Crowds were enthralled at Ashburton’s first-ever chilli eating competition, drawn by the spectacle of contestants torturing themselves to the point of agony and sickness.
‘‘Pain, pain, pain,’’ said one contestant when the emcee asked how he was feeling.
By that time in proceedings, contestants were falling like flies.
The competition, at the A&P show on Saturday, was run in partnership with Christchurch’s SpicyBoys.
It finally drew to a close after one hour of relentless rounds, when just one contestant remained.
Each round featured peppers of various shapes, colours and intensities, finishing off with one of the hottest chillis in the world – the vivid red, gnarled and ferocious Carolina Reaper.
Jesse Painter, 39, of North Canterbury, was that final contestant, winning first prize of $500 of RD Petroleum fuel vouchers.
He had avoided the fate of his 18 fellow competitors, who had stumbled from the stage, some having had to use buckets provided.
Painter was unable to talk to The Ashburton Courier afterwards, as the heat of the chillis rendered him temporarily mute.
But his wife Chantal said her husband was a four-time national chilli eating champion.
He travelled to various locations of New Zealand to compete in the national champs, as well as smaller competitions such as the one at the Ashburton show.
‘‘If there’s a chilli or hot wings eating competition, he’s there,’’ Chantal said.
‘‘He likes the burn, the rush, the endorphins from that. It’s a passion.’’
The horticulturist had started competing five years ago. He had previously grown chillis and capsicums for a living; now he grew cucumbers.
Show president Ben Stock said he understood it was Ashburton’s first ever chilli eating competition.
The event seemed ‘‘very popular’’ and may be held again next year.
Stock, himself a competitor, was taken out relatively early, on his sixth pepper, a Chocolate Carolina Reaper.
He described the physical sensation of competing as ‘‘pain all over, sweat, disorientation’’.
‘‘I had assumed it was going to be extremely hot in the mouth, but what I had completely underestimated is how the rest of the body would feel,’’ Stock said.
‘‘Essentially, it’s how your body reacts to eating a poison. It was the pain all over.’’
