In March of 2009, the Travel Channel producers called us, wanting some information about Flying Pie for a possible episode of their wildly popular Man v. Food show. Lesley shared some of the amazing things we do and suggested that if they were going to travel to Boise, it would be most delightful if they could wait until August, so they could include our Double and Triple Habanero Pizzas in their filming. They thanked us for the tip and said they’d be in touch.

Four months later, toward the end of July, they called us back and said they had scheduled their travels to come through Boise in August! The next few weeks had many phone calls and emails between Boise and New York to set up the details of their visit. Once it was set up, we invited our Facebook fans to come be a part of history and watch Adam Richman, the host of Man v. Food, eat the Triple Habanero.

On Friday, August 14th, 2009 the Travel Channel’s Man v. Food show spent seven hours filming at Flying Pie! We had a line at the door before we opened, and then a line out the door and down the sidewalk for about 3 hours. The rooms were packed from wall to wall with customers and onlookers trying to get a glimpse of the filming and the infamous Man v. Food host.

When Adam walked in the restaurant, he honked the horn and everyone went nuts! The hollers from the crowd were deafening! The yelling and hooting were a perfect outlet for the pent-up energy in the crowd. Adam got such a kick out of the reaction, he turned around, went outside, and came in for another horn-honk entrance, which was even louder than the first.

Many customers got to meet Adam and a few even got to experience a Habanero burn with the film crew capturing every moment. At the end of the day, after he’d sampled our Gyro, Zerto Magnifico, Garlic Chicken, Chile N Lime, Death: By Garlic Zappi, Adam sat down to experience the Triple Habanero with Howard, the mastermind behind the deliciously hot Habanero pizzas. As Adam said, “It’s like licking a sea urchin!” (But, a really tasty, cheesy sea urchin with olives, garlic and chicken, right?)

A month later, the Man v. Food production team in New York was editing the Boise footage. They got hungry for Flying Pie pizza and called us, requesting an overnight shipment of four large pizzas! We sent them a Zerto Magnifico, a Samoan, a Vegetarian, and a Triple Pie. Of course they wanted a Habanero too, but Habanero Season was already over. 

Flying Pie has had the opportunity to be a part of some marvelous things in our 31 years; this is easily among the top of the list. When the show aired in October, we watched it with a full restaurant and everyone cheered so loud we couldn’t hear the dialogue. Flying Pie-ers who were featured on the show felt like movie stars!

If you missed the episode, the Travel Channel airs re-runs of the Man v. Food a lot, so chances are good you can catch it soon. It’s also available online on a few different websites.

We’re already planning ahead to next August, for our 17th Habanero season…we’re guessing it’s going to be biiiiig! For those who live out of the area and can’t make it to Boise, remember that we ship pizzas overnight and that includes the Habaneros; last August we sent four Triple Habs to Delaware!