Are you ‘siga’ enough? Benjie Paras challenges you to an eating battle

MANILA, Philippines — Basketball player turned celebrity Benjie Paras loves to eat. He calls himself “macho ganado,” or someone whose appetite is as big as his size.

This is especially true for Benjie when it comes to meaty and spicy food — making him the perfect endorser of Mang Tomas hot and spicy variant called Siga. He represents the product alongside his son Andrei Paras.

As a Mang Tomas endorser, Benjie is challenging Filipinos to test their penchant for meaty and spicy food in an eating battle ala “Man vs. Food.”

To test just how spicy the Mang Tomas Siga is, three teams of three represented Team Benjie, Team Andrei and Team Mayumi and took on the eating challenge. Mang Tomas/Released

“Malalaman natin kung sino ang tunay na siga,” Benjie said at the kickoff event of Mang Tomas Siga Challenge held last October 7 at Ultimate Fitness in Metrowalk, Pasig City.

“Mang Tomas Siga is 250 times hotter than the regular, all-around sarsa Mang Tomas. It is packed with more spices, peppers and chili,” described Benjie. He added that in the eating challenge, a bucket of Mang Tomas Siga bottles must be consumed together with 100 pieces of chicken wings.

To test just how spicy the Mang Tomas Siga is, three teams of three represented Team Benjie, Team Andrei and Team Mayumi (the latest addition to the Mang Tomas TVC) and took on the eating challenge. Team Andrei, composed of Ultimate Fitness coaches, won by downing four bottles of the hot and spicy sarsa and eating 55 pieces of wings.

According to Mario Mendoza, category manager at NutriAsia Inc., the Mang Tomas Siga Challenge will roll out this month to different universities and food parks in Metro Manila. A total of 36 teams will take part in the qualifying battles.

Four teams will compete in the grand finals, which stakes a cash prize of P50,000. The winning team will also get bragging rights as the most siga who bested Mang Tomas’ first ever eating contest.

Present at the Mang Tomas Siga Challenge kickoff event are (from left) category manager Mario Mendoza Jr., consultant Jimmy Formoso, director and treasurer Gerry Reyes, celebrity endorser Benjie Paras, marketing assistant Mari Barretto, and host Lia Cruz. Mang Tomas/Released. 

The Reyes family, who started the Mang Tomas business in the early 80s, graced the eating contest kickoff. Also present were Lia Cruz of TV5’s “Aksyon Tonite” who co-hosted with Benjie, and famous Flip Top artist Loonie, who performed a special rap for Mang Tomas Siga.

If you think you are siga enough, start gathering your team (two males and one female) and join the Mang Tomas Siga Challenge. Follow https://www.facebook.com/MangTomasOfficial/ to get updates.