Did I tell you about the time I did a pin-up shoot with a world-famous competitive eater?
That’s a sentence not a lot of people can type.
Here’s the backstory. I spent eight years of my career executive producing a talk show in Omaha, Nebraska. When you schedule 30 fascinating people for interviews each week, you make some fun friends, like musicians and artists, businesses owner, community advocates, comedians, and yes, competitive eaters.
Molly Schuyler is the competitive eater I’m referring to here. If you’re not familiar with her work, you should really check out her YouTube channel. She lived in the area for a few years and made a few appearances on my show, The Morning Blend. And we just clicked. After I did my first photoshoot, Molly saw the pictures and fell in love.
“I want to do that!” she said.
“I want to do that again!” I said.
So we discussed driving out to Minneapolis to see Christi in the studio. And as our wheels turned, we came up with a better idea. Why not do the shoot at the place where Molly first discovered her talent as a competitive eater, Stella’s Bar and Grill in Bellevue, Nebraska?
Why NOT do an eating challenge and a photoshoot at the same time?
Stella’s is known for the Stellanator: Six burger patties, six fried eggs, six slices of cheese, 12 strips of bacon, lettuce, tomato, fried onions, pickles, jalapenos, the bun AND an order of fries. Because burgers are better with fries. It was the first challenge Molly ever completed AND she’s the current record holder. She took down all that food in three minutes, 40 seconds. One of her favorite things about this challenge: it’s delicious. In case you’re wondering, all challenge winners get a T-shirt and a spot on the wall of fame and a free meal. Losers pay $35.
So when I reached out to Christi about setting up a shoot for Molly, we decided a simultaneous food challenge pin-up shoot made sense.
A local TV station came. We broadcast live Facebook video of Molly eating, dressed in a red polka dot dress and heels. She was fierce and feminine! Christi snapped away while Molly adjusted her poses. We weren’t shooting for a time record on the burger, but she STILL took it down in less than ten minutes. Looking like a tattooed, pierced, carnivorous ANGEL!
I’ve watched about ten of my friends transformed into pin-up goddesses through this process. Seeing someone who you care about viewing their amazing pictures—now that’s special. There was the burger eating pictures, which were epic! But there were also some traditional pin-up poses. And Molly rocked them ALL! When you’re a woman known for eating massive amounts of food quickly, let’s be honest. The internet isn’t always kind. The internet can suck it. Because frame after frame, these pictures showed the Molly I know best. Beautiful and BADASS.
Now the funny side story. Not only had Christi heard of Molly, but it turns out Christi’s husband is kind of a fanboy. So that gave Christi a chance to take some super fun “girl fight” pictures with Molly as well.
So the winter pin-up shoot in a Nebraska diner with a woman who can eat THREE 72-ounce steaks in 20 minutes? It happened. And I have the pictures to prove it.