My e-mail address mandel@mandelweb.com is working again...You can reach me by E-mail at that address...

Well, well, well

E-MAIL ALERT: My mandel@mandelweb.com E-mail address doesn't seem to be wanting to receive E-mails at the moment so for the mean time, if you want to E-mail me, send an E-mail to ilagan@post.harvard.edu

Didn't totally shake off the cold by Monday as I wanted to...I ended up just staying at home from work and watched Game Show Network all day while in bed. Nothing like watching those episodes from the last season of the syndicated Rayburn version of "Match Game" where everybody looked tired!

Just gonna ramble in bits and pieces about the rest of this week...Mustered enough strength to go the Something Corporate concert at the House of Blues with Mike, Caleb, and Drew. It was the first time that all of us had seen them live and I can safely say that for Drew and me it was the last time. It's not that they were bad or anything. In fact, the concert was great! They definitely have spunk. But, damn, they're loud. My ears were ringing into the next morning.

Went back to work on Tuesday and on Wednesday, I got to check out the "American Idol" results show in person at the Kodak Theater. First of all, the Kodak Theater is quite nice. A lot of familiar faces in the audience again. Kathy Najimy was there with her family. Some former contestants were there including Jim, EJay (with his Macy Gray-ish bouffant), R.J., A.J., and Christina. I saw two non top-10ers: Adirel and Brad. Brad and Jim particularly looked much better in person than I had expected. :-) But to the important party...the show. It was GREAT and it was INTENSE. Really, really good performances. During one particular peformance, I was getting goosebumps. The coolest part was that during the "Love Will Keep Us Together" number where Justin, Kelly, and Nikki sang together, you could sense that they were having fun. Again, it's just amazing to see how much of a phenomenon this show has become. You could hear girls screaming for Adirel when they saw him near the box office and there little clusters of autograph-seeking fans gathering around the various former contestants before the show began.

The "backyard neighbor" mystery seems to be solved. There's a really good chance our friend Caleb will be our new neighbor provided everything falls into place. It'll be quite cool to have him much closer by. * fingers crossed*

Moving and aching

Spent most of the weekend helping Drew pack up and move to West L.A. (grrrrr....so, so, far way...grrr) Friday night, we took at a break from the packing and Caleb, Drew, and I went to the Grove. There we saw this huge line to get into the Apple store. Didn't realize there was that much anticipation for the new Jaguar.

Today was a whole other story...Woke up with a huge headache and my body just ached like crazy. Didn't end up getting out of bed until 3 this afternoon. I just laid in bed for most of the day all bundled and watched Game Show Network. Ted hooked me up with some Theraflu and echinecea and it helped a bit. I think I'll be fine tomorrow.

In my medicated, dazed state I walked out into the dining room today to discover that Ted, Larry, and Matt did a little redecorating. Don't have pics of it yet. But it looks quite swanky. Lots of reds and whites. They even got a neat red standing clock that screams game show. :-)

Toby or NOT Toby

NOT Toby...No dog...I ended up waking up late on Thursday morning. Ted and Larry had already left for the Burbank shelter. I ended up talking wtih Ted online in the morning when I got to work and he said that the dog we were eyeing was claimed by its owner. Oh well...The search continues.

Spent most of last night helping Drew pack up for his move from his apartment. He has to be out of there by the end of next week. An interesting wrinkle has popped up though. There's this guest house behind the house Ted, Larry, and I live in. It's rented out by the same landlord as our house. Apparently, a vacancy is opening up at the guest house in a few weeks. Needless to say, we're hell bent on getting somebody we know into that guest house and the top candidate at the moment is Drew. It'll be so nice to have somebody we get along with back there. Our current neighbor hasn't been a nuisance or anything, but there's just no connection there. So, we'll see how it goes...

Something I've been meaning to address for a while...I've been getting E-mails and IMs about "Whammy!" recently especially in light of the recent "Save the Whammy!" ads that have popped up on Game Show Network. Contrary to what you may be hearing on the boards and news reports and such, news about "Whammy's" death have been greatly exaggerated . We're just not in production right now and we're just waiting to hear official word about GSN's plans for us. WHAMMY IS NOT DEAD!!! So, be patient, hold tight, and keep watching the show (telling your friends who have GSN to watch wouldn't hurt either)...Don't believe the doomsayers!

What? Huh?

Well, THAT was odd. In fact, this week's "American Idol" shows seemed like they were transmitted from bizarro FOX-land. Tamyra was weak last night, but I did NOT expect her to get voted off. I'm kinda buying into my friend Keith's theory that because the show is gaining viewers each week, a lot of the newer voters are basing their votes on what they've only seen...in other words, that week's performance. Still, I was surprised...I would've thought Justin was gonna get the boot seeing how everybody seemed to rag on his "PYT" dancing. In fact, on the way down to the parking garage, one of the women tried to do an impression of his nimble legwork from last night.

For those of you playing at home, that was indeed Kaya from "Temptation Island" in audience last night. And that was indeed Kaya that I saw at the party that I went to on Saturday. The YM segments from last night's show were done at the Fremantle offices. They were all sitting in the conference where I have attended many a meeting. In fact, that's were we had one of the first run-throughs for "Whammy!"

Been a slow week of sorts...But such is the case at this time of the year. Helped a friend out with prepping for his "Taboo" audition. It's kinda convenient when a new game show is based on a best-selling board game. :-) Tomorrow should be interesting...The dog (the Toby-to-be) we've been eyeing goes up for adoption tomorrow. Ted and Larry are planning to go to the kennel at 7:30 AM. I might join them if I get my ass out of bed in time. Arf arf...At the very least I can stop by Krispy Kreme since it's just down the street...Mmmmmm....sweet, sweet, goodness...

The dog days of summer...

A hodgepodge of a weekend...Started it off on Friday night when Ted had a few people over to watch the premiere of the new "He-Man." It was enjoyable though I have to say that I didn't really watch the original show too much. Chalk up another in the string of 80s revivals. (Where's the new ALF show?!?!?) Our friend John brought his friend Mark who turned out to be a big board game fan. As a result, He-Man viewing evolved into a night o' games that lasted until 1 in the morning. Nothing like exposing a newbie to the wonders of "Blockbusters."

Saturday, Ted, Larry, and I went to the Burbank Animal Shelter to search for a dog. It was quite depressing seeing all these poor dogs behind these cages. There was one that only had three legs! :-( It's funny how some of them would "turn it on" as people would walk by their cages. We found this one reddish dog who was part doberman-part pitbull that was sooooo affectionate. He had this big goofy smile and walked around like a lunk. The problem is...the dog is a 'twee bit too big for the house. Plus, I wasn't too keen on bringing a dog that was part-pitbull into the household. We then stumbled upon this dog that was part-sharpei who got along with all of us. He had the cutest smile and wasn't too big. The catch was that he won't be up for adoption until next week. So alas, we wait...But that didn't stop us from starting the name game for the dog...Colby, Mercutio, Rocko...

After the dog hunt, we picked up Drew and went to Shorty's to all get haircuts. Nothing really too drastic on Ted, Larry, or my end but Drew walked out with a much shorter 'do that kinda makes him look Ethan Embry. We then went to Hollywood-Highland for lunch and continued the name game for the dog which we don't even know if we're going to get!...Silas, Will, Percy...

Headed back home where I got ready for a party in Beverly Hills for the Kato show FremantleMedia is doing. I brought my friend Mike along with me to the shindig. The party was all right. Spotted a few familiar faces including "Weird Al" Yankovic and Alan Thicke. I think I saw Kaya from "Temptation Island" as well. :-) We hung out at the party for a couple of hours. Somehow as we left the party, Mike convinced me to go with him to West Hollywood. Amazingly, we were able to find decent, free parking. We decided to head over to the Abbey. En route there, we bumped into Matt and Thomas. We talked with them for a bit before we headed over towards Santa Monica and Robertson. We then stood in line for about a half-hour outside the Abbey. We eventually got in, milled around, and took checked out the little eye candy that was there. In the midst of all this, we bumped into Mark from the "He-Man"/late-night game night. After our visit to the Abbey, Mike and I then headed to Mother Lode and called it a night.

Today, Ted, Larry, Drew and I headed over to CBS TV City to watch a taping of "Hollywood Squares." I've been kindly asked by my friends who work at the show to keep the details about the taping to a minimum. Here's what I will say...While the basic geographic layout of the set is the same, there are a lot of noticably new elements. There is more of a "square" motif to the set. There is a brand new bonus round, one that in my opinion works better in terms of building supsense and integrating the celebs more than the one from last season. It's also one that die-hard game show fans might appreciate. Ellen DeGeneres did a great job as center square in the episodes we saw. I actually found her zingers to be a bit more clever from a comedic standpoint than Whoopi's. She never went for the obvious joke. Hell, she even threw in a "no Whammys, no Whammys" reference in one of the shows! A cool side note...Betty DeGeneres (Ellen's mom) was sitting in the seat just across the aisle from us! :-) All in all, much like Feud's revamp for the new season, the changes to "Squares" have helped to bring some new life into the show.

We headed to The Grove and Farmer's Market after the taping. We stopped by the FAO Schwarz. I think FAO Schwarz does the near-impossible by making Kay-Bee look like a discount store. There was the beautiful game armoire there that while nice cost $5,000. Yikes...We grabbed some dinner at the Farmer's Market where I made an unsuccessful attempt at eating some beingets in a neat fashion (damn you, powdered sugar delights!!!).

Oh...and as it stands now...Toby is at the top of the running should we get this dog we're eyeing...

Not just standing "Idol"-y by

Big to-do at the office today...The remaining finalists from "American Idol" dropped by the FremantleMedia offices to do some interviews and a photo shoot for YM Magazine. There was a flotilla of people, camera equipment, promotional products, and wardrobe. It was quite a scene. I don't think I've ever seen that many people and that much stuff in our conference room before.

We were fortunate enough to get a chance to have pics taken with the finalists during their break. I got a brief chance to talk with Justin and Kelly. Actually, I was asked to show Kelly to the restroom. Hee-hee...All four of them seem like really nice, sweet people. Here's my pic with them. Or as I like to call it: "Which of these things is not like the other?" Gawd, could I look any dorkier there? Oh, and the reason, I'm not looking at the camera. This pic was taken with my boss's camera. I was looking at my camera at the time which ended up NOT taking any pics at all. Blarg...

After pics, we all walked back into the office. We passed by a Whammy punching bag at which point Justin said, "Big money, big money...No Whammys!" which Nikki followed up saying "and...STOP!" Pretty cool...

Someone's in the kitchen

It's the "Trading Spaces" episode that never was...There was a bit of kitchen remodeling that commenced this evening. Ted pretty much spearheaded the effort. Larry took on painting chores concentrating on the cabinet doors. Matt, Drew, and Chris dropped by tonight and lent their talents to the paint-fest. I stood by for moral support and to snap pics of the remodeling ceremonies. As those who have seen me with a paintbrush can attest to, I lack that whole artistic, decorating gene so stepping to the side of all this was a good idea. Another stereotype quashed!

Ted came up with an idea for the kitchen wall that would make you think Doug from "Trading Spaces" had dropped by our place. The bland off-white wall was soon replaced by a red and purple lava-lampish design. We hung some tap lights on the wall as well. The kitchen cabinets were repainted as well. The frame is red and the doors will be silver once we get enough paint.

Ted's going for a lava-lamp, loungy, sci-fi feel. It looks pretty cool now and from the sounds of what Ted has planned as well as some great suggestions from Drew, it's going to be kick-ass once it's all completed. It makes my bedroom look Amish in comparison!

Something something

Just some random musings for tonight...

Quorn. Is it this year's Olestra? A fungus-based meat subsitute. Mmmmmmm.....

Was talking on the phone with Gary tonight and he was pointing out an episode of "Match Game" that was on the air at the time. It had Richard Kiel and Paul Williams on the panel. Eventually this led to him referencing an episode of "Fantasy Island" where Paul Williams guested. To which I then thought..."gee, that would have been a prime opportunity to see a duel between Paul Williams and Tattoo."

Thanks to Caleb, I have a new band to yammer about: Something Corporate. Think Sum 41+Weezer+Elton John+Jimmy Eat World with a dash of Ben Folds to boot. (Keith added n*Sync to that equation.) So, I listen to the MP3s of the band and thought..."Hmm, this is not bad at all." I then go to the website and realize that I'm not quite the demographic they're going for. Case in point...I click on their website to join their mailing list. The default year for "birthyear"...1980. Still contemplating seeing them at the House of Blues later in the month, but I just wonder if it'll be a replay of what happened when I went to the Evan and Jaron concert last year (aka "lost of high school and college girls and the boyfriends they dragged to the concert").

David Blaine freaks me out...Watched a rerun of one of his specials tonight...The one where he traps himself in a block of ice. I'd like to see Blaine and his block of ice get in a duel with David Copperfield's ring of fire. The one trick that really wigged me out was where he swallowed a diamond from some woman's ring and then proceeded to pull that diamond out from under his eye. Thank goodness I had dinner beforehand...

Feudin' and laser tag fighting

This weekend capped off Larry's "birthday week." Thursday was his actual birthday. That evening, a bunch of us went to see "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" at the Colony Theater in Burbank. Not the most groundbreaking performance of the show that I've ever seen, but it was good. I kind of have a sentimental attachment to the show. It was the first musical I played piano for at my high school. I had forgotten how much I had liked the music in the show. It always put a smile on my face. I love "Happiness." One of my all-time favorite closing numbers from a musical. We then headed to BJ's for a late dinner afterwards complete with a tasty birthday Pizookie.

And last night, a group of us headed to Ultrazone laser tag in Sherman Oaks. Yet again, it was us versus the gaggle of little kids. But there was power in numbers this time. We racked up the most points. Out of our group, Drew was the leader in terms of score. And yet again, I had no clue what was going on. I just shot at everything in my path. There was a weird crystal ball-ish thing that happened after we were done. When we exited the laser tag "arena" and re-entered the lobby, we saw this group of older gay guys all waiting to play a game of laser tag. To which Ted pointed out, "Say hello to ourselves in ten years." Eeek...

The other big part of this weekend was going to the "Family Feud" tapings. These were the first tapings of the new season with Richard Karn. Things went relatively well for the first shows especially considering that it was the first taping weekend of the new season and that we had a lot of new people working on the show. Overall, the show feels much warmer. As to Richard, he's doing a good job so far. He's got a grasp of the mechanics of the game and he's very personable. Another major change for the new season is the set. It's funny what a change in color scheme can do to the mood of the show. The best way to describe it is a nice happy medium between the classic wood-look of the Richard Dawson and the spacey look of the Louie-era shows. It's much more classy and appears bigger. There is less yellow and silver on the set and a lot more browns and blues. It really, really looks impressive on camera and even more in person. The family names are projected on a screen framed by wood behind each family podium. There were a lot of nice nods to the Dawson version without making the show look like it was stuck in a 70s time warp. Burton's opening announcer intros are much more akin to the Dawson version complete with the name-by-name family roll call. Finally, the one big change which I'm sure will please a lot of game show fans out there is the return of...RETURNING CHAMPIONS. That's right, a winning family can stay for up to five shows meaning that a family could walk away with $100,000! Needless to say, the changes that have been made for the upcoming season have all been for the better and have really served to pump some new life into the show. It was great to meet the new staffers as well as seeing some familiar faces (both in the returning and "new to Feud" realm). All in all, it looks like the new season is getting off to good start.

Hip to be Square

I'm still grinning! Tonight is a night I won't forget. Chalk up another tick in the "I can't believe I'm here and doing this" column. A bunch of us went to Bookstar in Studio City for the book signing of Peter Marshall's new behind-the-scenes book about the classic version of "The Hollywood Squares." Matt, David, Brian, Tony, and Caleb and a few other game show fans were there. The bookstore people had us all line up outside on the sidewalk. They had the signing tables set up just outside the entrance under the big marquee. Before the signing, I saw a number of people I knew like Tim Duffy, the manager of development at Game Show Network, and Art Alisi, whose company (Promotional Considerations) worked with us on "Whammy!"

As we got into line, I noticed Brian walking to the store and strolling by him was none other than Marc Summers. Let the surreal night begin...That was JUST the beginning. I immediately called up Drew who was still at work to tell him to get over to the book store ASAP. In addition to being a big game show fan, Drew is a big kid's game show fan. Needless to say, mentioning the presence of Marc Summers jostled him in to getting out of his office quickly. :-)

So Drew arrived and the cavalcade of familiar faces grew. Fred Wostbrock was there as well as David Schwartz. Both of them are two of the authors of the "Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows." As we waited in our spot on the sidewalk, we saw a figure in light blue come up to Fred. It was SUSAN STAFFORD!!!!! David Hammett and I met her a couple of years ago at the Wink Martindale signing at the very same book store. We re-introduced ourselves to Susan and in doing so the surreal factor kicked up another notch for the evening.

We looked across Ventura Blvd. and there was Peter Marshall crossing over to our side of the street. While waiting with anticipation, we looked down Ventura and walking towards us was....TOM KENNEDY!!!!!!!!! Needless to say, Drew and I (and I'm pretty sure a bunch of the others who were near us) were quite giddy. We introduced ourselves to Tom and he was kind enough to sign our books and take a picture with Drew and me. The surreal factor had now reached a level of 5 by this point. If we had some elephants and a trapeze, we'd be ready for "Circus of the Stars..."

Dusk started to fall and the signing commenced. Susan Stafford passed by again and said, "Mandel..." I thought I was hearing things but she was indeed calling my name. She grabbed my hand and slipped a little elastic beaded ring from her finger over to mine! The surreal factor bumped up to 7. She's such a doll!

As we got closer, I saw Shelly Herman, who was a stand-in for us for "Greed" and helped me many a time with run-throughs for the game show I co-created at dick clark productions. She was there with her husband Randall Carver, who was a regular on the first season of "Taxi." So, we did a little bit of chatting with them as the surreal factor rose to a level of 10.

We finally got rolling with the signing. The first person at the table was of course Peter Marshall. He looks DAMN good for his age. Next up was Harvey Korman. After getting my book signed by Harvey, I went over to TV Land's cutest couple Tom Poston and Suzanne Pleshette. They were just adorable. I continued down the table and saw Arte Johnson, Robert Donner, and Robert Fuller.

Over to the next table where I met up with the grand dame of "The Hollywood Squares": Rose Marie. Nanette Fabray was right next to her and next to Nanette was Abby Dalton. And as you can see, Abby still looks great! She was a sweetheart! And capping things off...there was none other than Joanne Wooooooooorley and Adrienne Armstrong, the co-author of the "Squares" book.

There were some other surprise guests there as well. Gary Owens of "Laugh-In" and "Space Ghost" fame was there. I also spotted Ron Maestri (host of the 90s USA game "Quicksilver"), Jay Redack (who worked on the original "Squares" and is an exec on the new version) and Steve Ryan (creator of "Blockbusters" and another author of the game show encyclopedia). We got a chance to talk with Marc Summers near the end of the night and he was very cool with us.

Afterwards, Matt, David, Caleb, Tony, Drew and I had some dinner over at Chin-Chin's to decompress from all of this. Wow...wow...wow...That pretty much sums up tonight. I was especially astonished at all of tonight's happenings. Honestly, I don't know if I'll ever get used to all this! It was like one of those sitcom dream sequences where you bump into the TV legends who happen to be the guest stars of the week. Pretty damn cool...

Less is more

Went to a little game show gathering this evening courtesy of David Hammett. In addition to the regular gang, Matt Ottinger was also there visiting from out of town. We watched some tapes and played some games, one of which was "25 Words or Less." For those of you not familiar with the game it's pretty much "Password" meets the "Bid a Note" round from "Name that Tune." A neat party game that can be nerve-wracking at times. It's one of the better games of the "board games like game shows" genre such as "Outburst" and "Taboo."

I finally entered the digital age with still cameras and picked up a nifty digital camera today. So, getting pics up here on the website should be a bit easier now. The camera will get its first workout this Wednesday when I head to Studio City for the big signing for Peter Marshall's book about "The Hollywood Squares." I can't wait...Not only is Peter going to be there, but word is that other "Squares" celebs will be there like Rose Marie, Harvey Korman, Arte Johnson, Suzanne Pleshette, Tom Poston, and JoAnne Woooooooooooorley! I just think it's so cool that Suzanne Pleshette and Tom Poston are married. It's like when a new sitcom uses classic sitcom stars to play the main character's mom and dad during a guest spot, but in this case, it's for real!

Check out my good friend and fortheboys.tv co-host, Gary on the "Hot or Not" site. He just put up his pic on the site. Such a sweetheart and SUCH a cutie. Kind of a shame that you can't select a number higher than 10 on the meter. :-)

Anybody wanna pool some money together for some of those motorized scooters like the "Rascal" that elderly people use? I'm thinking a new sport..."Old People Scooter Racing." It's part horse-race, part NASCAR, part-Golden Girls, part-soapbox derby...all rolled into one! All right...I'm not serious...just seeing if you were all paying attention while reading this...

Louuuuuuuu

Had a fun weekend. Went to San Diego Friday night to join up with Ted and Larry in visiting our friend Michael and going to ComiCon International. This was by far the longest distance I've ever driven by myself. The drive wasn't bad at all. Got to cruising down the 5 through the dark evening.

Saturday morning, we all went to Hillcrest (think West Hollywood, but a bit more down-to-earth...well, at least during the day) for some brunch and afterwards we made our way to ComiCon. This was the first time I'd been there. Now, I had been to a couple of comic book conventions before in L.A., but this one dwarfed them all. It reminded me of NATPE for the comic book crowd. There were supposedly celebrities bustling around. We did see the tall creepy mail room guy from "Just Shoot Me" (I think he was also on "Mr. Show"). And Lou Ferrigno was there signing autographs. Lou looks like he's still in good shape. The thing that I just find funny out about all these muscle guys is how tiny their legs are. When we were having brunch at the deli, there was another buff guy who was all big and chiseled about the waist, but when you looked down at his legs, there were these relatively itty-bitty things.

Michael and I only hung around ComiCon for about an hour or so. I can appreciate the comic book movies and the fandemonium aspect, but I can only take so much. Plus, once I saw somebody dressed up as The Greatest American Hero getting a picture with someone dressed up as Superman, I knew it was time to go. Still, not everybody looked like comic book guy from "The Simpsons." There were amazingly some cuties interpersed amongst the mix. And Ted and Larry later called me up to tell me that they saw Ben Affleck and Arnold Schwarzenegger there.

After we left ComiCon, Michael and I hung out at his place to delve into the box of game show tapes I brought with me. I keep forgetting how most people haven't seen the shows I have in my collection since they originally aired. It was cool that I was able to bring most of the stuff Michael was asking for...stuff which he hadn't seen since he was a kid. After almost a whole afternoon of being game show geeks, we headed out to dinner with Ted and Larry when they returned. Ted and Larry headed back home that night.

Today, we slept in and had lunch over at Seaport Village and watched a couple more game shows. I hit the road around 4-ish and hit some major traffic bumps along the way. It was bad...There'd be stetches where I would zip along at 80 but in between them there were pockets of traffic where cars were barely moving. I mean, there were times when I was stopped on the highway. Got back home around 7:30-ish...just in time to get together for a little viewing of Sex and City and...THE ANNA NICOLE SHOW.

Why does the ANNA NICOLE SHOW get all caps? Because it's that bad of a show...BUT, it's one of those bad shows which I'll keep on watching. I could not pull my eyes away from it. The best part was when Anna Nicole got stuck under the table while playing with her dog. Ted put it accurately when he said it reminded him of when Winnie the Pooh would get his butt stuck in the honey tree. And the stuff that comes out of her mouth! It's amazing...She makes Ozzy Osbourne sound like George Plimpton. She sounds like a three-year-old girl in the body of a drag queen. It's as if "On the good ship, lollipop"-era Shirley Temple and Divine had a child. Geez, it's frightening...Still, I couldn't help but feel dirty after watching the show. It won't keep me from not watching though! ANNA NICOLE SHOW, I crown thee as my new "guilty pleasure!"

B.L.T.

I go to Arby's today for lunch and I try one of their new Ultimate B.L.T. sandwiches. As I'm standing in line, a guy goes up to the counter and asks, "What's on the B.L.T.?" The guy behind the counter says, "Bacon, lettuce, and tomato." The guy asking the question then says, "Oh...I thought there was turkey or roast beef on it." Now, is it just me or hasn't B.L.T. ALWAYS been just bacon, lettuce, and tomato and nothing else other than the bread and mayo? Wouldn't bacon, lettuce, and tomato with turkey or roast beef be a club sandwich?

Upon telling Drew about this after lunch, he said that some places sell Turkey B.L.T. and Roast Beef B.L.T. sandwiches...But still, doesn't that defeat the name of the B.L.T. sandwich??? There's only ONE T in "B.L.T.!!!" There's no R.B. in "B.L.T.!!!"

As to the sandwich itself, don't bother...Too much bacon for me to stomach and to much pepper. Plus the bacon they used was chewy. I like my B.L.T.s with a few strips of crispy warm bacon on it, thank you very much...