Man Loses Bet, Eats 22 Pancakes In 1 Sitting At Parsippany IHOP

PARSIPPANY, NJ — Fifteen pancakes in, Abhi Shah felt like he was about to die. The Parsippany native's Sunday may have turned out differently, had Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey not strained his hamstring earlier in the NFL season.

Shah made a bet in his fantasy football league, and he lost. As a result, the 25-year-old had to spend 24 hours in Parsippany's IHOP, but he could cut off an hour for every two pancakes eaten.

Ultimately, Shah made it out in 11-and-a-half hours, with 22 pancakes consumed. But with more than a dozen flapjacks consumed by noon Sunday, he told Patch it wasn't easy.

"The butter’s pretty thick. It’s been a struggle," Shah said, sitting at a table with visiting friends. "Luckily, I’ve had some people come by. It was kind of lonely for the first four hours, but we’re going."

Shah and his friends from University of Michigan competed this year in fantasy football — an online competition in which people assemble imaginary teams of real NFL players, winning or losing based off the stats the athletes put up in each game.

The Parsippany native began the year optimistic, feeling good about the team he drafted. But adversity derailed Shah's season. McCaffrey — one of the NFL's highest-rated fantasy players and a member of Shah's fantasy team — missed most of the season with multiple injuries.

Shah missed the playoffs, and the teams in the loser's bracket made some unique bets. Originally, the loser of his match would need to create a calendar with photos of themselves that were similar to "The Body Issue" — an edition of ESPN The Magazine with semi-nude photos of athletes. Then they'd have to send that calendar to everyone in the league. (Another member of the league has to do five minutes of open-mic standup comedy.)

The Parsippany Hills High School alumnus didn't want to take nude photos, so they negotiated on the IHOP bet instead. But after digging into some pancakes, Shah wished he did the calendar shoot instead.

"That thought came to me at pancake 2," he said.

When the IHOP opened at 7 a.m., only Shah and an older gentleman were present to get seated. Shah finished his first short stack — five pancakes — feeling good. Then he ordered another, which took him 70 minutes to complete and bogged him down.

Shah strategically ordered only classic buttermilk pancakes to avoid extra calories. But two stacks in, he felt the struggle, and everyone watching his livestream could see it.

"My mom called me a couple times concerned about my welfare," Shah said. "She thinks I’m an idiot. I am."

However, following a two-hour break, Shah pushed through. And although losses filled his fantasy-football season, he left the IHOP at 6:30 p.m. victorious.

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