To someone who hasn't had one,
it's like describing what blue tastes like.
You know what I mean?
It's an eyeopener. It's like, hot--
There's hot, and then there's something-- It goes somewhere else.
♪ playful music playing ♪
ZACH GOOT: You know, the first reaction you're gonna have
to doing something spicy is gonna be nerves,
the butterflies in the stomach.
TROY PRIMEAUX: When they take a hot pepper and put it in their mouth
and bite down,
there's gonna be a burst
of juice.
JIMMY PICKLES: You start playing this game in your head
about clock, tick-tock, tick-tock,
how fast is it gonna hit me? [clock ringing]
Mm.
TROY: Most people say, "It's hot."
That's hot.
But right away, it's like, "Not that bad."
You get cocky, we all get cocky.
And then all of a sudden, boom!
Ha-ha, you're not cocky anymore.
TROY: And it builds and gets hotter and hotter.
JIMMY: Now you're going in panic mode.
You don't know where this is gonna go.
TROY: You're thinking about that point,
"Maybe I shouldn't do this."
[laughs]
♪ playful music continues ♪
Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!
JOHNNY SCOVILLE: It'll go into your sinus cavities,
your face gets flushed,
you start getting red.
BOBBY MCFADDEN: The ear burn is the worst.
Oh, my God, I'm drooling,
stuff coming out my nose.
Some people say their legs go numb.
TROY: You're incapable of getting
your thoughts together, they're jumbled,
they're spinning around your head like ping pong balls.
JIMMY: It's like a boxing match,
and you're gonna fight that pepper.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
And it's pure agony while you're riding this thing.
Oh, my God, this is the most pain
I've ever felt in my life.
Endorphin dump, too much endorphin dump.
BOBBY: I start to feel like I'm leaving my body,
and that's just my body sending out drugs
because it thinks it's dying. [laughs]
♪
That's what the chiliheads long for,
that pepper high.
NARRATOR: Chasing that pepper high
is what being a chilihead is all about,
and it's the fuel that pushes superhot creators
to grow gnarlier and gnarlier peppers.
BOBBY: I can't believe I get to watch you eat one of my peppers finally.
Look at that.
Wow, it smells wicket hot.
So pretty. Alright, here's to your health.
And what's the name of this thing?
Um, I'm calling it the Orange Gusher.
Good name. [Bobby laughs]
NARRATOR: Pepper grower Bobby McFadden believes
he's created one that redefines gnarly.
Alright. BOBBY: Good luck. [laughs]
NARRATOR: Of course, that's up to chili kingmaker
Johnny Scoville to decide.
♪
Good?
It's hot.
[laughs] Good.
If you say it's hot, then I know it's hot.
Him doing that was like a stamp of approval.
If Johnny eats my peppers and people see that I grew them,
it works out for me too,
because more people come to see me and ask for my peppers.
So we all kind of work together.
The taste is really good.
It's got a nice little burn,
the burn on the sides of my cheek and my mouth
on the tongue. - Yeah.
- Super flavorful, though. - That's good.
- Orange Gusher, great name for it. - Yeah.
It's got potential.
To me, it's one of those peppers
that's right on the cusp of having the potential
to be a real, like, a threat to the top pepper,
right on the cusp.
♪ dramatic orchestral music playing ♪
♪
[flames hissing]
[crowd cheering]
♪ suspenseful music playing ♪
NARRATOR: Every bull rider needs a bull.
And in many ways, every bull needs a bull rider.
[bull growls]
[gate clatters] [bell rings]
[crowd cheering]
NARRATOR: One tries to hold on.
The other tries to buck.
Both are out to best the other.
In the world of peppers,
the bulls are superhots, created by top growers,
and the bull riders, well,
they're another breed of chilihead,
the competitive eaters.
♪
Bein' a pepper eater is kinda like riding a bull.
You're gettin' ready for the ride of your life.
Same exact thing, gettin' on a stage,
you're about to eat peppers, you need to tighten up that rope.
♪ dramatic music playing ♪ [crowd cheering]
[bull rider grunts]
NARRATOR: This weekend in Dallas, Texas,
those chili eaters are in for the ride of their lives,
as the pepper world descends on an annual convention
known as Zest Fest.
ANNOUNCER [over speakers]: The League of Fire,
chili championships began in the South.
So much more, welcome to Zest Fest.
NARRATOR: Zest Fest is a three-day event,
celebrating all things spicy,
and this chilipalooza is capped off
by the largest chili eating competition on the continent.
It's tasty and it's zesty.
[crowd chattering] ♪ playful music plays ♪
NARRATOR: The official competitive eating circuit,
known as The League of Fire,
will kick off the North American Chili Eating Championship
in less than an hour.
The league has hand selected these contestants
based on past performance, the best of the best.
And among the elite is former champion Mike Jack,
dressed, as always, for the occasion.
Yeah, I get ya, I get it.
♪ playful music continues ♪
NARRATOR: This unlikely Canadian hero
is considered by many as the favorite to win back the belt.
So my very first superhot pepper
was a dried Carolina Reaper.
I handled it a lot better than I thought, and I was like,
"Oh, like, maybe I can eat three of 'em."
I set up, like, a charity event at a local pub.
[crowd cheering]
I set up another event, and I broke my first, uh, Guinness record,
like fastest time to eat three ghost peppers.
[crowd cheers, applauds] OFFICIAL: 9.75.
Kept trying more and more records, breaking more and more.
ANNOUNCER: That's it. [crowd cheering]
Started doing competitions and winning
and stuff like that, so yeah, it just kinda escalated.
NARRATOR: While Mike Jack is looking
to, once again, reach the summit of the chili eating world,
rival competitor Zach Goot is hoping to shock everyone.
How's everybody doing?
[bell dings]
I never ever wanted,
wanted to go through my life
as a little blip on the radar in this universe.
I want people to know me.
I want people to see these things that I can do.
Everything I do, zero to 100,
zero to 100, go hard or go home.
Straight nerves right now.
Let's go. Let's go.
Let's go.
Ha!
NARRATOR: Zach is a fire brand
well known on the competitive eating circuit
as a pepper-obsessed underdog.
Today, he's dreaming of an upset
and looking to ruin Mike Jack's day.
[crowd cheering]
This is such an honor for me to be here today,
hosting this event and to take part
in The League of Fire America's title belt match.
CONTESTANT 1: Yeah! - Who's gonna eat a lot of peppers?
CONTESTANT 2: We are! - Who's gonna win?
CONTESTANT 1: We are.
ANNOUNCER: Alright, everybody, are you ready for this?
[crowd cheering]
ZACH: Get hyped up, dude. [clapping]
Let's go!
Get in the zone, start getting your body loose,
start feeling the vibes around you.
SHAHINA WASEEM [on microphone]: Alright, contestant number 10
is here all the way from Canada.
I'd like to welcome Mike Jack onto the stage.
[crowd cheers]
Don't think about nothin' else but you,
that stage, and those peppers.
SHAHINA: Brandon,
Tanny Boyd Collins from Colorado.
[crowd cheering]
And this is the biggest thought,
through every person on that stage's head,
the biggest thought that they're gonna have
is "I cannot be out first."
SHAHINA: Contestant number nine
is a guy I hold very close to my heart,
Zachary Goot.
[audience cheers, applauds]
Let's go, Zest Fest!
♪ dramatic music playing ♪
SHAHINA [on microphone]: Okay, let's get this show on the road.
[audience cheering, applauding]
This is it, this is the moment.
Ah!
NARRATOR: All eyes in the chili world
are focused on the main stage at Zest Fest,
as the biggest competitive chili eaters in North America
prepare to binge the hottest peppers on Earth.
Has everyone got the peppers in front of them?
Can you please hold them up?
NARRATOR: In case this is, in fact, your first rodeo,
♪ gentle twinkling music plays ♪
Here's veteran chili eater Mike Jack,
to explain the basic rules of League of Fire events like this one.
Wayne Gretzky, Michael Jordan, Tom Brady,
these are the greatest of all time.
In the world of chili eating,
you don't have to be strong or tall to be great.
As long as you finish the entire pepper each round
without throwing up or going for the milk, you advance.
The final round is about speed,
and that's my specialty.
If you're the last one standing, you win.
Win enough and you add your name to the list of legends.
Wayne Gretzky, Tom Brady, Mike Jack.
I like the sound of that.
♪ gentle cheerful music plays ♪
[exhales]
♪ dramatic music playing ♪
SHAHINA [on microphone]: One, two, three!
ALL: Eat that chili!
♪ playful energetic music playing ♪ [crowd cheering]
NARRATOR: Now why do pepper-crazed maniacs like these
subject themselves to this unique brand of torture?
Well, each traveled their own road to reach this moment,
and for their own reasons.
Let's take a moment to step back
and step inside the mind of the competitive chili eater.
♪ dramatic music plays ♪
JAIME: Swallow it! Go, go, go, go, go.
Go. Go. Chew, chew, swallow.
[Mike crunching]
Chew, chew, swallow.
Swallow it, head back.
Go, go, go! Swallow it.
- How'd I do, Coach? - Fifty-one seconds.
NARRATOR: Zest Fest favorite Mike Jack,
was once the champion of North America,
but he was recently forced to vacate his title
when a family trip kept him out of the last main event.
Since then, he's been counting the moments
until his shot to reclaim the belt.
The first belt match I did, um,
the first time I won, uh, The League of Fire, America's belt,
was in a competition in Ottawa.
And after doing that, I think that's where people were like,
"Oh, like, you know, Mike Jack is, like, for real."
NARRATOR: People have indeed noticed Mike Jack is for real.
Over the past few years, he's ascended
to the very pinnacle of the chili eating world,
and his wife and trainer, Jaime,
is intent to get him back there.
[hands swishing]
Just get myself... warmed up here.
NARRATOR: She's putting Mike through an extra intense regimen
before the Zest Fest belt match.
[slapping]
[hollers] Woo!
One, two, three, go!
Go, go, go, go, go. Swallow! Go, go. Swallow.
Like, obviously, you can't be speed-eating peppers alone.
That's, like, super dangerous.
So we kinda developed this thing where, like,
I would be his coach. Going. Go, go, go.
Chew, chew, swallow. Swallow.
I'm picking up on things
that a lot of people don't understand.
Is he sweating? Does he have boogers coming out?
Like, that's the stuff where I'm like,
"Okay, now he needs to, like, be, like, coached."
Swallow it.
Fifty-five.
[Mike exhales sharply, groans]
[sighs] I could have done better, but--
I don't know. - They were big.
That was good, you didn't, um, choke or anything.
- Yeah. - So that's good.
Right now, the thing that I would like the most
is to win in the League of Fire.
You know, that would push me to the next level.
I'm not sure how-- [laughs]
I'm not sure how this is gonna turn out for me later. [laughs]
Do you need to eat a sandwich or...?
Um... yeah, maybe, maybe I should.
♪ dramatic music playing ♪
NARRATOR: All competitive chili eaters find their way
to this unusual sport for their own reasons.
Ooh.
NARRATOR: Some simply discover a talent for consuming heat
while others gravitate to peppers to fill a need.
It turns out many current pepper addicts
were once addicted to far more dangerous substances.
There's a direct connection between the chemical high they used to see
and the natural sensation peppers provide.
I know 10,000 former junkies, drug addicts,
alcoholics, meth heads that are straight-edge,
straight as an arrow and live for peppers now.
Well, you know, I had my addictions, you know, pills,
drinking, other drugs.
I was addicted to methamphetamines.
I was using needles.
I was smokin' it, snortin' it,
hangin' out with the worst people in the world.
You know, I've done all the drugs there is, I just have.
When you get a really good, strong endorphin rush from peppers,
it's like shoving a plunger down on an opiate hit.
I know there's some correlation between sobriety and capsaicin.
[pepper crunches]
You know, you got signals shootin' in your brain
that probably have never shot before, and you feel it.
It's a physical, actual high of your endorphins
just rushing to not feel that pain.
[pepper crunching]
Once I realized and figured that out, it was over.
I, I didn't have to touch a drug again.
I just needed to do somethin' spicy to get my fix.
NARRATOR: Chasing that spicy fix
is the road that led underdog Zach Goot
to the Zest Fest stage.
He has never won a major competition,
but that hasn't stopped him.
As with all things Zach does,
he's turned it up to 11 and snapped off the dial.
♪ rock music playing ♪
Hello, everybody!
Well, this is my studio.
When I first started with the spicy stuff,
straight out of boredom.
I got a bunch of tinct, bro, bunch of hot sauces,
everything hot, League of Fire challenges.
This is what I'm lookin' for.
Yeah, those are all my tinctures.
Beginning of COVID,
I was so bored.
I got laid off, and I didn't have a job,
and I came across spicy content,
and it thrilled me
to see the people freakin' out and jumpin' around
and, "Oh, this is spicy," and sweatin' and throwin' up.
And then I ordered a Death Nut, tried out the Death Nut,
and I was addicted since that day.
Most people, when they take tincture,
they'll come in and grab a little bit of it
and take a drop or two.
But that's not what we do. - Yeah.
So what you do is you tip it upside down,
you squeeze it, you bring it back. [Brandon Collins coughs]
And you let it go and it starts suckin' it all the way up.
- Oh, yeah. - Do it again.
Take it down, let it go... - I'm ready.
...and you'll know it's filled when you do that, it's full.
Cheers, brother. ZACH: Cheers, bro.
♪ dramatic music plays ♪ [both swallowing]
NARRATOR: Full droppers of spicy tincture
were just the beginning.
BRANDON: Woo!
Ooh.
[Zach gags] [Brandon laughs]
NARRATOR: It wasn't long before Zach's chilihead obsession
completely took over.
Hello, everybody,
welcome to The Texas Hot Spot.
NARRATOR: He created an alter ego, called The Texas Hot Spot.
This is the eight-lobe 7 Pot Brain Strain pepper.
NARRATOR: And started creating online content
to chronicle his exploits.
[coughs] Wow.
NARRATOR: As The Texas Hot Spot gained steam,
Zach's addiction expanded beyond just peppers.
If you could go to the bottom of this pa-- uh, video
and click subscribe to become part
of the growing family at The Texas Hot Spot--
NARRATOR: Turns out, you can be addicted to attention too.
I slowly started to get subscribers, fans, viewers.
The views created serotonin in my head.
[pepper crunching]
And it made me feel loved and wanted.
[crunching]
That's what really addicted me to keep goin'.
Four. [crunching]
Number five.
It's almost like using a drug, but not.
You know, drugs will kill ya.
[notifications pinging]
But, man, you give me a thousand views on a video,
you might as well have given me a hit of crack.
Woo, that one was good.
BRANDON: You've got some good stuff here, bud.
ZACH: We're gonna definitely eat more before the competition.
Yeah, right? [coughs]
NARRATOR: Zach's twin addictions to heat and online fame
paved a road to the brightest spotlight he could find,
the world of competitive chili eating.
ZACH: When they do the "One, two, three! Chomp them chilies,"
and that crowd starts yellin',
it's-- it's a-- it's a complete euphoric feeling.
You're, you're in it. You're in the moment.
NARRATOR: And now, this weekend at Zest Fest,
this underdog is gunning for Mike Jack
and anyone else who dares to turbo scarf superhots.
Mike Jack is the--
he's the epitome of a pepper eating competition.
Not only can he handle the spice,
not only can he handle the taste,
but he can eat those peppers fast, boy.
When the time comes, this challenge is not goin' down lightly.
♪ dramatic upbeat music playing ♪
NARRATOR: Some people need a pep talk before a big moment.
Others meditate.
Not Zach Goot.
He has his own ritual to get ready
before he steps on to the big stage at Zest Fest.
ZACH: So the hair is the biggest tell when you know it's me.
The Texas Hot Spot is a character,
whether the-- whether you like to, uh, admit it or not.
It's, it's a character, it's an act I put on
when I go live.
Gettin' out of the Army,
I was set in my ways,
and they did it, they brainwashed me.
Keep your hair high and tight.
Keep your face shaved, always.
And when I got out of the military,
I forgot that nobody was telling me that.
For years, I was so set in that way, and then I met Anna.
And Anna's a hairdresser.
And she opened my eyes to be how you wanna be.
And I realized the very first time
I dyed my hair, I was hooked.
It's intimidation too, really.
It's a-- maybe somethin' for the com-- the opponent to just,
you know, be distracted by when I'm on stage,
eating peppers, you know, "Look at my flaming hair."
- Yeah, you are-- - You have no chance in Hell against me.
NARRATOR: With a new fire-red do, Zach's lookin' spicy.
He's primed to binge heat at The League of Fire belt match,
and he's pinning a lot to the outcome.
Me personally, my whole life has been a challenge,
and I'm still in it,
and I'm still pushing towards the end of it.
Will I win? I don't know, we'll see.
We'll come out on top when the times comes
to see if I won this challenge or not.
I'll tell you right now, I'm kicking its ass.
Thank you so much. - You're welcome.
I can't wait.
It's gonna help me win, I promise you.
ANNA GOOT: I hope so. ZACH: We are gonna get this done.
[birds chirping, squawking]
NARRATOR: Zach is ready to kick ass at Zest Fest,
but that's easier said than done.
He and the rest of the bull riders
will be facing a nasty bull,
one of the most brutal superhots on Earth,
grown by a pepper legend
right here on the back bayous of Louisiana.
- Look at that. Hey, Troy. - What?
Look at that woodpecker up in the tree.
Redheaded woodpecker TROY: Yeah, redheaded woodpecker.
That's my mascot, man. [chuckles]
Primeaux's peppers, hotter than the Devil's pecker.
That must be the Devil's pecker up there, man.
NARRATOR: This easy-going guy is considered by many
to be the king of heat.
It's the reason his peppers will be featured
at the Zest Fest North American championship bout.
His name is Troy Primeaux.
♪ dramatic music plays ♪
INTERVIEWER: So are you all good?
TROY: Check, one, two. [chuckles]
INTERVIEWER: Yeah, I think we're good.
Alrighty.
So-- - Alright-- [shushes]
A guy painted this back in the day, you know.
This was during th-the music days, the rock and roll daze,
D-A-Z-E. And he painted it,
and I was like, "What am I gonna do with this?"
He gave it to me.
Then gradually I started winnin' awards.
These are awards for, for the hot sauces we've done
and Zest Fest awards.
And I jokingly said, "I made an altar to myself
that I pray to daily."
[laughs]
Trust me, I'm not that full of myself.
Everybody has a little bit of pride, but this is a joke, so,
um, but it's kind of a reminder too, you know?
That, you know,
what you have then you won't have later.
Don't take it for granted, you know?
Now I've got more hair on my ass than my head.
♪ bright playful music playing ♪
Let's see.
Alright.
That's kind of, that's out of frame, huh?
Alright.
No, I'm just,
I'm just a quiet guy who talks a lot,
grows peppers.
I just got lucky
with a little bit of know-how,
a little bit of luck, and a lot of passion.
My love for, for peppers comes from the horticulture side,
the science side.
I didn't think my pepper would be this big, man, you know?
No way in hell.
No way.
♪ dramatic orchestral music playing ♪
NARRATOR: Troy Primeaux is best known as the grower and creator
of a superhot called the 7 Pot Primo.
Many believe it's a contender for the title
of hottest pepper on Earth.
Troy Primeaux! Man, oh man, that dude's a legend.
You know, I stand on the shoulders of giants, you know what I mean?
And one of the shoulders of the giants I stand on is Troy Primeaux, man.
Troy Primeaux is like the pepper god.
Uh, he created the coolest pepper on the planet.
AUREA DE GUZMAN: When I pray for the success of my process,
um, I say, uh, "Troy Primeaux, bless this."
[laughs] "Bless this pod."
[laughs] 'Cause he's, uh, he's the pepper god.
♪ cheery music playing ♪
NARRATOR: For years, Troy's been respected throughout the industry
as a heavyweight in the art of pepper growing,
but that respect hasn't translated into retirement money.
Zest Fest and the North American championship
marks a new chapter for Troy,
one in which he's determined to, at last,
turn red hot peppers into serious, cold, hard cash,
and for good reason.
Alright, we're gonna turn, you ready?
Turn, Huds.
[Hudson yells playfully]
First of all,
I spent many years
trying not to get a girl pregnant.
[laughs]
Many years.
When are you gonna pick some peppers?
Now?
And having Hudson at 48, now I'm 51,
i-it's challenging.
It's challenging because money wasn't important to me in the past,
but now and specifically, money is gonna be needed.
Hudson needs to go to school, Hudson--
College,
everything.
When are you gonna eat some peppers?
A little later, huh?
Too hot?
I'm not letting Huddy down.
I'm not gonna let the people that believe in the 7 Pot Primo down.
I can't stop.
♪ gentle music playing ♪
♪
NARRATOR: To vie for a championship belt
and chili eating glory at Zest Fest,
pepper-eating professionals will binge some of the hottest superhots on Earth.
Those scorchers are all grown right here.
In the northwest corner of Louisiana,
in a hidden nook, among the Cypress trees,
this is Troy Primeaux's central grow operation.
On a remote farm belonging to longtime friend and collaborator,
Gary Montcalm.
TROY: Eating one of these?
You want the censored or uncensored version?
[Troy and Gary Montcalm laugh]
Um, well, eating one of these 7 Pot Primos
is like, uh, cocaine and a car wreck,
both of which I don't do anymore.
[laughs]
The combination together, you know,
it's like about, you know, 30 minutes plus
of, uh, just vasodilation, a bear's chasing you,
you know, you're deer in headlights. GARY: Right. [laughs]
Uh, did I say that right?
GARY: Yeah, for me, it's a spiritual experience
'cause I'm begging Jesus to please just make it stop
this one last time.
And I'll never do it again.
[laughs]
Put your toilet paper in the refrigerator.
Put your toilet paper in the freezer, for Christ's sake.
[laughs]
You know, you need to cool it off before you use it after eating my pepper.
NARRATOR: Frozen toilet paper, cocaine, and car wrecks.
Got it.
Sounds pretty hot.
But let's put a number on it.
Now's as good a time as any to dive into the Scoville scale.
You've heard of it but probably don't know much about it.
Scoville heat unit, well, Wilbur Scoville thought,
you know, that he could dilute the heat in a pepper with water,
and that's how they came up with this number,
like how much water was needed
to where you could subjectively not taste the pungency anymore,
and that became the Scoville heat unit.
Now it's done with computers and machinery.
HPLC they call it.
But Scoville heat is the amount
of capsaicin in a pepper.
NARRATOR: To add a little more context,
the jalapeno averages approximately 3,000 Scovilles.
The habanero, about 300,000,
and the ghost pepper is about a million.
Troy's 7 Pot
and a pepper Gary's created called the Nova Brain
both score well over that,
in the neighborhood of the Reaper's
1,641,183 Scoville heat units.
Theirs are so hot, they were requested by The League of Fire
for their championship belt match this weekend at Zest Fest.
TROY: They had some issues with supply.
They needed some help.
But I thought, man, we could-- Gary could bring the Primos.
How many rounds we got? Ten rounds, you know?
GARY: Right. - Ten rounds
with all these various peppers,
all over a million Scovilles in heat,
and they're going to battle.
It's a legitimate sport.
It is. I admire it, but I wouldn't do it.
But I love watching it, I love watching it.
And I-I'm-- we're proud to be a part of it.
♪ upbeat rock music playing ♪
NARRATOR: Troy and Gary have loaded up an arsenal
of superhots destined for Zest Fest.
The kind of prime-time event where Troy can gain notoriety.
One more step towards solidifying a legacy for his family.
♪ dramatic music playing ♪
♪
As Gary arrives in the Zest Fest building
with their chest of 7 Pot Primos and Nova Brains,
the chili eaters know
that they're in for the ride of their lives.
A hundred bite-sized angry bulls just entered the arena.
Oh, my God, are those the weapons of mass destruction?
- Yes, yes. - [laughs] Fantastic.
Are you ready for 'em?
Yes, absolutely, absolutely. Let's do this.
This is the one, I call it Nova Brain.
I'm glad I'm not eating them on stage.
[laughs] I know.
What else have you got here?
GARY: Primos, of course.
SHAHINA: Let's have a little look.
GARY: Disintegrate-- - They're pretty crisp when you hold them.
Oh, my God. [both laugh]
Wow, they are stunning.
Alright.
Hi, Johnny. Fantastic.
JOHNNY: How are you? I just wanna take a peak in here.
SHAHINA: Look at them. JOHNNY: Whoa.
GARY: Look at the stinger on 'em. SHAHINA: They're stunning peppers.
They look so fresh and crisp.
Imagine the first time a farmer grew one of those, he just went, "What?"
Golly.
NARRATOR: You can find chili kingmaker Johnny Scoville
wherever a superhot can be found.
So he's here today as the celebrity judge
of the championship bout.
JOHNNY: Oh, wow.
You trust me with these?
[Shahina laughs] - No.
[laughs] Right?
If you have a pepper contest with League of Fire,
you know, they're just, they're absurd.
They're just on a different level.
The idea is you start small with a group of people,
and everybody eats one pepper.
You hold up a stem to prove you did it
and then throw the stem down.
And then they'd come around with the next hottest pepper,
and eventually what happens is, someone's gonna go,
at some point, "If I eat another one, I'm gonna throw up,"
or somebody might throw up or whatever,
and they-they're gone, they tap out.
Then what's gonna happen, it comes down to two people.
And then, well, inevitably, somebody's gonna be able to tolerate
more pain than the other person
And that person is victorious.
[crowd chattering]
ANNOUNCER [on microphone]: Alright, Zest Festers,
we're about ready to fire up things,
and I mean that literally. [crowd cheering]
SHAHINA [on microphone]: I see a few smiles.
Okay, guys, I've been given the green light to start,
so please one more time, contestants,
put your peppers up in the air.
[crowd cheering] ♪ dramatic music playing ♪
SHAHINA: One, two, three!
ALL: Eat that chili!
[crowd cheering]
PERSON: Go, go, go!
NARRATOR: This convention hall in Dallas
is the epicenter of the pepper universe.
For today, the spiciest place on the planet.
SHAHINA [on microphone]: Absolutely, this is how we do it.
NARRATOR: And it's time for Mike Jack,
Zach Goot, and all the rest to eat fire
and claim that North American championship belt.
SHAHINA [on microphone]: No!
SHAHINA [on microphone]: So, here we go again.
One, two, three!
ALL: Eat that chili!
[bell dings] [audience cheers]
PERSON: Go, go, go, go, go--
NARRATOR: When the top chili eaters on the continent
meet on the same stage,
challenged by the hottest of superhots,
it's must-see for all pepper people.
Come on, baby! [clapping hands]
NARRATOR: Fans watch the faces contort
like a twisted ballet,
truly admiring the conquering of heat
as a superpower all its own.
♪ dramatic music plays ♪
ZACH: It's not all about your mouth,
it's not all about your stomach, it's up in here too, man.
Start pushing your limits.
That's one of the hardest things that people can't get around.
ZACH: That pepper knows it's hot and if you're not making any faces,
we're gonna make it a little hotter.
♪
SHAHINA: Round number three.
[bell ringing]
NARRATOR: Each round of the competition puts another pepper from Troy Primeaux
and Gary's arsenal in the spotlight.
It's a chance to demonstrate just how violent their heat can be,
and the kind of platform the 7 Pot Primo needs
to make its mark.
♪
SHAHINA: Guys, the next round, 7 Pot Primo.
[bell dings] [audience chattering]
[cheering]
MIKE: When I started the whole competition thing,
I kinda got, like, over-competitive,
you're, like, trying to be the best and trying to beat everyone.
I just wasn't, I just wasn't happy, you know, like, doing that.
In a way, like, it kind of, kind of got, like,
into, like, just, uh, Buddhism and Buddhist philosophy
and just, like, kinda, like, you know, trying to manage desire, I guess.
So I think now, it's more just challenging myself.
SHAHINA: They've got this.
[crowd cheering]
SHAHINA: They've got this.
For the clout.
I do it for the clout, I do it for the glory,
I do it for the, the attention.
I do it to prove others wrong,
'cause sometimes there's people out there
that think I can't do this.
♪ dramatic music playing ♪ [crowd chattering]
[cheering]
SHAHINA: They've got this.
[audience cheers]
Zach, you've got this, you've got this.
You've got this. - Come on, baby, you got this.
Woo!
[audience cheering, applauding]
Go, Zach!
Woo!
ZACH: When you're on that stage, ninety percent of what you're doing
is you're pushing yourself beyond your limits
of what your body can handle.
You have to push past that limit.
You have to tell your body to keep going.
You have to. You cannot stop.
SHAHINA: Come on, Zach! Come on, Zach!
[chanting] Zachary! Zachary!
You have to motivate yourself to just keep going.
ANNA: Yes, it's alright. Hold it.
[Zach heaves] ANNA: Hold it!
No, hold it, baby.
You've got this.
[Zach heaves] ANNA: You got it.
Let's go!
♪ suspenseful music playing ♪
ANNA: Yes, it's alright, hold it.
Hold it. No, hold it, baby.
[echoing] Hold it!
♪ dramatic upbeat music playing ♪
♪
[whistling]