A SECOND man has had to go to hospital after eating what is thought to be the world’s hottest chilli sauce.
Earlier this week Mark McNeil had to go Accident and Emergency after eating chicken wings doused in the sauce at The George pub on Stockton High Street.
Now another Stockton man, fitness instructor Ethan Rawlinson, 25, has had to go to the hospital with even worse pain and said he had not been able to walk due to cramps.
The sauce contains the Carolina Reaper chilli pepper which rates between 1.5m and 2.2m on the Scoville heat unit scale, making it easily the hottest in the world.
Mr Rawlinson said: “I’ve done a few before, including the ‘ghost pepper’ challenge, and I’ve been all right and I love really hot food. I think the mistake I made was eating on an empty stomach. It actually took some of the lining off of my stomach.
“I ate two of the wings and had to stop and it was about two hours later I got the burning. It was really bad. But the camps were worse. I couldn’t walk. I was crawling around on my hands and knees. My mate took me to hospital but they didn’t know what to do. In America apparently they do, but we’re not used to food challenges as much here. I’ve Googled around it now and there’s a lot of information about how to handle it and deal with cramping and so on. I don’t think it should be taken off the menu, but definitely only people who really, really know what they’re doing. The cramps lasted about seven hours and even having to urinate was just excruciating.”
Anyone who takes on the challenge to eat ten chicken wings must sign a disclaimer and if anyone does they receive a £9.95 refund. No-one has achieved it so far.
Pub manager at The George, Craig Harker, said that despite the hospitalisations people have been contacting him trying to book up for the challenge.
“The sauce is sent directly from Satan himself and we advise people not to attempt it,” he said.
There have been studies on the health effects of chillis which contain capsaicin, a neurotoxin and in large enough concentrations can cause seizures, heart attacks, and even death. Doctors have previously written to The Northern Echo to express their concerns about the negative health effects of the eating challenge craze.
A spokeswoman for Stockton Borough Council’s environmental health team said that as long as the pub describes the food accurately and had the correct warnings, no action against the pub would be taken.
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