It’s surely only a matter of time before competitive eating appears as an Olympic sport, though prospective “athletes” may want to take note of events in New York where an unnamed man was hospitalised after consuming just ONE chilli pepper. Admittedly, the chilli in question was a Carolina Reaper, a 2.2 million Scoville beast which recently reaffirmed its position as the world’s hottest. Twenty times hotter than a habanero chilli, the poor eater was immediately beset with a bout of dry heaving before succumbing over the next few days from chronic neck pain and eventually agonising stabbing headaches. Rushed to A&E, a CT scan revealed the arteries to his brain had narrowed, the first registered case of reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome (RCSV) attributed to eating chillis. The so-called “thunderclap headaches” prompted doctors to release the following statement:
“We would not advise against eating Carolina Reaper at this time, but we would recommend the general public be cautious about these adverse effects and we advise that they should seek medical attention immediately if they develop sudden onset headache after eating hot peppers.”
The unnamed competitor presumably lost the contest. Poor show, sir!
Here are some other “athletes” from a couple of years ago:
