On the River City Pedalers party bike, tourists and locals work off calories while drinking calories. The mobile bar allows up to 14 people to drink and pedal through the streets of downtown.
That’s why the River City Pedalers were contacted for a spotlight on the reality show Fluffy Breaks Even, featuring comedian Gabriel Iglesias, known to his fans as Fluffy.
On the show, Iglesias and his crew visit cities across the U.S., sampling the native cuisine and then attempting to burn off the calories in “larger-than-life physical challenges,” according to the Fuse TV website.
The Memphis episode of Fluffy Breaks Even airs Thursday, October 15th at 9 p.m. on Fuse.
River City Pedalers is operated by the husband-and-wife team of Russell and Carolyn Young. They operate the bike year-round and book tours at rivercitypedalers.com. — Alexandra Pusateri
Flyer: How has business been going since you launched in January?
Russell Young: It’s going great! Our weekends are pretty well-booked. We’re hoping that the show will help us a bit more. It’s a good mix [of tourists and locals]. Our public tours, which is where we try to mix people who don’t have 10 [people], has really picked up a lot.
We’re just now trying to get hooked up with MidSouth Paranormal Society. We’re going to combine one of their tours on our bike, a scary night tour.
How did the show’s producers find you?
[The show] all started with him being on the road doing his tours and gaining an ungodly amount of weight. He was 400-and-something pounds. He had to do something about it, so he started working out. He lost 100 pounds and has even dropped more. So, evidently, some producers decided this would make a good reality show.
The fans pick the city, and they find some famous eating places, go eat there, and then figure out some way to work out and lose calories. The fans said, “Come to Memphis, we’ve got some famous places: Gus’s Fried Chicken, the Flying Fish, Central BBQ.” Then they were trying to find some way to lose weight, and that’s where they found us. The show is called Fluffy Breaks Even because, every show, he’s trying to figure out if he broke even or if the city won. We’re dying to find out what happens in Memphis.
How was the experience?
The producers didn’t want the streets just completely crowded; they wouldn’t be able to film — just a normal day, not everyone trying to crowd him for autographs. We had to keep our mouths shut.
There was something they were trying to do, and I don’t know if they included it on the show, but we were pedaling down Front Street after eating at Gus’s Fried Chicken. All of a sudden, we see a long-haired girl walking. On the show, Martin Moreno is the girl-chaser. So, we get right up by her, and he’s hollering something flirty, and then all of a sudden, the guy turns around with a big beard. He yelled, “Ah! Sorry about that!”