A man in the United States has broken the Guinness World Record for the fastest time to eat 10 Carolina Reaper chillies, the world's hottest peppers. Guinness World Records (GWR) said that the California resident Gregory Foster broke the record on September 17 after eating the chillies in an impressive 33.15 seconds. With the latest achievement, Mr Foster broke his own record - of eating three Carolina Reaper chillies in 8.72 seconds - just nine months ago.
GWR said that the Reapers hold the record for being the hottest chilli peppers ever, outranking others like the jalapeno and ghost peppers.
Experts use Scoville Heat Units to determine how spicy the chilli is. The method determines the 'spiciness' by determining the concentration of the chemical compounds responsible for the sensation, said GWR.
Carolina Reapers stand at 1,641,183 Scoville Heat Units, GWR further said.
Mr Foster owns a hot sauce company and grown his own chillies on his farms.
"It's the passion of pain, I guess," he told GWR.
Fellow American Mitch Donnelly was his competitor and had once won a chilli eating competition that Mr Foster organized. But this time, he was beaten by Mr Foster who pushed through the pain of eating the chillies quickly.
He described the experience as similar to trying to eat charcoal as quickly as possible.
"This is the one part of the job that I hate. But it's the one part of the job that's the most entertaining for everybody else," Mr Foster told GWR.
He added that the key to competitive chilli eating is to have milk and ice cream on hand.