Aside from losing all my spare money in the casino, I also got a chance to enjoy some absolutely amazing food. While the buffet inside the hotel we had free meals for was fairly solid, it was the food being cooked outside that would take your breath away. Just stepping outside and smelling it, I could feel my arteries clogging.

I honestly can't single out anything that I ate. It was all incredible. Of particular note was when contestants from the show would make food for the crew (like me!) on the nights they weren't competing. Until that trip, I had always hated barbecue sauce, but when I tasted Big Bob Gibson's BBQ sauce it opened my ignorant eyes.

Chris Lilly, one of the show's co-creators, is renowned as the best barbecue chef in the world. His fame is so great he hardly ever competes anymore, he tells other people how to judge competitors. He's also a really down to earth guy, and one heck of a gambler, and he makes really bitchin' ribs.

Most of the experienced crew agreed that the show was a disaster, at least behind the scenes. I think one thing I remember most vividly was how all the leftover food from the show was crammed into a refrigerator and left there for days until it was decided we should film them. By then the fridge had taken its toll on the meat, and it looked like a dried out, slightly colder husk of itself. To think that hungry mouths could've tasted the BBQ'd bliss of that meat…. Then again, some of the dish ideas were pretty horrible, like eel. Who barbecues eel?

The guy in charge of the stage crew was a pretty cool guy named Mayday, who wore a cowboy hat. He had a really sweet dog too. He wasn't like your typical I wear a cowboy hat to look rugged guy, he actually was rugged and wore a cowboy hat, but also really nice. There was a girl there named Denise who I wound up spending time with, but in true bad teenage angst movie fashion her boyfriend thought it would be fun to randomly hit me in the chest. I was so flabbergasted by his behavior I didn't even react, I always find it hard to believe when people start acting like bad clichés out of even worse movies.

From the blue collar, Larry the Cable Guy fan looks of most of the Chefs, you wouldn't know they were culinary geniuses. The old adage, "looks can be deceiving" really is put to good use when it comes to these chefs, because I still haven't tasted barbecued chicken so tender, juicy and delicious. It was like it was dissolving in my mouth, perfectly cooked, and I kept going back for more until there was no more to be had.

If you can afford a trip to Reno and really love barbecue, I have to say, a trip to Reno this summer might be in your best interests. The barbecue show won't be there, but there's still going to be some amazing cooking going on.

You can buy some of Big Bob Gibson's BBQ sauce (which I highly recommend) Here.