Pepper eating contest is so hot competitors sit in an urn of water while eating chillies

Last Updated on 2016-07-08 , 9:57 am

Yes, this competition is as absurd as it looks.

Held in Yunnan, China, 9 competitors stood waist-deep in pepper water while stuffing their mouths with spicy peppers. Imagine watching 9 grown adults sweating and crying in an urn. Just one question: why?

This year’s winner ate 47 chillis in 2 minutes. It’s not surprising that he came from Sichuan, which is known for its spicy food.

I guess the only incentive to participate in this (apart from the prize) is that you’re hand-fed chillies by some very attractive ladies. Hot girls + hot chillies = 2 times the burn.

And here’s the winner holding up his prize – a tiny 24K gold pepper. That’s all you win. Not worth it at all.

If you think that this is the only spice-eating challenge in China, you’re so wrong – it’s actually pretty hot (pun intended) there. There’s even a man who was crowned the ‘king of chilli’ by the Hunan government, and get this: he eats 2.5kg of chillies a day.

While most of us have a cup of coffee in the morning, Li Yongzhi drinks a cup of chilli oil. He even snacks on raw chilli because “if the food has no spiciness then it has no taste.”

Singapore is also catching on to the chilli-eating trend – the most famous being the Spicy Buffalo Wings Challenge from Sunset Grill & Pub.

You can take your pick from spice levels 1 to 35. Don’t try anything above level 10 – you’ll (probably) die. If you somehow manage to survive level 35, you join their hall of chicken wings fame and get your picture on their wall.

This article was first published on goodyfeed.com