In a remarkable feat of gastronomic endurance, a Canadian man has not only shattered his own world record for devouring the spiciest peppers on the planet (the Carolina Reaper) but has also left spectators in awe by following that up with an astounding 85 additional fiery peppers. This remarkable feat was officially recognised by Guinness World Records on Tuesday.
Mike Jack, hailing from Canada, undertook the fiery challenge of ingesting 50 Carolina Reapers, known for their scorching intensity of 1.64 million Scoville Heat Units (SHUs), all within a mere 6 minutes and 49.2 seconds. To put this into perspective, the humble jalapeño registers a relatively mild 2,500 to 8,000 SHUs.
Captured in a video shared by Guinness World Records online, Jack can be seen sporting a red bandana and protective gloves as he devours the blazing peppers, occasionally shutting his eyes tightly and audibly gasping for breath. Encouraging cheers from onlookers punctuated the event with resounding chants of “Go, Mike!”
Once the astounding feat of consuming 50 of these searing peppers was accomplished—an astonishing rate of one every eight seconds—Jack didn’t stop there. In an almost unbelievable continuation, he proceeded to devour an additional 85 of these Carolina Reapers.
In total, Jack’s insatiable appetite led him to ingest a staggering 135 Carolina Reapers. This jaw-dropping gastronomic accomplishment catapulted him to the second spot on the League of Fire’s Reaper Challenger Leaderboard, which meticulously tracks the highest number of Carolina Reapers consumed in a single sitting.
Reflecting on his fiery ordeal, Jack shared his thoughts with Guinness World Records, stating, “The first pepper is the worst…The initial shock of spiciness is intense. The second one doesn’t seem as bad, but each one after that gets hotter and hotter as the peppers touch new places in your mouth.”
Despite developing a formidable tolerance to spice over the past two decades, Jack confessed to enduring significant discomfort in his stomach. He described it as, “I get bad cramps. It feels like someone is squeezing and twisting my guts … Your mind is telling you to stop but you have to convince yourself to keep pushing through.”
Jack, an undisputed record-breaker, boasts several other impressive achievements. These include the fastest time to consume a bottle of hot sauce, clocking in at a mere 8.56 seconds, and the fastest time to consume a litre (approximately a quarter-gallon) of tomato sauce, accomplished in just 1 minute and 5.56 seconds.
In a quirky twist earlier this year, Jack added another feather to his cap by breaking the world record for the longest habanero pepper kiss. In a unique display of affection, both he and his wife consumed habanero peppers and shared a passionate kiss that lasted an astonishing 15 minutes and 6.5 seconds.
View this post on Instagram
