On September 26, the Guinness World Records organization announced that Canadian citizen Mike Jack consumed 50 Carolina Reaper peppers in 6 minutes and 49.2 seconds, as reported by The Guardian on September 30. The Carolina Reaper is recognized as the hottest chili pepper in the world according to the Scoville scale, with a heat level reaching 1.64 million Scoville Heat Units (SHU).
A video uploaded by Guinness World Records shows Mr. Jack wearing gloves as he eats the peppers in front of a running fan, occasionally closing his eyes and gasping for breath. Onlookers cheered him on, chanting “Go, Mike!”
Mr. Mike Jack finished 50 Carolina Reaper peppers in 6 minutes and 49.2 seconds. (Photo: Guinness World Records).
After completing 50 Carolina Reaper peppers—averaging 8 seconds per pepper—he continued to eat an additional 85 peppers.
In total, Mr. Jack consumed 135 Carolina Reaper peppers. This achievement propelled him to the second position on the League of Fire, a ranking that tracks the highest number of Carolina Reaper peppers consumed continuously by an individual.
Reflecting on his experience with the Guinness World Records, Mr. Jack stated: “The first pepper was the worst.”
“The shock of heat from the first pepper was intense. The second one didn’t seem as scary, but each subsequent pepper felt hotter as it hit new spots in your mouth,” he remarked.
Despite training his spicy food tolerance for the past two decades, Mr. Jack admitted that he still felt discomfort in his stomach.
“I felt a cramp. It felt like someone was squeezing and twisting my insides… Your mind tells you to stop, but you have to convince yourself to keep going,” he shared.
Mr. Jack also holds several other records, including the fastest time to drink a bottle of hot sauce (8.56 seconds) and the fastest time to drink 1 liter of ketchup (1 minute 5.56 seconds).
Earlier this year, he also set the world record for the longest kiss while eating a habanero pepper after he and his wife shared a habanero pepper and kissed for 15 minutes and 6.5 seconds.
