect timing. Oh my god. Holy Oh my god. There's two. Wait. Put them on the table, Grim. Are you kidding me, Houston? But like you It's The whole thing is filled with every No, it's not. Look at this, dude. Oh my god. Honestly, it's I feel like I'm in a dream right now. Put this over here. I I get the vibe that you haven't like eaten on podcast before. Now you got like a buffet. Yeah, this is like everything. I'm I'm actually having Well, now I'm not going to call it mukbang, but I'm eating a lot of food in a competitive manner with Matt Stony. This is a dream. This is oyaku. This is something I grew up eating. It's chicken egg. It's like an adashi broth. It's kind of it's a home comfort food. That's the signature poke bowl that we're releasing. It's the AI It's AI tuna with what I think places miss all the time, which is sesame oil. Yeah. A sesame oil marinade. It makes so much when I had it, it made sense, but just like how many seared ai things have you seen with like sesame seeds on it? It's just the perfect combination. So, you know, you know what I count this as right now, Matt? What? So, imagine if we had like um imagine if we had like a famous basketball player on, you know, we play basketball with him. This is the same thing. I'm eating really with uh with Matt Stony right now. Yeah, this is the same thing. Granted, we're not flattering. I mean, we're not It's weird for me because I'm I'm just chilling out just having dinner before spicy challenge, but So, I I stopped by Jack in the Box before here. Okay. And I grabbed three junior bacon cheeseburgers cuz I wanted to race you. Okay, that was the surprise. Yeah, I wanted to race you. But I mean, I'm still down. Well, of course you're down, man, cuz you can eat anything. I I'll be able to I'll be able to put it down. Yeah, we'll see how we're feeling. I mean, I'm down, but I have a feeling if we're if we're if we put an effort into the spicy challenge. Maybe we'll do it before the spicy. Sure. But I I have to race you. I've been telling myself that I'm going to do this since we knew you were coming on. Baby bucket list type of thing. Yeah. Seriously, got to happen. It has to. Yeah. Try that. That's my favorite one. Yeah. So, that's that's the panko shrimp with a wasabi aoli and wasabi peas. In case you don't want to share something, we got plenty. I I wanted to bring plenty. This is a an oyako. Oyako is Japanese for parent and child. It's it's it's something I grew up on because it's it's a chicken thigh and egg. It's like a scramble with the dashi broth and they cook it all together um grilled onions and everything and then you just top it on rice. It's a comfort food. It's nothing like super fancy or something, but it's just to me at least it's a comfort food. to the chairs. We get pokey probably like once to twice a week and this one was probably my favorite with the spicy sauce. I've not tried this one yet. The tuna tastes really really really fresh. But the good thing with the tuna Macy that he was explaining is that they put sesame oil on it which is what Yeah, that's why I feel like a lot of pokey places misses missing is usually just like use like a basic ponzoo or showyu or something. That sesame oil makes it kind of rich, adds that nutty flavor. And then of course you do also have a ponu, you know, sesame sauce on top of it to add that that that traditional flavor. I grew up eating a lot of rice bowls and pokey and stuff. So So good. I'm hoping that this this this nails it a little bit. This is my attempt to nail it. So I still think I forget where I saw it, but um like home automation. And I was just looking into it and stuff and somebody had posted this thing where they showed their if this and then that thing and it's like if like if like the alarm goes off like it's like a somebody breaking into the house. It's like Alexa just like turn off all the lights. Huh. And then turn all the lights beat red and start blasting music really loud and stuff. I was like that's actually really smart. That would be freaky if you just I think three high quality speakers somewhere in the house going off at different points. the shotgun noise. You're like, "Oh, yeah. Shotgun noises." Yeah. Well, that's what Simply Safe does. Something similar to that, though. Not the shotgun noise. Simply Safe does that. No, Simply Safe has it where the alarms go off and there's, you know, but Yeah. But we're not That's like every red lights. Boss music. Yeah. Yeah. Shadows cast on the wall of a huge figure. So, we had the scariest thing happen last night with Macy and I. And uh anytime you open a door or a window, our alarm goes beep beep every single time. And it's always my fear. It's like it'll be 1:00 in the morning. We're in bed. We're about to fall asleep and there's beep beep goes off. That's my biggest fear. Last night it was like almost midnight and the entire house was locked up and we hear the beep beep beep and both of us freeze and I'm like I I sw I thought someone was in the house. So the first thing I was like check this check the camera cuz we have a camera in the front. Macy go check. Yeah. No, I was like stay here and take care of Bailey. You go look. No, but I went to the to the bedroom door and I locked it. And then once the door was locked, I knew we'd like at least have a few seconds in there. I was like, but the cat's out there. What am I going to do? I don't know where he is. But but the thing is the thing is is I would run out just to save the cat. Like I would be like Ramsey could be anywhere. Yeah, but they're not going to attack a cat. And like I mean, you don't know. You're not right in the head to break into someone's house. But a cat's not going to call the cops up the target. You're a danger to the cat. Exactly. Yeah. But anyway, so I locked the door and I didn't see any motion on the Ring camera in front. So I'm like, it's not somebody in front. And so we check the camera and we don't see anything. And Ramsay uh we see Ramsay on the camera. He's like all perked up and we're like, "Oh, what what is it?" So I check the uh the side door and it's open. And we think you were going to go out front. I was like, "Whoa, wait one second." And go to the side door and it's just open. Oh yeah, it's open by like a little bit. It's open by like that much, but it was locked. It was locked, but you saw the lock out. So I guess when it locked, it didn't lock all the way in and the wind blew it open. But anyway, that was the scary. So now from now on, I'm so scared that at night I'm going to hear that sound. You remember you remember when we were like about to go to bed and this was after Jack moved out. And we hear someone walking through the house and you and I like what the And then you came out there and it was Jack. Yeah. Jack, you got to text us if you're coming. Jack didn't turn on any of the lights. It's just like this. Oh yeah. Yeah. I remember. And I was nervous walking in. I'm like, I hope I don't scare Graham. I was thinking that to myself. Yeah. Like I'm walking and I'm like, I hope he doesn't come out cuz I'm going to scare him. I don't even think we were expecting him. It wasn't like he was expect We were expecting him that night to show up for an SD card or anything. It was just like all of a sudden Yeah. I was worried about scaring you. I was like, "Okay, I'll just try to." Yeah. My bad. Sorry. Graham's very paranoid cuz he's always like, "Alex, if you're going to come, just uh just text." cuz he now I can't you can't just show up anymore if you live here but then it's kind of assumed but so did you feel safer when I was in the house or not? Yeah, I would say so. Yep. Big old Jack ready to Jack go check it out. It makes you feel thing it's a third person that that'll throw you off. I mean if an attacker comes in and it's three against three versus two. True. We're better off with three. Right. And you got to think too, like for an attacker to come in, if they weren't expecting you to be in the house, but they knew that we were there, then you're like this secret hidden person that's going to like Bruce Willis this. See, I always made sure as a as a kid, I mean, I don't I'm not mindful of it anymore, but as a kid, I would always never I would never want the room that's closest to the front door. I always wanted my brother to be I was I was front window. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah, you never wanted to be closest to the front door because if as this makes me sound evil, but if they get someone, it's not you. It's I always thought Yeah. I always thought that um if you if you I guess the way the bed faces, I never wanted to sleep away from the door. Yeah. Cuz in that way, you couldn't see it coming. Yeah. At least you can see it, right? I want to be made aware. I open my eyes and sleep. Okay. Now, now I know it's something's happening. Okay. Yeah. I just I just want to sleep with a frying pan in the room cuz I know if anyone came I can I got a pretty good swing. Like that's a good salt. I got a baseball bat by the way right after that. Did you really? My mom bought one too. Like Yeah. It's the Brooklyn Crusher defender bat. I got I did. I I went on Amazon and typed in baseball bat self-defense and that was the number one thing I bought. Was it the Brooklyn Defender? Probably. Dude, that's hilarious. I just saw that in my mom's uh shopping cart on Amazon. You saw it shopping cart on Amazon? I I check I What? Why do you check your mom's shopping cart? Cuz I have the same login as them. Am I allowed to say that publicly? Katonic. Okay. Yeah. Konic baseball bat. 28 in self-defense black. It just seems so imp. It's like why would you want a baseball bat? You're better off a No. You realize how close you have to get to someone with a taser to an act. Hey, that's a stun gun. I'm talking a taser. That's a taser. No, the taser is the one that you shoot. But taser for a taser to actually work. And this is like weird stuff. I know. Both prongs actually have to hit. And the further away the target is, the harder it is to hit. Even for typical like self-defense things, they say really don't pull out a taser unless there's somebody else with a backup weapon. Just by the pew pew there, but not to be grotesque, but if you're really trying to protect yourself, a machete is going to clearly be a katana. Unless they take unless they take that from you and they turn on you. And what about the Okay, what about the bat? It's like the same thing. It's like just go get it taken from you. If they get it taken from you, you're done either way. You know what I mean? Wouldn't you rather be hit by a pillow than Here's where I'm at. Team frying pan here. Because if someone tries to hit you, the frying pan is also good as a shield as well as a weapon. Like, you know, if somebody tried to hit you with like a knife, then you can Yeah. But here's the thing, man. Stop it. If Okay, let I don't want to put myself in the shoes of the intruder, but I will just for the sake of the argument, okay? So, don't think of me as an intruder, but okay. Let's say I'm going into a house, okay? I'm intruding on on the house, okay? And then I turn around a corner and I see Macy there with a frying pan. I'm like, "Okay, let's say let's say say she gets a hit on me, okay? I can grab that frying pan out of her hand, right?" But if I turn the corner and I see her with a machete or a like a katana, I'm like definitely not getting close to her because even if she hits me once, I'm done. But if you're holding even a baseball bat, it's like I can take a hit to the I just rush, you know? You do have to think if you did break into the house and somebody had a machete or a katana, you'd be like, "Oh, they are they are a freak." Yeah, I'm getting out of here. You could buy one on Amazon for $22. Yeah. Get naked and have a katana and then they're like, I'm there's no Yeah, that's horrifying. I got one. No, you got a what? Machete. Oh my. You bought a machete? Did you actually buy a machete? Yeah. Get your gets here on Monday. Wait, what about the katana? Wait. Oh my god. You actually got a machete? Grab, here's our new tactic. You go out with the baseball bat if there's someone there and you're like, "Look, my girlfriend's here. She's got a mischievous. She's a little crazy. I would just suggest you leave." And then I come out behind you like catch up real nice. That's what you say. I've been waiting for this one. Graham, you've brought me a good one today. Tag team. Anyway, no, I bought because you could never be like cuz after that I I did realize if we're in the bedroom, we have nothing to protect oursel with. the only option is to run. And uh you know, I figured well between not having a baseball bat, not having a machete, I'd rather have both, right? At least now both of you guys can be equipped. You know, frying pans too far away. So yeah, I could talk about this stuff for hours. What you must know dedicated self-defense course. My dad was flipping out when we were watching um what show was it? They were going over like how they found certain serial killers and stuff and he clicks on one. I'm like, "Oh, this is that case." And he's like, within like 30 seconds of the thing starting, I'm like, "Oh, this is this one. This is the whole case." And he was like, "How do you know?" And I'm like, "I just know some people are into that stuff." Yeah. It's Yeah. I mean, I don't want to say it's concerning, but Macy knows way too much about serial killers and like how people like, you know, un alive and stuff. And it's just she'll be like, "Oh, yeah, but he he poisoned this or she did that." And like it's like Disproportionately. Serial killers probably know about other serial killers. Disproportionately compared to the average person. Oh. Oh. Like like just just putting this out there, but like to throw up over blood cuz I I didn't know that. To throw up. Oh, come on, man. We were watching a show. I feel like I'm like, this is uncomfortable, but um we were watching this show and um what is it called on Netflix? Anyways, this girl had a blood stain on her carpet and I was like, "Well, they can go over that with luminol later because when you do luminol and you spray it on there, it will glow because of the DNA when that reacts under a black light." So, um, and it will show where blood is or more accurately DNA. So, that could come from a lot of different things. I'm like, I wonder if she wanted to throw that to kind of throw people off from that. If she could just throw up over that and then kind of cover up the snake. And then he was like, what the heck? But the reason why I know so much about this is because I wanted to go into into uh the FBI, okay? But it wouldn't allow me to have any of the other life goals I wanted. So, for me, it was a lot more important to have kids in a family. But I like I would love to just track down missing people and like get answers for people. I just I'm fascinated, but I want to catch that stuff so bad. That's why I know. Yeah. I mean, it's it's a valuable It's like I think of my like my brother. He's he's huge into the cars. He he doesn't he does some work as a car stuff. I don't know anything about cars, but it's as soon as something happens to a car, he's right there and he just figures it out. So in case something happens and you got it covered. Yeah. Now you know cuz I'm full now. Before that I actually Yeah, I did I did bring in a surprise and I wanted to to do this on the podcast. Okay. You, me and Matt. What? Oh, you I mean you could stay here, Mason, but Graham, you should get the you should get the mic. Okay. You got to you got to stay here, Macy, to cheer on your boyfriend. I'm not going to do an eating competition. Yes, you are. No, no, no. You're not that full because what do they say, Matt, about being Maybe they say something. It's mentality. It's mentality. There we go. Okay. Now, I know you're pretty strong mentally, Graeme. Okay. And we're going to test that out right now cuz I brought Looks like French fries. Jack in the Box. So, what we're gonna be doing is we're all gonna race each other. Are you serious? A junior. It's a junior. It's not even a bacon before we ate everything else. Would you rather get full off of Pokey? I'm not going to slander Jack in the Box right now. But I've been eating so healthy. I've been I've been counting my calories now for Well, I'll tell you what. If you want um Matt can try to beat me two to one if you want. If if you want to donate, I'll take a few bites. I'll give it your best. You're gonna take a few bites, man. We love Jack in the Box. Thank you, Jack. I bought this off your VIP Jack Cash, by the way. I'm running out. So, if you guys send me another one, that would be much appreciated. Oh, and real quick, just just to wrap it up. Stony BS. Stony BS guys soon. So, if you want to try this out, we'll put a logo or something. They got this out. So, I just want to do it solid. Stony BS. Super excited about it. See, are you going to be dipping this in the water and stuff, or you just going to dry eat it? I don't think this is a dip situation. Okay. What kind of situation? Too messy. Um burgers are hard because the the part that would absorb it, it's kind of on the inside. Yeah. So, see, I'm I'm just nervous um about a choking and and b biting my tongue. That could happen. It happens. Um I don't know how you get around that. Okay. So, there's no Okay. So, what I'm going to what I'm probably going to do is I'm probably just going to fold it in half and squeeze it. Oh, you're fine. Just make it as make it as small as possible. Just And just really and just chomp at it. Yeah. I see. I'm nervous. Although I know I have no ch like chance against you, I'm still nervous cuz I wanted Anything could happen. Yeah, we'll see. And and water is your best friend. Don't forget the water's there. Okay. Oh god, I'm going to throw up. I know something's going to happen. All right, round two. Here we go. Wait, wait. So, what how you eating this? I'm probably just going to fold it in half and it's going to like like make it like a taco. And are you going to drink while eating it? I mean, it's like it's like a chaser. hurts. It's like boom boom boom. That's what I'll probably be doing. Okay. Oh my gosh. Countdown somebody. Three, two, one, go. Oh my god. Done. How much do you guys have left? Stop, Jack. Stop. Show Show the camera. Okay. So, uh, Jack made it further. Jack put some work in there. What? Why did you reorder it? Because you said you're supposed to fold it in half to make it go faster. That's what I was doing. Just get the air bubbles out of the bread. We don't have a timer, but here we go. Here we go. Jack looks committed for the finish. Let's get him. Let him get there. Reasonably clear mouth. Just there we go. It's over. Oh my god. There we go. That was under what? 15 for me. I'll have you know it tastes incredible. You taste it. Yeah, you taste the food. People wonder that sometimes. But thanks, Jack in the Box. I'll take another VIP Jack cash. That was some good fun. They they say they commonly say competitive eating isn't pretty, but it's beautiful. So I felt beautiful when I was doing that. Exactly. You didn't feel pretty, but you felt beautiful. It's interesting the water with that cuz the water was almost weird cuz I took a bite and then drank. Yeah. Oh, you're killing it, man. That was like a slap in the face. So, I have to explain what this is. It's a It's a one-of-a-kind in the world. This is the spiciest sandwich ever at 2 million Scoville units. Now, now if we look at like the Scoville chart, I think it's like uh a pepper is something like, you know, 50 or something like that. This is 2 million. I think a jalapeno is 8,000. Looks delicious. Looks good. Yeah. Very normal. Smell it. I've seen more intimidating spicy challenges. Oh, already box. I can smell it. Oh my. Come on, dude. It burns your nostrils. Bring it to me. I'm burning my nostrils. How have you not been able to I don't even smell it. No, it doesn't really. What's Matt smell? Nothing. Really? No. I mean, it's just me. Maybe I got a really sensitive nose. I don't have great senses. Maybe. I don't know. My nostrils aren't burning, but I know I could I could I could It smells spicy. I know the spice is there. Yeah. The psychology that I have behind spicy challenge is interesting because it's not going to kill you, right? It's just It's just It's just pain and it's not it's not going to kill you. to damage you, right? It like So, just it's like a mental test. It's like sitting with it. It's just like just do it. Thank you for those words. Maybe just turn the Oh, sorry. Mic to just turn the mic down. It's like burning underneath my nail where I ripped it off here. So, oh, just one thing. Just I learned the hard way. Do not rub your eyes. Whatever you do. Oh, yeah. Don't try to rub. Matt says, "Do not rub your eyes, guys." Probably a good idea. Okay. Don't even like use napkins and avoid it. All right. Oh yeah, that's bad. Holy that's bad. It's like eating um like Tabasco. Yeah, but if someone took it and like ground it up and I don't know and made it really bad. All right, Matt. Apparently apparently gets worse. You're You're tearing up. Yeah, I don't doubt it. This would be the time to take thumbnails. Yeah. Yeah. How are we splitting this up? Are we trying to cut it? I I don't care to take a bite after you take I'll take a Wait, you know what? Do you want me to take a bite? Yeah, you go for it. Let me Let me go Let me go first cuz Macy got a bite. Hold on. That's it. Yes. What? That's it? No. You better rip off. Oh, come on, man. I got 10. I got to eat five of those things or 10 of those things for a million skull hole units. Let me just try this. I don't I don't do well with it. It's burning my gums. FYI, how bad? You didn't even say that. Say it. Say it into the mic. It's burning my gums. How bad? Pretty bad. [Music] Okay. Come on, Graham. No, no, no. Water makes it worse. Do not do that. I want water so bad right now, but it makes it worse. Here. Oat milk. You want some oat milk? No. I've never seen you like this, Graham. Are you okay? Just give it a sec. Okay. It's I'm probably making it out to be worse than it actually is. I don't want to cough on it. Put it away. Put it away cuz I don't want to cough on it. No. You next or me next? Uh, whatever you want, man. Listen, if I could do it, it's Ow. Why are you clenching your heart, man? Cuz my esophagus burns. See, I don't know what to do because they took a little nugget thing, but I feel like I got to do more than that. But you know what? Yeah. The thing is is you just get all of the spice with that. You don't get any chicken. Yeah, it feels really hot. But the but the hard part for me is it feels like my mouth has a pulse right now. Oh god. But I feel it here. And I'm not sure if it's because I don't have I feel like I need water. Dang. I don't think water help. I don't think it makes it worse. It just doesn't help. You need lactose or alcohol. You guys have um it seems like maybe that was No, I mean that kind of helps. I feel like alcohol before would also be good, too. No, I mean alcohol neutralizes capsation in the same way that lactose does. So Well, see, I was going to take a like a big bite of the burger. That's what I thought we were doing. But now I see that and they're like they look like they're in disrepair. Yeah, that it's concerning. Yeah, it's uh Graham keeps saying ow. I don't look like I'm in disrepair. Graham looks like he's in disrepair. I am fine. My nose just won't stop running. But clenching his heart, but yet my it's like I feel my esophagus. I don't know why. Like I feel maybe there's a part stuck in there. It's burns right like right there. Yeah, it's just burning your tissue. That's it's all it is. It's I think I think it's I I think it's a it's it's a it's supposed to be like a defense mechanism. Plants and stuff. They develop this so people don't eat it. And look at us. And now we're stuffing it down. See, you've got me nervous. I kind of wish I went first now cuz then I at least would have been ignorant going into it, you know? Cut off whatever you think. Okay. Look, if if there's anyone I'm going to do this with, I'm glad it's Matt. All right. There we go. Macy was getting a knife. Oh, you okay, dude? You can't even talk. That's fine. Are you going to eat all? Um, sure. You're going to eat all of that? I'll take that. Yeah. Well, let me just get mine to a bite that I'm see. I feel like you got you you lost a lot of your crust. Yeah, I didn't get as much crust cuz you got the edge. So nervous, man. Are you nervous at all? I'll have a piece, but I want you guys to know that like I can barely eat hot Cheetos. So, like I'll probably be dying and uh but I'm down. I'm down for a little piece. Yeah. Look how rich that is. Look, man. Are we comparing or are we eating? Oh. Oh, look at Matt. I got mine. I got mine. I got mine. You know what? If said, if I'm going to do something, I'm glad it's with Matt. So, there we go. I'm nervous with you guys. I don't know what to expect. I've never had this chicken before. Okay. So, all right. Cheers. Human, too. Cheers. You got a tap. Come on. Cheers. I can feel it in my nostrils. I did not even have water. Jack, you didn't water immediately. Oh, you're comparing my bite to your bite. Or are you not? Because if I remember correctly, Mia, that's why I go first. But I got all breading. I didn't even get any nice little relief from there. You better hand me that water. It's hot, dude. Go. Alex, are you crying? Yeah, honestly. It's It's hot, but it hasn't really hit me yet. It's going to get worse. I feel like it's that it's that [Music] Are you okay, man? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring you I did mean to bring you into this, but I didn't cause you pain. I mean, Graham, you're laughing worse. I know that much. laughing maniacally in the corner over there like shaking cuz he's laughing so hard. When you're act Oh my god. Don't touch your eyes. You think this is bad? Your eyes are softer. Yeah, it's Jackie. I'll drink anything. I would be Oh my god. Why did you We're getting the Yeah, the water tastes sweet. Alex, why did you agree to do this? Water. I feel so bad for you. Stony. Yeah. Refill me. Thank you. Thank you. I I need water. Did anyone else? Oh, thank you. Sorry. When there's water on my tongue, it doesn't burn. Yeah. Maybe like an ice cube or something. You have ice cubes. Maybe. I don't know. I'll grab them. Oh my god. Do you mind if I post this? It's uh my stomach. Houston. Yeah. Makes the hottest damn chicken ever. Yeah. That's hot. Oh, my stomach hurts, man. Yeah, my mine, too. It hurts. My esophagus is burning. My tongue is still on fire. This is fun. How bad was this for you, man? Let's see how it went to 10. Oh, it wasn't that bad. What? I mean, I'm I'm I've done some spicy challenges. Now, my lips are burning. Like, I I don't know this the Yeah, it's uh I think it was a quantity thing. If I ate 10 of these, yeah, it'd be or even like five or even two. Like, it's hot. Spicy challenges. This is why I avoided them for so long because you feel like it's destroying your body. Like when I was like I'm like I can't I but I I would never do like crazy crazy spicy stuff. But uh I could see why they make you sign waiver. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Because like especially what if you get it in your eyes too? Like I'm sure like that's even worse for you. But your eyes are so red map. Oh watch it. Yeah. Watch the videos. At first, at first I thought it was just maybe cuz I'm done it before and stuff, but I think you guys probably actually guys I'm a worse cut. I think you got more spice by the reaction. Yeah, my stomach just hurts. Exactly. Yeah. You need to take another bite. You don't have to like But but you don't have like I'm not trying to be macho. I was kind of curious a little bit. I just like sneeze some up and now my nostrils are burning again. I might be against 10 of these things. I got to figure out my opponent. That's good, man. So, usually we turn it back to you and we said, "Do you have any questions for us?" Um, by the way, I noticed you got a mighty fine Prius out there. A man culture, I see. Thing's got 200,000 miles on it. Really? We're due for a new car. Yeah, we're waiting to move out to finally get a new car and stuff, but uh What year is it? Cuz I used to have a 2006 I think it was a 2006 Toyota Prius. I don't remember the year. I honestly don't. Looks like a six to an eight. It's old. It's old. It's been around for a minute. So, yeah. No, I mean um Yeah. I mean, we're looking to make the upgrade to Tesla like everybody else is doing. It seems like the way to go and I guess, you know, $7 gas is coming. Yeah. What's been your decision to drive a car that's almost 20 years old, Toyota Prius, 200,000 miles on it? Um I would I was expecting because sometimes you go out there and you see like, you know, big YouTubers and you're like, "Oh, wow. That's a nice car. Sure. Sure. Yeah. I mean, I've um I've never like all my friends and stuff were always more into cars than I was. I was never a huge huge cars person for the most part. But I mean uh I guess in principle for me it's like it's a mean of transportation. Yeah. Get you from one place to other. If anything, the more the more it costs, the more you got to worry about a ding or, you know, hitting a curb or something. I'm not trying to interrupt. Sorry, I'm dying. Oh my gosh. Oh my god. That was so funny. [Music] [Laughter] So, you don't have a passion for cars, so you just figure why not have a cheap one? Yeah, for I mean, for the most part, I mean, I think um in general, I've uh I I'm not big on like uh materialistic stuff. I mean like I I I definitely appreciate, you know, like owning having nice things, going out for a nice meal, buying some Pokemon packs for yourself every once in a while, you know, but yeah, there's like special like experiences attached with that. You're having a dinner out, opening some packs with some friends or something or just like a business expense, spending something on some content. But uh yeah, I mean I that car needs to be upgraded. I'm not going to sit here and deny that. You know, we need to upgrade the car for sure. we're going to. But um yeah, it's it's just it's a lack of urgency, I think, for the most part. Like the biggest upgrade I made recently is get like an espresso or something. Yeah, it's a good purchase. It's a good It's it it spoils you and stuff, but uh I worry that I'm going to get have a hard time with pot, but yeah, coffee. You don't have an expensive taste. You wouldn't say [Music] I don't think so, but I would like to. Oh, what would you buy? Like like refined taste. Like I want to figure out like the sushi. I want to figure out good steak, whiskey, like Pokeballs. Like being able to distinguish a good Pokeball from a not so good Pokeball and be able to like make those cogs turn and stuff from that standpoint. Just, you know, be able to appreciate food on um a higher level. I mean, I do already, but just, you know, just is something that interests me for the most part. But uh I'm flexible, I think, is the best way to say it. Okay, cool. And you're building a house right now, though, right? Or you just finished? Um it's been a nightmare. Um because we the dream was to get, you know, a nice house with a good foundation and a good like area with, you know, everything and um renovate it to what we need, you know, get a nice new kitchen in there cuz I I I assume that no matter what house, unless one just line the stars in line that I would need to rebuild the kitchen anyways, which is pretty expensive, you know, just proper setup. And um it's a little hiccup. Um, yes. So, it's been a nightmare. I got I I purchased the house back in 2020 and permits nightmare. It It was I gotten at the right time. I purchased it for cuz I know we like numbers and stuff. I purchased it for a little under half a mill and now it's like estimated like 800. The neighbor the neighbor neighbor purchased theirs for like the same price. Just sold it for 1.2. Yeah. And um so we got in at the right time. renovations are way more expensive than I was hoping to be, but I I think once once the dust has settled, it's going to be an awesome thing. And and Vegas is cool. That's the one question I had. We I briefly talked about it, but you know, we moved out to Vegas roughly at the same time. And just if you had any thoughts living here, I miss I got to say I miss the weather. Sure. Uh the weather now is kind of comparable. I do miss like that that feeling of the breezy ocean. Sure. And I miss some of the the culture. I I found that like LA had a very creative, artsy, very like freethinking sort of vibe to it that I really liked. Like that Venice vibe and Vegas is a little bit more I don't know. I don't want to say like family, but a little bit more, you know, I don't what's the word? I don't know the word. The opposite thing that people normally think, but it's kind of a little bit more like corporate and structured and you know, I I appreciate that, too. But I liked the artsiness of of Los Angeles and that like entrepreneurial vibe that's not as much here. It's getting there though. I think more people are bringing that to parts of Vegas. But uh it's the one part I do miss. But otherwise I I like it here a lot. Yeah. I mean pretty much the same thing. I mean it's been cool. It's been a good experience and stuff and I'm still surprised that they're expanding the strip as fast as they got that globe going up over there. You know what I have to say though? Everyone in Vegas is very friendly. Way friendlier than I expected. That's something that my girlfriend noticed too. She's like, "Everybody here seems nicer." And the way I articulated that was like, or not articulated, um, imagined is like a at least where I was living in San Jose, everybody was just spending all day just paying the bills like and just that that was it. You were there to work as part of Silicon Valley and stuff. And it feels more free here. Yeah. It feels a lot more free, more liberating and, you know, having a backyard is nice and all that stuff. Yeah. Uh, yeah. in in LA at least um like we didn't really know our neighbors and it was one of those things like maybe it's just me but I'd like kind of keep my distance from the neighbors. You don't want to you know you might see each other you kind of a little nod or whatever but that's about it. It's kind of awkward if you see each other at the same time but here I've I've both gone out of my way to meet the neighbors or they've introduced themsel if we're if we're like walking down the street. It's very welcoming here. Sure. Let me see any other questions. is uh how much how much do you save? Let's let's get into let's get into some of that. Um tell us about your philosophies of saving. That's I guess there's two ways to answer that in some way. Um I think by default a lot of times I save up a lot because my cost of production is so minuscule. You know, I got to I go I go to McDonald's and order the menu. Yeah. And then I post a video and it gets a million views with a sponsor or something on it. So, generally saving hasn't been something that I've been too calculated about. You know, generally it's kind of been um um I've always had this philosophy though that you get what you put in. Like back when I started competitive eating, Nathan's hot dogs are like $6 for a five-pack. Bars is like a dollar for a six, you know, and but I needed to get ready for those hot dogs. So, I've always had this mentality of like, you know, you just you reinvest, you reinvest, and if you you're smart about it and you put the work behind it, then uh you'll get your money back at some point in time and just makes you work that much harder because you got more kind of yeah on the line stuff. And um but savings wise, um I try not to save too much. um like from a standpoint of like getting it invested in some part like uh my first major investments I'm still work you know slowly growing the portfolio is uh real estate just getting condominiums in the same building that under good property manager and they've been it's been good for me. You're in Vegas. Honolulu. Oh wow. Yeah. Honolulu. I figured there's multiple reasons for it. Um but two of the reasons that I thought are kind of interesting is well one I loved it there. you know, it's great. So, if it didn't work out, then I got a condo in Honolulu. Yeah. Um but, you know, it's a vacation market. It's international, too. So, it's it's potentially less volatile compared to, you know, you know, and you know, the whole you know, people come to Hawaii and and uh yeah, it's it was a good it was and we we visit there a lot too because that's where my parents met in Honolulu. So, I knew the space, I knew the area and everything and uh it worked out. So, I have been doing some real estate investments. Is that uh Airbnb? No, through a a professional um property management company. Got it. Do they rent short term or what are the or is it like for a year? It's it's it's not crazy longterm. Um one of the benefits of their company is they actually outside of uh vacation travel, they also have uh they work with a government Pearl Harbor people. So people are going in and out of there. So it's been pretty regular. It's sometimes it's that, sometimes vacation, but it's been fortunately very steady from that aspect of things. So So yeah. No, I mean that's that's been good. Um I was also that was a question I was going to ask you. How much like has has your real estate situation changed significantly since you know taking more of the you know the the content side of things? Yeah, I've stopped investing in real estate. Stopped investing. Interesting. Yeah. It's it's just the uh the the time commitment right now is I I can't handle it. So, uh like I got a a vacancy and a repair going on. The repair is something I I've just I've left calls unanswered because I just I got to I got to focus on planning. So, it's like that falls to the side. It's it's going to affect the renovation. Uh and then the other the other one I got a property manager on, but because I'm not like on site, I'm really relying on this guy for everything. And I'm just like whatever it is, I don't care. Don't even don't even call. Just do it. I trust you. Yeah. Um, so I want to get back into it this year, but I want to do it uh smarter with like like a a bigger building that uh could be completely managed where I could be the one just, you know, being the one to pick the deal, but have someone else take care of all the details. That's the only way it's going to work. Yeah. Yeah. That I mean, that was my thought cuz I didn't want to be in the business of like like, you know, you did the duplex thing and everything like um not that it's a bad decision, it just depends on your lifestyle, where you are at that point. So I didn't and I mean I chose Honolulu too like some like I you know so I I I had to do something that was hands off and stuff. So that was that thought. Um from there a couple years ago I tried the market you know just just haven't seen tried the market what happened just jumping in and just it it was I did all right you know it it was it was um when the you know corona hit and everything so the market was pretty low so I felt like it was an opportunistic time to jump in and stuff and it was hard to not were you investing prior to then or no you just what holding cash? Yeah. Really? I just jumped in. Yeah. I just I don't know. I just Yeah. Why were you holding cash before then? How long? No. Why? Why? Well, a same problem. It's just like I mean it's a problem, you know, but um my cost of doing operations is not high and you know you're making the money and stuff so it just accumulates and I had previously put that in like the real estate and stuff. Um didn't want to go too heavy into that without exploring other options. So, uh, since then I've I've I work with financial advisors now and they're managing the money and stuff, but for a little period of time, I had some fun. God with it. Where are you invested now? Do you know which funds you're invested in? Uh, there I mean, I trust the guys I'm working with and I I see some of the things that they send over and they're all over the place. Can I Can I Do you Could you have a statement or something? We did this before. Who was it that we saw a statement? The only fans girl. Oh, yeah. Stella. Stella showed us the statement and we're like, "You're overpaying on this one." Who was it? I forget who their their fees were fee wise. Okay. Yeah, they had a fee and then they invested in a fund with a fee as well or something like that for a high fee. I forget the name for that. I remember hearing something about Yeah, it was Stella, but it was through I think it was through like a a friend or like it was a friend's aunt or someone like that. But she was putting her in like these very very very safe like overly safe funds but charging I think it was like a half% fee a year. No, it was 100% allocation to one fund. It wasn't like the financial adviser diversifer decision stuff. Yeah. Yeah. It was all in one fund. But the but but the they were charging 5% a year just for that one fund. Um which but that fund could also be very easily replicated for free. Um instead of going with you know what whatever fund. Yeah. It was like somebody charged you. You may not be 100% correct, but it's it was basically a high fee for what she was getting. If you have a statement, I can take a look at it, not know. I I I honestly I didn't bring a statement for it and stuff. I mean, I know I I made sure to put a decent amount in so that you know that the fee was lower and stuff just to get that perk. Um it seems like they've been busy. You know, I see I catch some of the things that they've invested in and stuff. Um some I'm like, why would you do that? You know, but uh you know, it's it's uh it's been interesting to just just be part of the market. It's just a little bit and stuff. Um, do you have any questions for us? No, I just uh How you doing? I guess is the question. How you doing? I'm good. Honestly, the heat has worn off. My stomach hurts a little bit more. Yeah, it's starting to get here a little bit for me, too. But overall, man, I'm just so happy that you're here. This is been so This is Look at this table, man. I feel proud when I look at that table. Houston. Yeah, I'm just happy. Oh, man. Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate this. This has been uh actually I believe this is now the longest episode we have ever done. Um but not only that it's the most delicious. We got amazing food. We'll link to your information down below in the description with the Poké Balls which were fantastic. And Houston, I can't believe you were able to come through in 40 minutes with one of everything from your restaurant. So that was that was a surprise. Also, huge shout out to Houston's Hot Chicken. If you guys are in Las Vegas, just just look on the map. Houston's Hot Chicken. go in and then say that uh Graham sent you and I'm sure they're going to be very confused, but be like, "No, no, no. Just insist. Graham sent me." So, Houston's Hot Chicken, Stony BS. Check out Stony Bose launching soon. Delivery apps everywhere. And I like it a lot. I like the sesame oil was the best. And with with whatever whatever that is, the shrimp aoli shrimp is Yeah, that's that's a sleeper. It wouldn't be the type of thing I would normally order at like a pokey or a rice bowl place, but that's get that. The shrimp is that that was my favorite one. Yeah. Very good stuff. Thank you so much for coming. I got one more question. Yeah, go for it. Why isn't this called the coffee table? You were out of the room when we were talking about it. We never have decided. Why isn't this called the coffee table? That's a genius name. Yeah, actually because for those that don't see there's coffee inside I love craft work like this. I love wood with the It's You should the bottom of it. It's pretty crazy. I'll check it out. Yeah. But we'll go keep coffee. Yeah. The coffee table. I had to ask cuz I was like what? That's smart. Now it's called the coffee table courtesy of Matt. Yeah. So, thank you guys so much for watching. We'll link to your information down below. Make sure to subscribe. Make sure to also get your free stock down below. It's worth up to $1,000 when you use the code Graham in Center for Republic. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Macy. Until next time. Thanks, Matt. That was awesome. Yeah, I know. Thank you. Yeah. No, that was fun.