West Texas Investors Club

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“	Well, Jack was nervous like a whore in church...	”
Gil Prather.

In July 2015, Jack Scalfani was invited on the CNBC reality show West Texas Investors Club, where he got to pitch The Best Sauces to two Texan millionaires Mike "Rooster" McConaughey and Wayne "Butch" Gilliam.^[1] To prove himself, Jack is subjected to a humiliation ritual in which he competed in barbequing against a local pitmaster, failing miserably. Jack's pitch was ultimately unsuccessful, as he did not agree to the terms set forward by the investors.

The episode, "A Time to Grill", was aired on 11 August 2015. The episode is mainly remembered for Jack crying on air, as he is scolded by the investors for using the television appearance to promote his YouTube career.

Prelude

In 2012, Jack submitted several applications to appear on Shark Tank, creating a now-lost pitch video for The Best Sauces which the producers allegedly liked. After a long process, despite being initially accepted to appear on the show in July, the filming of Jack's episode was later moved to September, before ultimately getting cancelled altogether.^[2]

Somewhere around June or July 2015, Jack was approached by CNBC to appear on West Texas Investors Club, which he accepted. Jack claims Shark Tank contacted him again a week after being signed onto WTIC, which he turned down, presenting it as a "first come, first served" matter.^[2] Before the episode's release, Jack raised concern on Twitter, stating that "I'm hoping they don't edit me to look bad", as "I didn't hit it off with the investors very well."^[3] The oldest home of Jack detractors, 4chan's cooking board /ck/, arranged a watch party of the episode.^[4]

Summary

Jack's arrival

Jack arrives by plane in Texas, seemingly expecting a grand reception to bring him to the investors. Rather than a stretch limo, he is picked up with a rusty pickup truck by the elderly Gil Prather, nicknamed The Tenderizer. Jack proceeds to tell Prather about his own line of sauces he produces, and lets him know that he is looking for monetary help.

Jack enters the WTIC Clubhouse and is taken aback by the setting. He displays some of his products to investors Mike "Rooster" McConaughey and Wayne "Butch" Gilliam, and attempts to make his sales pitch, but is quickly interrupted so the investors can "soak him in". McConaughey comments that Jack "is the only Italian BBQ sauce maker [he has] known." After telling the alleged origin story of the sauce brand, Jack offers the investors a taste test, but they decline. The investor duo are overall sceptical of Jack's claims.

Jack's initial pitch

Jack wants a $300,000 investment for 20% of the company, putting the total valuation at $1.5 million. Jack says his best year selling sauce was $106,000, and guesses that he made $35,000 in profit. The investors become upset that Jack is failing to answer basic business questions. Jack boasts that the sauce is sold in 150 Walmart stores on the West Coast, but the investors find this underwhelming as there are over 4000 Walmarts in the country.

The Cooking With Jack Show is brought up as a marketing driver. Jack claims the show receives 1-1.5 million views and $3,000-$5,000 in revenue per month. As the investors show interest in possibly purchasing the show, Jack proclaims it is separate from the sauce company and therefore will not be negotiated for the deal, as "The cooking show is me and I'm not willing to sell a little percentage of me". The investors mock Jack's statement, and finally try The Best Barbeque Sauce, with Gilliam commenting that it is overly sweet.

Grilling competition

After the first pitch meeting, Jack is tasked to serve a hundred people at the KD's Bar-B-Q restaurant in Midland, competing against local pitmaster Dustin Freeman, with Prather showing him around the grill station. Dustin declines shaking hands with Jack, upsetting him. As the competition kicks off, Jack struggles to begin cooking, claiming he has never used a wood-fired offset smoker, bewildering Prather. The investors decide to check on Jack and are shocked by the "clusterfuck" he has created, as he falls behind and is seriously behind schedule. The investors eventually decide to help Jack, though acknowledging that he will probably lose. As the investors manage the grill, Jack wanders off and spends a large amount of time talking to lunch participants, which annoys the group.

The four blindfolded judges, including McConaughey and Gilliam, begin a vote on whose sauce they prefer. Gilliam pretends he is going to choose Jack's plate, but ends up choosing Dustin's plate, infuriating Jack and creating a 2-2 tie. Prather begins counting leftover plates to determine the winner. Although the counting is obfuscated to make it seem like Jack was close to Dustin, the latter is easily declared the winner with a 34-19 score. Jack appears to take the loss okay, all things considered.

The final pitch

On the final meeting the next day, the investors decide the ownership of the Cooking With Jack Show must be included in the investment package, concluding that the sauce would not sell without Jack's image. Jack fiercely declines, and gets defensive as the investors tell him his company is only worth four times his profit from the previous year. After Jack suggests that he no longer wants a deal, the investors accuse Jack of only coming on the show to appear on television and promote his YouTube channel.

Jack begins to break down, feeling that the investors are calling him a liar. Jack says he wants to prioritize his reputation over money, being more concerned that people at the competition were loved on and fed than him winning the contest. He explains his low profit by claiming that he gives sauces away because he wants people to enjoy his food, tearing up in the process. The investors get weirded out by Jack's tone and apologize for making him cry.

Nevertheless, Jack does not get a deal and is taken back to the airport by Prather. In post-episode interview footage, Jack complained over the investors teasing him and trying to "take control of [his] show".

Aftermath

“	All I am going to say is that is horrible and how can he claim to have such good sauce when he cannot even BBQ!!! This guy is such a fraud. I checked his youtube channel and he can grill on a gas grill, and a Traeger but I did not see any other type of smoker used. Anyways BOO this turd!!!	”
BrisketMania.com blog on the episode.^[5]

Shortly following the episode's airing, Jack's comments on social media became flooded with mockery, which he made quick work of deleting.^[4] Brentney Hamilton of the The Dallas Morning News published an article about the episode the next day, commending the investors for consoling Jack once he started crying instead of egging him on, showing kindness in politically tense times.^[6]

The episode is largely regarded as the beginning of Jack's downfall, combined with his appearance on the Sunday Evening Coffee podcast. Jack continued to sell The Best Sauces up until around 2022, as their main manufacturer went out of business due to COVID-19 pandemic challenges.^[7] Gil Prather died on 3 February 2022, and presumably continues to haunt Jack to this day.^[8]

Jack's response

Jack did not make a formal announcement that he would be appearing on WTIC on his YouTube channels, only addressing the matter in "Slawesome Deviled Eggs - Food Product Review" a month after the episode's premiere with a rather displeased tone. He did reply to people on Twitter about the episode, stating that Gilliam and him continue to be on good terms,^[9] and that "God's got my back"^[10] and "[the investors] can keep their money :D".^[11]

On a further reply chain to Twitter user Prztl, Jack complained that he felt the grilling competition was unfair, as:

"They put me on a wood burning gigantic smoker. I've done gas, charcoal, infrared, [and] wood pellets. But never a wood & blow torch."^[12]
"They never told me that the plates were for voting, so I never told my customers to put them in the trashcan that said 'voting'."^[13]
"In addition, the lady who didn't vote for me kept licking my plate in the background afterwards. They had me losing before I got there."^[14]

On a livestream on 2 November 2019, Jack expressed regret that he could not take Shark Tank's alleged second offer, as he was contractually bound to WTIC at that point.^[15] On 26 June 2021, he expressed frustration that he "wasn't allowed to talk to anybody on the set", and that the show producers "just [drove] you off like you were radioactive or something".^[16] On 27 January 2024, Jack claimed he cried during the episode because the producers forced him to overreact for dramatic effect, combined with how "my mom just passed away when they filmed that" (Which is a blatant lie, as she died in 2011). He also claimed Gilliam and him stayed friends for "a few months" after filming.^[17]