Adam Montgomery Richman is an American actor and television host. He has hosted various dining and eating-challenge programs on the

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, who previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in Manhattan, with ...

History Channel History (formerly and commonly known as the History Channel) is an American pay television television broadcaster, network and the flagship channel of A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney General Entertainme ...

, and Discovery+.

Early life and education

Richman, an only child, was born into a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family in the New York City borough of

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, and raised in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood. He attended "a Solomon Schechter school through eighth grade and then a

Talmud Torah Talmud Torah (, lit. 'Study of the Torah') schools were created in the Jewish world, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, as a form of religious school for boys of modest backgrounds, where they were given an elementary education in Hebrew language, H ...

high school", ultimately graduating from Midwood High School. He completed his

undergraduate degree An undergraduate degree (also called first degree or simply degree) is a colloquial term for an academic degree earned by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. In the United States, it is usually offered at an institution of higher ed ...

international studies International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

Emory University Emory University is a private university, private research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1836 as Emory College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory. Its main campu ...

, and earned a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

from the Yale School of Drama. While attending Emory, Richman was a member of

Alpha Epsilon Pi Alpha Epsilon Pi (), commonly known as AEPi, is a college Fraternities and sororities, fraternity founded at New York University in 1913. The fraternity has more than 150 active chapters across the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Israel ...

fraternity.

Career

Early acting career

Richman's acting career has included guest roles on ''

Guiding Light ''Guiding Light'' (known as ''The Guiding Light'' before 1975) is an American radio and television soap opera. ''Guiding Light'' aired on CBS for 57 years between June 30, 1952, and September 18, 2009, overlapping a 19-year broadcast on radio ...

'', ''

All My Children ''All My Children'' (often shortened to ''AMC'') is an American television soap opera that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 2 ...

'', '' Law & Order: Trial by Jury'', and he portrayed God as a butcher on ''

Joan of Arcadia ''Joan of Arcadia'' is an American fantasy family drama television series telling the story of teenager Joan Girardi ( Amber Tamblyn), who sees and speaks with God and performs tasks she is given. The series originally aired on Fridays on CBS f ...

'' in 2004. In addition to appearing in regional theater productions throughout the United States, he was also seen in several national television commercials.

Food expertise and travel journal

As a self-educated food expert and trained sushi chef, Richman has kept a travel journal that includes every restaurant he has visited since 1995.

''Man v. Food'' (2008–2012)

Richman began as a TV host in 2008, with the

show '' Man v. Food'', which shows Richman visiting various cities and taking part in eating challenges there. Richman's tenure on the show lasted for four seasons, until 2012. (It was revived in 2017 with a new host, Casey Webb.) To maintain his health while taping the show, Richman would exercise twice a day. When the schedule permitted, he would not eat the day before a challenge. He also tried to stay hydrated by drinking a lot of water or

club soda Club soda is a form of carbonated water manufactured in North America, commonly used as a drink mixer. Sodium bicarbonate, potassium sulfate, potassium bicarbonate, potassium citrate, or sodium citrate is added to artificially replicate constitu ...

and forgoing coffee and soft drinks. For the show's fourth season, it was re-titled '' Man v. Food Nation'', and Richman did not engage in the eating challenges himself, but rather coached others to do so. He stated at the time that this change was not done because he wanted to avoid eating large amounts of food, but rather in order to keep the show interesting. Richman wrote the book ''America the Edible: A Hungry History from Sea to Dining Sea'', which was released on November 9, 2010, by Rodale Publishing. On January 23, 2011, Richman appeared on

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery, who manages and operates it as a division of the Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Networks Group. The channel airs both televi ...

's ''

Iron Chef America ''Iron Chef America'' is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's ''Iron Chef'', and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed ''Iron Chef USA'' that aired in 2001. The show is produced by Food Network, wh ...

'' as a judge for a battle with Gruyère as the theme ingredient. Richman hosted Travel Channel's ''The Traveler's Guide to Life'', which debuted on January 26, 2011, and '' Amazing Eats'', a spin-off of his popular series ''Man v. Food'' and ''Man v. Food Nation'', which premiered on January 11, 2012.

Post ''Man v. Food'' (2012–2014)

During his time as a competitive eater, Richman gained a considerable amount of weight and became depressed. After retiring from competitive eating, he lost . Richman was a paid spokesman for Zantac during Season 3 of ''Man v. Food''.

''Adam Richman's Best Sandwich in America'' (2012)

Richman also hosted the TV series '' Adam Richman's Best Sandwich in America'' which premiered June 6, 2012. This 11-episode weekly series documented Richman's "nationwide quest to find the best thing since sliced bread 'on' sliced bread." He ultimately declared the roast-pork sandwich from Tommy DiNic's in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

's Reading Terminal Market his "Best Sandwich in America".

''Fandemonium ''and ''Food Fighters'' (2013–2015)

Richman hosted the Travel Channel's ''Adam Richman's Fandemonium'', which ran for one season in 2013; the series showed him taking part in various fan events around the United States, such as sporting competitions. He hosted the NBC cooking competition show '' Food Fighters'', which ran for two seasons from 2014 to 2015.

Instagram controversy and vegan diet (2014–2015)

In June 2014, Richman posted a photo of his newly svelte physique on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

and boasted about his 70-pound weight loss, adding the

hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag operator that is prefaced by the hash symbol, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services–especially Twitter and Tumblr–as a form of user-generated tagging that enable ...

"#thinspiration". The post caused controversy because this hashtag was said to be linked to eating disorders.Dockterman, Alan
"Man v. Food's Adam Richman Begs Forgiveness After '#Thinspiration' Controversy"
''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'', July 2, 2014. Some Instagram users responded with criticism of the hashtag, and Richman responded to some of them with insults, referring to them as "haters" and telling one to "grab a razor blade & draw a bath". He later apologized, but the Travel Channel postponed Richman's series '' Man Finds Food'', which was meant to begin airing in July 2014, until April 2015. In 2015, Richman told ''The Independent'' that he eats a vegan diet when training for soccer. Also in 2015, Richman was a judge on the British television series '' BBQ Champ'', hosted by

Myleene Klass Myleene Angela Klass (born 6 April 1978) is an English musician, singer, television presenter and model. She was a member of the pop group Hear'Say, and later released two solo classical crossover albums in 2003 and 2007. More recently, Klass ...

and broadcast on ITV.

Recent work (2019–present)

Richman is a leading contributor on the

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

network's '' The Food That Built America'', which began airing in 2019. In February 2021, he began hosting the History series '' Modern Marvels'' and the next year began hosting ''Adam Eats the 80s''. In March 2024, ''Adam Richman Eats Britain'' premiered on Discovery+ in the UK. In October 2024, Richman started a collaboration with First We Feast called Pro Moves on their YouTube channel.

Filmography

Personal life

Richman is a fan of the baseball team

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

, soccer teams

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

and

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

, and American football team

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Dolphins compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The team ...

(especially its Hall of Fame quarterback,

Dan Marino Daniel Constantine Marino Jr. ( ; born September 15, 1961) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons with the Miami Dolphins. He played college f ...

). On June 8, 2014, Richman represented the "Rest of the World" team in the annual Soccer Aid match against England at Old Trafford, Manchester, in a game that combined former professional players and celebrities. Richman was quoted as saying that he lost for the game, and cried when he was asked to take part.

Ties to United Kingdom

Richman has a large fan base in the UK and has been appearing on shows in the region for the past 10 years. In 2024, he remarked: "I think globally British food is largely misunderstood and maybe unfairly maligned… We acknowledge Spain's impact on food, Japan's impact on food, Italy's impact on food – all of which are profound – but people slag off Britain. Then you stop and you go, the sandwich has roots here, Cheddar has roots here, Angus beef has roots in Britain."

English football

In June 2020 Richman became a shareholder in English football club

; he had also previously put money into the club via a fan fundraising scheme called "Operation Promotion".

Theft

On October 23, 2024, while filming the second series of ''Adam Richman Eats Britain'' for Discovery+, Adam Richman's belongings were stolen from a vehicle at the London Gateway Services on the M1 in Barnet. After wrapping up filming on November 14 in

Tottenham Tottenham (, , , ) is a district in north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, ...

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames and the City of London. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshi ...

, Richman received a notification via the Tile tracker app that his keys were nearby, around

Muswell Hill Muswell Hill is a suburban district of the London Borough of Haringey, north London. The hill, which reaches over above sea level, is situated north of Charing Cross. Neighbouring areas include Highgate, London, Highgate, Hampstead Garden ...

Playing Fields. After three hours, with the help of a bodyguard, they were able to recover the items Richman valued most, including a book from his mother and a birthday card from his deceased father. Richman commented on the incident, noting the presence of both negative and positive elements in the situation.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Richman, Adam Living people Male actors from Brooklyn Television personalities from Brooklyn Emory University alumni Jewish American male actors Man v. Food People from Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University alumni Midwood High School alumni 21st-century American Jews Year of birth missing (living people)