[INTRO] Hi everybody, and welcome to another episode of Unexpected English, your favorite English podcast. Now, the other day I was reading the paper, l and I saw a story that seemed kind of interesting. And I thought, Hey! I could read this story on the podcast, why not? I'll tell you what it's about. It's a about a chili pepper eating contest. 🌶 Yeah, I don't know. I don't know why you would want to see how many chili peppers, you could stuff into your gut, but okay there it is, you know. There is such a thing as competitive eating, where people will try and see who could eat their most hotdogs. 🌭 I dunno, It's crazy. It's crazy. Anyway, this story is about eating red hot chili peppers, specifically, the infamous Carolina Reaper. So let's get right to the story! TRANSCRIPT:

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San Diego is experiencing a heat wave this week, and so are the taste buds of Greg Foster, who ate dozens of the world’s hottest chilis at a contest on Saturday. The local resident and Inferno Farms Hot Sauce Company founder was attempting to eat one hundred and twenty-three Carolina Reapers to take the top spot in the “League of Fire” among internationally ranked chili eaters. But after eating 44 chilis, grown locally on his farm, the 6-foot-5-inch tall Foster was brought down to his knees in a fit of expletives and tears before throwing in the towel — and throwing up the contents of his stomach in the privacy of a pop-up tent. Measured at 1.4 million to 2.2 million Scoville heat units — the scale used to measure chili pungency — Carolina Reapers are the world’s hottest pepper, according to Chili Pepper Madness. By comparison, a jalapeño only has 2,500 to 10,000 Scoville heat units, according to Colorado State University. That makes the mildest Carolina Reaper 140 times hotter than the spiciest jalapeño. 🥵 One of four judges asked to witness the event said “Eating a Carolina Reaper pepper is like eating mace or being pepper sprayed in the mouth…. And if you don’t wait long enough between bites, you might consume too much and end up having a very, very painful experience.” ““I’m really just doing it for fun, and trying to beat my own record,” Foster said. “And that’s what today was all about. It would have been nice to get more than I did, but it’s really more for entertainment.” Greg Foster said he routinely eats a pepper a day when they’re in season, replacing fresh peppers with hot sauces in January to August when fresh chilis aren’t as readily available. He ramps up his pepper eating the week before contests and eats bananas the morning of the contest to prepare. After his failed attempt (and subsequent upchuck) he chugged water and milk to make it easier to purge the peppers out, followed by more milk, water and ice cream. 🍦He said that cuts recovery time from days to 45 minutes. Although he fell short of his goal Saturday, Foster said listening to one’s stomach is vital. “I thought I had a good pace there, and your body just tells you differently. What I’ve learned throughout eating peppers like this is: don’t ignore what your body’s telling you.” [OUTRO] Love is a burning thing, and it makers a firey ring Bound by wild desire, I fell in to a ring of fire I fell in to a burning ring of fire! I went down down down, and the flames went higher. And it burns burns burns...the ring of fire...

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