"Hey guys, how can we make this Eggmanland challenge even more annoying and nonsensical?"
"How about we design a large section of stage to be easy to traverse normally if you're careful, but set such a tight time limit that you need to do it flawlessly! And you can easily fall off the stage at any point in this section!"
"But won't they just go back to the last checkpoint?"
"That's the thing! There are no checkpoints in this absurdly long section!! So if you fall off, you basically need to restart the entire challenge!!"
"GENIUS! GET THIS MAN A RAISE AND A PROMOTION!!"
-totally an actual excerpt from a planning meeting for Sonic Unleashed PS2/Wii
Funny enough, the hotdog challenges for Eggmanland in 360/PS3 version are basically the same thing. Though unlike the PS2/Wii version they have a much longer stage to traverse and a much more ample time limit (The fastest level is an hour.)
Of course, its also a Hedgehog/Werehog stage, with the hedgehog parts more likely to end in death than the Werehog parts. It can be tough but at least its not THE MAIN [tornado fang]ing STAGE. Well, it is the entire stage, but its not required to 100% the game.