Chilli-eating contests test who can eat the hottest chillies fastest or longest, from festival stages to online challenges. They are popular, mostly harmless, and occasionally dangerous.
What they are¶
Chilli-eating contests are competitions in which people eat increasingly hot chillies, or a set quantity of very hot food, to see who can go furthest or fastest. They are a fixture of chilli festivals in Britain, the United States and elsewhere, and of restaurants that offer a fearsome curry or plate of wings with a name on a wall for anyone who finishes it. Online, one-off challenges built around a single superhot chilli, crisp or sauce have spread widely through social media.
Their appeal is part spectacle, part endurance and part community: people who grow and love superhots enjoy testing themselves, and audiences enjoy watching them suffer. Guinness World Records also lists a number of speed and quantity categories for eating hot chillies, which change hands from time to time; check Guinness directly for current holders and figures rather than trusting what circulates online.
Common formats¶
- Escalating rounds. Competitors eat one chilli, or a spoonful of sauce, per round, each hotter than the last, starting perhaps with a jalapeno and moving through habaneros and Scotch bonnets to ghost peppers, Carolina Reapers and extract sauces. Anyone who drinks, eats anything else or leaves the stage is out.
- Timed challenges. Eat as many of a given chilli as possible in a fixed time, or eat a set number as quickly as possible.
- Restaurant challenges. A single very hot dish, often a curry, wings or a burger with extract sauce, eaten within a time limit, usually with a waiver to sign first.
- Single-item challenges. A single superhot chilli or product eaten in one go, often filmed, with a waiting period before any relief is allowed.
What happens to the body¶
Chilli heat comes from capsaicin and related compounds, which trigger the pain receptors that normally sense heat. Competitors typically experience intense burning in the mouth and throat, sweating, streaming eyes and nose, hiccups, and, as the chillies reach the stomach, cramps that can be severe. Vomiting is common in the later rounds. Some people report a rush of euphoria, which is often attributed to the body's release of endorphins in response to pain, though the extent of this is debated.
Most people recover within hours, though an uncomfortable next day is usual. Experienced competitors build up spice-tolerance through regular exposure, which dulls the sensation somewhat but does not protect the stomach or oesophagus.
The risks¶
Serious harm is rare, but it has been documented. Published medical case reports describe a man who developed severe "thunderclap" headaches caused by temporary narrowing of arteries in the brain after eating a Carolina Reaper in a contest, and another who suffered a tear of the oesophagus after violent vomiting in a ghost pepper challenge. In 2023, the death of a teenager in the United States after taking part in a one-chip challenge, in which he had an underlying heart condition, led to the product being withdrawn. These cases are covered on extreme-chilli-risks.
Particular risk factors include heart conditions, high blood pressure, stomach or oesophageal problems, asthma and pregnancy. Children should not take part.
⚠️ For organisers and competitors
Reputable events set a minimum age, require waivers, brief competitors on when to stop, and have first aiders present with milk, yoghurt and sick bags. Anyone with chest pain, difficulty breathing, a sudden severe headache or severe pain after vomiting needs emergency help: call 999 in the UK.
If you want to take part¶
- Know your limits. Stop when your body tells you to. There is no prize worth an ambulance.
- Eat beforehand. A meal with some fat and starch cushions the stomach; an empty stomach makes cramps worse.
- Do not use extract sauces lightly. They can be far hotter than any chilli; see hottest-chilli-records.
- Relief afterwards. Whole milk, yoghurt, ice cream, bread or rice help more than water. See cooling-a-dish-thats-too-hot.
- Protect your eyes. Capsaicin on the fingers finds its way to eyes and elsewhere. Gloves help; see handling-chillies-safely.
- Tell someone if you feel unwell afterwards, and seek medical advice for persistent vomiting or pain.
Beyond the contest¶
For many chilli enthusiasts, contests are a small part of a wider hobby that includes growing-chillies, fermenting-chillies, making hot-sauce and exploring the many flavours of chillies beyond heat, from the fruitiness of an aji-amarillo to the smokiness of a chipotle. Superhots have flavour too, though it can be hard to notice in the heat of competition.
See also the-scoville-scale, chilli-pepper and capsaicin.