CREDIT: ARIANECDESIGN.COM
Fanshawe grad Joshua Rice (far left) chows down on some 'za – one of the many tasty delights he's had to eat for OLN's Get Stuffed.

Joshua Rice has a pretty awesome job: he gets to travel across North America, participate in all kinds of different competitions and stuff his face with some of the most delicious (and outrageous amounts of) food imaginable.

Rice is a host on the OLN show Get Stuffed, the creation of Robin Esrock, former journalist and host of Word Travels, and executive director Heather Hawthorn-Doyle. "Essentially, the show is a hybrid of food porn and off-the-wall, unique and bizarre international events, from greased pig catching in Montreal to Redneck Games in Atlanta and lumberjack 'King Trapper' games in Manitoba," Rice explained. The four hosts — Rice, Erin Simms, Kaylin Miles and Ryan '6-Pack' Lapadat — face off in these challenges, and the loser must gorge on a 'punishment meal' at a local restaurant. "These usually consist of a week's worth of grub, or a meal that a ladies' ball hockey team would have trouble conquering," he added.

Before it became his full-time job to race ostriches in Arizona and attend the Montana Testicle Festival, Rice graduated from the two-year Business Marketing program at Fanshawe in 2007. After that, he headed to Western University, majoring in sociology and minoring in psychology, graduating in 2010.

Originally, when Rice heard that the Get Stuffed team was hiring, he interviewed to be a production assistant. "They asked me to go home, make a video and submit it. From there, I was asked to audition after my video, along with five others, was chosen out of several hundred submissions."

He said the skills he learned at Fanshawe definitely helped him land the hosting job. "The skill set that correlates directly with marketing definitely had a strong influence in helping me represent myself when I was initially trying to become part of the Stuffed team."

The show premiered in early July, and has been enthralling and grossing out viewers ever since.

As for his favourite challenge so far? "(My) favourite would have to be either the Warrior Dash down south... Or the Redneck Games… Or... you have to see them all to understand why I'm having such a tough time responding to this one," he laughed.

As much as he enjoyed the Warrior Dash challenge, which took place in Mississippi, he added that it was "grueling" — one of the toughest competitions he's had to face, along with Frozen Dead Guy days in Colorado, which "was a bit of a nut-buster, being in the icy mountains accompanied by the even icier wind chill and frozen events."

But Rice was definitely sure of his favourite food so far. "The Crab Pot in Seattle (was) absolutely bonkers - almost $100 worth of seafood, three types of crab, shrimp, sausage, corn… Just talking about it has got me all fired up."

The first season has 13 episodes, and prospects for season two are showing "great promise," Rice said. "With wonderful people out there tuning in more and more often, it should be a no-brainer, especially because the show content is hilarious and an absolute riot!" So far, the creative team has come up with a long list of competitions for season two, including the Beer Pong world championships and a Wife Carrying competition.

Check out Get Stuffed on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. EST on OLN. You can also head to oln.ca for a complete episode guide and to watch episodes online. You can also Like the show on Facebook at facebook.com/GetStuffedTV.