Get ready for the nacho showdown of the century.
On May 15, Guy Fieri and Bill Murray will face-off in a nacho showdown judged by Shaq and, sure, that sounds like an insane word salad, but what the hell — it’s a pandemic — NACHO SHOWDOWN, LET’S GO!
A press release announcing the event — which featured the cheeky dateline of Flavortown, USA — dubbed the event a “Nacho Average Showdown.” It will raise money for the Restaurant Employee Relief Fund (RERF).
Fieri would seem like the overwhelming favorite in this particular competition, but there’s a catch. Murray will have the assistance of his son Homer. (Fieri will have the help of his son Hunter as well.) Homer Murray is an accomplished chef and restauranteur — I can personally attest the food at his Brooklyn spot 21 Greenpoint is really damn delicious. I wouldn’t expect his comedian father to do too much of the cooking.
Terry Crews and Shaquille O’Neal will serve as judges. Food Network host Carla Hall will emcee the Tostitos-sponsored event, which will be broadcast at 5 p.m. on the Food Network’s Facebook page. Viewers will be encouraged to donate to the relief fund.
As Mashable’s Nicole Gallucci wrote, Fieri has worked tirelessly to help restaurant workers as the pandemic has decimated the industry.
“There wasn’t really anything happening in our area, so I kind of stood by. I waited a couple of days, and was starting to get a little stir crazy,” Fieri told Mashable. “I was talking with my team at Knuckle Sandwich, and I said, ‘I’ve gotta do something.’ We were having a conversation about restaurants being closed, so I said, ‘How do we make money for the employees?’ The more people we talked to and the more time we spent talking, the bigger it blew up.”
The relief fund allows restaurant workers to get one-time $500 checks to help cover living costs. With Fieri’s help, it has raised more than $22 million. The money from the showdown will go straight to the fund.
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It wasn’t immediately clear how the judges would taste the nachos — it seems unlikely this will all be in person — but I’m not going to let that damper my enthusiasm for the nacho showdown of the century.
We got a preview of the event on The Tonight Show, during which Fieri and Murray walked Jimmy Fallon through making nachos on Friday. Well, basically Fieri helped the host make nachos while Murray zinged one-liners — which, I mean, what more could you ask for?