How It Feels to Sit in the Eye of a Mentos/Diet Coke Storm
Josh Elkin in his Mentos suit. Photo credit: Courtesy Epic Meal Time
Josh Elkin, Lead Chef of Epic Meal Empire, who the Huffington Post is calling the Bravest Guy In Whole Wide World and who calls himself Mentos Man, jumped in a tank full of Diet Coke two days ago wearing a suit made of “roughly 4000” fruity Mentos. He and his Epic Meal Empire colleagues posted proof on Vine yesterday, teasing the first episode of their show airing July 26 on new lifestyle channel FYI. “And then I woke up the next morning, and the world was interested,” Elkin told us.
Well, yes. Because we were surprised HE DIDN’T DIE. Because everyone knows eating Mentos and drinking Diet Coke at the same time makes your stomach explode. Everyone knows that. (OK, OK, everyone also knows it’s a myth.)
“You know I’m good! I’m okay,” Elkin said. “Everything is intact. All my pieces are there, thank God. There’s no Diet Coke in my pores.” It was easy to clean off, in fact, “because of the pressure, the suit pretty much ripped off.”
About the process—and his feelings about it: “[My colleagues] lined up and started throwing balls at the dunk tank [target]. I was just thinking about covering my face from a softball—none of us are athletically inclined, so there were balls flying all over the place. Then Dave, the least athletic out of all of us smashed the thing. There was a large boom. There was so much adrenaline going through me. And then after that happened and the adrenaline dropped off, I thought, ‘Oh I’m wearing a suit and I’m in a pool of Diet Coke. I can check that one off my list.’”
Elkin’s not stopping there. “We might do a Mentos hot tub, or a Diet coke slip and slide—there are lots of possibilities. Mentos Man is not over.”
Elkin, sans Mentos. Photo credit: Courtesy Epic Meal Time
