Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack held a Man v. Food contest at its newly renovated buffet on Wednesday night. Special guest for the event, host of the television series “Man v. Food” Casey Webb, served as emcee for the event. Joel Zellem of the Wheeling Miners kept his game face on during the contest, despite the intimidating amount of food. (Photos by Eric Ayres)

WHEELING – Forks full of food were flying furiously Wednesday night at Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack when the venue’s newly refurbished Wheeling Island Buffet became a battleground for a special Man v. Food challenge.

The event was hosted by none other than Casey Webb, star of the popular “Man v. Food” television series.

A multimillion-dollar renovation recently brought a smorgasbord of upgrades to the Wheeling Island Buffet, and Executive Chef John Greenwald has curated an array of new offerings at the menu-driven buffet.

Wednesday night’s Man v. Food promotion brought scores of hungry casino guests and curious onlookers to the venue, where Webb emceed a food eating challenge that pitted teams of daring participants against one another.

“One of the places we’ve never filmed an episode of ‘Man v. Food’ is West Virginia,” Webb noted. “We’re here celebrating each other, the community and the brand new buffet. We’re excited about that. Am I the only one excited about buffets?”

Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack held a Man v. Food contest at its newly renovated buffet on Wednesday night. Special guest for the event, host of the television series “Man v. Food” Casey Webb, served as emcee for the event and provided commentary while participants chowed down. (Photos by Eric Ayres)

The three-man teams taking part in the contest included players from the Wheeling Nailers hockey team, the Wheeling Miners indoor football team, Panhandle Cleaning and Restoration and a team of guests who – quite literally – stepped up to the plate to participate in the challenge.

Members of the Wheeling Fire Department were also scheduled to participate in the contest and were at the table just before the event began, but they had to respond to an emergency call and leave the competition before even being served. The crowd still gave the dedicated first responders a round of applause.

Webb said it would be impressive to see the firefighters return in the middle of the competition – directly from the scene of a call.

“If the firemen show up, can they still compete? Do we have food for those guys? That would be fun – if they come in and they crush everybody. That would be amazing,” Webb said, noting that hardcore participants might actually need emergency medical service before it was all over. “Are there any first responders left in the building?”

Participants drawn randomly from a list of willing candidates in the buffet crowd on hand formed the final team – which chose the name Team Mouthful. The three men – who were not associated with one another before becoming a gut-busting unit – were selected from a pool of interested attendees who purchased a buffet and were Lucky North Club cardholders.

One of the team members from the crowd, Patrick Hardee of Pennsylvania, had already consumed three plates from the buffet before his name was pulled. He gave it his best shot anyway.

All participants were required to sign a waiver before attempting to eat the enormous mound of food.

The crew from Panhandle Cleaning & Restoration worked as a team to clean portions of their heaping plates. (Photos by Eric Ayres)

“A reminder, if you need to leave … please,” Webb told the competitors who were truly pushing their limits. “There are other guests enjoying the buffet.”

It was determined that 4-ounce samples of each item from the massive Wheeling Island Buffet – when piled together on plates – weigh a total of about 9.2 pounds. Each contestant was served a cold plate and a hot plate of food in the full-buffet sampler, for a total weight of 27.6 pounds of food per team.

Each team was given 20 minutes to consume as much as they could. After time expired, officials from Wheeling Island weighed the remaining food from each team to determine how much they collectively ate in order to declare a winning team.

Webb, known for his jovial personality and high-spirited commentary, provided live narration as the teams chowed down.

“I see there’s no one else wearing a Hawaiian shirt,” Webb announced to the buffet crowd, referring to his customary floral-patterned attire. “Why is that? We’re on an island.”

In the end, Team Mouthful swallowed a respectable 7.8 pounds. The crew from Panhandle handled 8.74 pounds. The Wheeling Nailers scored with 11.18 pounds.

The Wheeling Miners, after finishing this past season with a 10-0 record, remained undefeated Wednesday night by claiming victory at the Man v. Food contest – putting down a whopping 13.1 pounds of buffet items.

Joel Zellem of the Wheeling Miners was probably the most formidable man in the food eating competition. After picking the shrapnel out of his beard in the wake of the contest, the offensive/defensive lineman and fullback reflected on his strategy.

Joel Zellem of the Wheeling Miners kept his game face on during the contest, despite the intimidating amount of food. (Photos by Eric Ayres)

“For the first seven minutes you were flying through it, and then you hit a big wall,” Zellem said after the competition. “But you know, you’ve just got to pace yourself after that, but it was fun. I feel like crap now, but it was fun while we were doing it, for sure.”

Despite the successful effort to keep the Miners in the winning column, Zellem indicated that he may not be stepping back up to the plate for another food competition anytime soon.

“I don’t think I’ll ever do it again – I feel defeated,” he laughed.

After the competition, Webb participated in a meet-and-greet with guests who attended the buffet event, signing autographs and posing for pictures.

A few contestants paid homage to the celebrity guest emcee by wearing shirts depicting “Man v. Food” host Casey Webb. (Photos by Eric Ayres)

Executive Chef John Greenwald serves contestants dishes piled with samples from the massive Wheeling Island Buffet. (Photos by Eric Ayres)

Members of the Wheeling Nailers skated to an impressive second-place finish in the eating competition. (Photos by Eric Ayres)

The Wheeling Island Buffet recently underwent a multimillion-dollar renovation and is now reopened to the public, complete with a new array of menu items. (Photos by Eric Ayres)

Daring guests from the buffet crowd were randomly selected to form a team in the eating contest. Calling themselves Team Mouthful, the walk-on contestants put down a respectable 7.8 pounds of food from the buffet, collectively. (Photos by Eric Ayres)