Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast

Season 8 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast begins and we're thrilled to be back, looking to bring open-fire cooking knowledge to our listeners. That's best done by having great guests and we kick off the new year with two of the best. Leading off Episode 338 is Bill Purvis of Chicken Fried BBQ, who's not only a world champion but one of the best content producers around. We visit with Bill about hi...

While we're on a holiday break before starting Season 8 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, it's a special edition with two of our most-listened-to guests from 2025. First up is Brad Leighninger of Gettin' Basted with a recap of his runner-up finish on the Food Network show BBQ Brawl. The July conversation also touches on Brad's in-progress run to an unprecedented 4th KCBS Team of the Year title … A...

We wrap up Season 7 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast with champion guests from from far north and south of the competition spectrum. First up at the 8:30 mark on Episode 336 of the show is Janice Smella, head cook of SmellaQue out of Calgary, Alberta. Smellaque recently was crowned Team of the Year in the Canadian BBQ Society for the fifth time. Janice reviews her 11-year history in competition BB...

Not to toot our own horn, but the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast has a pretty good track record when spotting upcoming talent in our "Under the Radar" segment. This week's featured guest, Dan Wright of Take it Easy BBQ, is the latest example. Since appearing on the show in March, Dan posted his first two KCBS Grand Championships, 11 top 10 overall finishes and a sixth-place in the KCBS Chicken Team of...

On Episode 334 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast , we visit with the husband-wife due of Dave and Shirin Mara of Meat Candy Q out of San Diego. It was a banner 2025 season as Meat Candy Q won California BBQ Association Team of the Year honors for the third time in four years and also wound up seventh in the KCBS Team of the Year standings. They had a remarkable stretch of 15 consecutive top-10 fini...

Before getting to the preview of Episode 333 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast , we send wishes for a "Happy Thanksgiving" to all. May your feast be plentiful and your family time blessed, not only on Turkey Day but every day as we head down the home stretch of 2025. Leading off the guest lineup this week is Chase Willard, pitmaster of Squealin' N Dealin' BBQ out of Independence, Missouri. Chase an...

The 2025 competition BBQ season was another great one for Bill Heyen and wife Andrea of Triple H BBQ from Gillespie, Illinois. But beyond three grand championships and four RGCs, with a scoring average a fraction under 700, Bill uses the word "blessed" to describe a season that concluded with a Grand Championship at last weekend's Atlanta BBQ Store Classic. Bill battled back from a tumor near his...

We came, we cooked, we survived. On Episode 331 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, it's a review of the 45th American Royal World Series of BBQ where conditions were challenging for Sunday's 401-team Open. The Tailgate Guys team didn't come away with any coveted ribbons, as we had done in three of our four previous visits to the world's largest BBQ competition, but we had a respectable showing in o...

With Thanksgiving knocking on the door, it's time to plan a menu and possibly incorporate the grill or smoker to make the big feast even better. On Episode 330 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, award-winning pitmaster, judge and BBQ promoter Christie Vanover of Girls Can Grill offers some ideas from her book: "Holiday Grilling: 111 Recipes to Celebrate the Season." Christie also reviews her BBQ ye...

Episode 329 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast is our 45th American Royal World Series of BBQ preview. First up is a conversation, beginning at the 6:30 mark, with American Royal BBQ Manager Kayci Vincent and director of communications Allyssa King about what teams and spectators can expect from the world's largest BBQ competition. The fun is set for Nov. 6-9 at Kansas Speedway. Then we bring back o...

When you talk about consistent excellence in competition BBQ, few teams stand out over the last decade more than Rooters-N-Tooters from Tennessee. On Episode 328 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, we talk it over with Paul Keltner about Rooters-N-Tooters sustained success, which includes three KCBS Grand Championships in 2025 - including last weekend's Royal Oak Invitational - plus overall top-10s...

Since the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast began a decade ago, one of our mantras has been "we talk to champions." Episode 327 features the latest BBQ world champion. It's Ryan King of Kings BBQ out of Jacksonville, Florida, the Grand Champion at last weekend's Jack Daniels World Invitational in Lynchburg, Tenn. Beginning at the 10:22 mark, Ryan tells us about a cook that placed him among the legends - a...

We visit with a Hall of Famer on Episode 326 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast. Donny Teel and Buffalo's BBQ is a legend from Sperry, Oklahoma, winning more than 100 competitions over a three-decade career including Grand Championships at both the American Royal World Series of BBQ Open and Jack Daniels World BBQ Invitational. Donny will be inducted into the BBQ Hall of Fame next month during the A...

We all know how important it is to keep those cooking grates clean. On Episode 325 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, we talk it over with Marvin Weinberger, an entrepreneur who's developed a handy and effective tool called the GrillFighter to get the job done. We visit with Marvin about his background as an inventor and why coming up with the GrillFighter was important to him. Marvin's segment beg...

Sam Dodson of Bull in the Ring BBQ had been knocking on the door of his first KCBS Grand Championship, with a series of top-10 finishes and a recent runner-up finish. Last weekend in Ponca City, Oklahoma, Bull in the Ring scored the big prize and on Episode 324 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast we visit with Sam about the journey and some of the keys in getting to a consistently elite level. Sam's...

A few days after B'Mackin BBQ set a KCBS record with a near-perfect cook at the Burnt Offering BBQ Contest in Riverside, California, we talk it over on Episode 323 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast with San Diego's Brett McKinney about how he and teammate Benny Watsman pulled it off. B'Mackin scored an amazing 718.8572 and just missed a quadruple 180 by a couple of judges slightly dinging them in t...

Hugh Munro of Ambition Que might be the oldest man in competition BBQ. But the 73-year-old former drag racer doesn't mind the title one bit - particularly after likely becoming the oldest KCBS Grand Champion at last weekend's Bud's, Brews & BBQ in Columbia, Missouri. On Episode 322 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, we visit with Hugh about his late-start to competition BBQ and how it feeds his hun...

On Episode 321 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, we talk it over with one of the nation's hottest competition pit masters. Gabe Trevino and Smokin' Volts BBQ of Fontana, California is coming off a Grand Championship over Labor Day Weekend at the star-studded Meat & Tater BBQ Fest in Boise, Idaho. Gabe scored a 707.9 total, edging out Gettin' Basted and one of his mentors, Brad Leighninger, for top...

We're also thrilled when one of our past "Under the Radar" guests go on and accomplish big things in the competition world. Jacob Watt of the Kansas City-area team Smoke This Drink That told us back in February that winning a KCBS Masters Division Grand Championship was a goal in 2025. It was mission accomplished Aug. 16 when he and wife Paige celebrate their first GC with a whopping 710.85 total...

From his home base in Arizona, Sterling Smith has been all over the world cooking, teaching and promoting his BBQ and Loot 'n Booty product line. On Episode 319 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, Sterling reviews the journey that included competition cooking since 2009 and recaps 2025 visits to Hawaii, New Zealand and Croatia among other stops and a busy fall schedule ahead with tickets punched to...

Jordan Kirkpatrick and Janky Leg BBQ recently passed the seven-year anniversary of their first KCBS competition, a 27th-place out of 30 teams in Effingham, Illinois. Jordan recalled being "lost, confused and disappointed" with the results. On Episode 318 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, Jordan reflected on the humbling start and the road to becoming a world champion a years later. Janky Leg is st...

The OG #GOATOFBBQ can still get it done. On Episode 317 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, we visit with BBQ Hall of Famer Darren Warth about his latest KCBS Grand Championship, this one bigger than most. It came last weekend at the Grand American Barbecue World Championship in Port Jervis, New York. The $15,000 prize was one of the bigger non-majors he's won and the second GC in the last month for...

When selected as one of 12 contestants for the Food Network program BBQ Brawl, Brad Leighninger of Nixa, Mo., said he just wanted to have fun and represent the competition BBQ world as best he could. Chalk it up as mission accomplished on both parts, plus a whole lot more. The pitmaster behind three-time (working on four-time) KCBS Team of the Year Gettin' Basted made it all the way to the finale...

The competition BBQ world was rocked late last week by the tragic news that Ercole Chila from Uncle Pigs Barbecue Pit from Paulsboro, N.J., had been killed in an automobile accident. Two of Ercole's shining accomplishments on the competition trail was Uncle Pig's 2022 KCBS Team of the Year award and the 2023 Jack Daniels World BBQ Invitational championship. But beyond the smoke and tasty proteins...

For Ashton Smith and Josh Farley, the idea of a BBQ restaurant and food truck seemed unlikely a couple of years ago. But after winning the Made for KC competition in 2023, earning naming rights to the BBQ restaurant in Kansas City International Airport for what turned out to be 18 months, the O.G. Bandits are more than a championship KCBS competition team - they're now an award-winning restaurant...