Stefani Forsythe is the front-end manager of Big Pie In The Sky Pizza, located in Kennesaw, Ga. Her pizzeria sponsors the Carnivore Challenge, in which two contestants pay $50 for the opportunity to attempt to fully consume an 11-pound pizza. Winning teams receive $250 of prize money for their efforts.

1) How long has the Carnivore Challenge been going on?
It’s been going on ever since we opened up in February 2007.

2) How did the idea emerge?
The two owners, Chris and Derek, just thought it up one day. They had the idea for making a really big pizza, and the idea of making a challenge of it went along with that.

3) Similarly, why would someone even come up with the Carnivore Pizza?
Well, it wasn’t so that they could eat it; actually, they’ve never tried to eat it all at once. Mainly they just wanted something that would stand out and attract more people, and make money for the restaurant.

4) What was the interest in the Challenge like at first?
Everybody that walked in heard about it, since we have two signs that literally tell people to ask about it. So about 80 percent of the people who come in end up inquiring about the Challenge. Maybe 50 percent of the people who do it are folks who walk in and hear about it that way. But since you have to call ahead of time and schedule the Challenge, a lot of people hear about it on the Internet, through our website and other sources.

There’s not that many people in Kennesaw, but people talked about it and word spread quickly, so we had a lot of people coming in.

5) Has interest grown significantly since then?
Definitely. The people who do the television show “Man vs. Food” found out about it on the Internet and came here for the show and tasted it, and that brought in a lot of publicity. So for the past year or so interest has spiked and a lot of people have been coming in to try it, because they saw that episode. It’s been a big difference-maker — we had to expand our restaurant to hold all the people that were now coming in, especially on the weekends. There’s even an hour wait around dinner time most of the time, because of the success of the Challenge.
Before it really picked up, we had maybe half of the restaurant filled up at dinner time. Now there’s more seating to accommodate people, but before we had a lot of people having to stand up and wait; we purchased deck furniture to help but even that wasn’t enough.

6) What’s the profile of most Carnivore Challenge participants?
Well, firstly, they’re usually guys, and they all come in confident and think they can do it. Most of them come in saying, “It’s only five pounds.” But usually they can only get down two slices; for the Challenge they have to eat four slices each. Beyond that, I would say they’re usually middle-aged guys, with some younger participants.

7) Have many women participated in this competition?
I would say under 10 women have done it. Although the last group that won included a female participant.

8) How many successful challenges have there been so far?
We’ve had only three winning teams out of 800 teams. And they were all professional eaters — including the last team, which was with the woman. She’s actually planning to start her own television show, which she wants to call “Woman vs. Food.”

Also, all the winning teams were made up of middle-aged contestants, who had a lot of experience.

9) Do you know how they felt in the hours and days following the Challenge?
I would say about half of the people that try it get sick, especially right after they’re done eating. The Carnivore Pizza feels really salty after like the second slice, and makes them feel like they don’t want to eat pizza for like a whole month — so they tend not to take the leftovers. Most people who end up throwing up manage to do so outside; only one guy threw up on his plate. The customers are pretty understanding though and don’t get grossed out when it happens. A lot of times it will happen in the trash can, but it’s not really seen as a big deal.

10) What strategies have been the most common for preparing?
Well, the mistake most people make is that they usually use a fork and knife, and don’t eat it very fast. So their stomach doesn’t fill up as slowly as it would otherwise. Ideally though you’d eat it quickly and not let yourself get full. Another mistake people make is that most come in starving, and that’s not what you’re supposed to do. Those who come close to winning or actually did win don’t, they’ve eaten dinner right before coming and expanded their stomachs.

— Interview by Editorials Editor Asher Smith