♪ tense music playing ♪
[carriage rattling]
NARRATOR: Last night was a long night
for chili kingmaker Johnny Scoville.
I don't know what the truth is, and that's the problem.
NARRATOR: Allegations that Jimmy Pickle stole
the JP Piranha swept across the chili world,
and Johnny doom scrolled till dawn.
Seriously, he read, like, every comment.
♪ dramatic music playing ♪
With both men in the same city,
Johnny demanded a face-to-face meeting right away
to clear the air.
Not like he's gonna be.
I'm-I'm ready. This is something that needs to happen.
I need answers.
I've worked really hard, I've never had a misstep.
I've got a pretty good reputation in the chili world.
JIMMY PICKLES: Johnny Scoville.
He needs to convince me big time.
Make this make sense or I'm done, I'm done with Jimmy,
and I'm gonna treat him like Paulie from Goodfellas,
I'm gonna turn my back on him.
You got a pepper that's hot. JIMMY: Yeah.
But there are those that are saying that the,
you know, the origin of-of the JP Piranha is questionable.
Stuff that's online, saying that
that cross didn't come from you.
And I go on this quest to find a pantheon of peppers,
after all this whole journey, seven years, all this,
to find there is some question.
That was-- I couldn't, I lost sleep.
Yeah. There-There's no question.
There-- I-I-I-- If I went on, one hand on The Bible, yes.
I'm glad you're bringing this up, I'm very glad.
Everything's documented.
Uh, since 2018, I made the cross.
It is a Naga Bubblegum crossed into a Primotalii.
So the-the P-Piranha you've had, you've grown--
how many seasons have you grown the Piranha?
Um, this is going to be the seventh.
You can look through the documentation, which I have.
Do you-- Did you bring it with you?
- Yes. - Let me see it. I-I wanna see it.
Uh, so, getting to the nitty-gritty, F1, 2018. I made a video.
JOHNNY SCOVILLE: That's F1 and in 2018?
JIMMY: Yes.
Time stamps are very important.
NARRATOR: When Jimmy says the term F1,
he's referring to the first generation of his pepper plant.
A pepper plant doesn't produce a consisting crop of similar peppers
until it's stable, when it reaches F7.
Superhot creators often chronicle proof
of all generations to document their work.
JIMMY [on recording]: The JP Piranha, 2018, F1.
Yeah, I mean, the thing is,
I-I get tired of the pepper community.
It's like, the second somebody has somethin',
"I have it, too!" Some-- "I have it, too!" "I have it, too!"
And I see it all the time.
And I sell it to people, and then they go and rename it.
So it's important to have some type of, uh, paper trail.
I have pictures of generations, so--
You know, I got proof of everything I do.
Boom, there you go.
I think it's important I be truthful.
Yep. You have my word. JOHNNY: Alright.
The-the community has my word.
So I've said everything that I need to.
- Sure. - I just hope that--
I-I hope nothing pops up that's gonna go, "Oh, here we go again.
I just wanna be done with it.
I appreciate the pictures and the documentation.
That helped a lot. - I appreciate you, Johnny.
You're welcome, and I'm-I'm taking you at face value.
You know, Jimmy's all over the place, but he's said stuff that made sense to me.
The last thing I wanna do is turn my back on a friend,
and fortunately, he said the things that were necessary
that calmed my nerves moving forward with this.
New day? - New day.
JOHNNY: No drama? JIMMY: No drama.
♪ dramatic theme music playing ♪
[pepper crunches]
[flame sizzles]
[bubbling]
[flame sizzling]
[pepper crunches]
♪ dramatic music playing ♪
NARRATOR: The pepper game is not for the meek.
[gulps]
It's loud...
[heaves]
NARRATOR: ...and in your face.
Perhaps no one reps that better than chili addict Zach Goot.
With his bright red hair and need for the spotlight...
Let's go, Zest Fest!
NARRATOR: ...he's not the kind of guy who's easy to miss.
Ah!
NARRATOR: Until now.
♪ gentle playful music playing ♪
Hello, good morning, good morning.
[bell dings]
- How are you, how are you? - Good.
Can I just get a regular coffee with cream, please?
- You got it. - Thank you.
NARRATOR: A couple months back,
Zach retired from the Texas Hot Spot livestream
and the chili community at large.
He's slipped up from time to time, but for the most part,
he's been living a much less spicy life.
I mean, this guy's not even eating spicy peanuts anymore.
Since I retired,
I, I took about 90 days of just straight thinking.
Me and my wife are much better.
Our daughter, she got accepted
into the gifted and talented program,
which is amazing.
So lately, in my life, what I've been doin'
is workin' in the school as the security guard.
Um, it's been quite an adjustment
uh, since I'm used to bein' so... rowdy.
Usually, I would sleep in till about 11 or 12 o'clock, [laughs]
'cause I didn't really have a job.
But now I'm wakin' up early,
makin' sure I get some coffee in me,
and I'm headin' to work.
[machine whirring]
[rain pattering]
Um, yes, when I took a step back,
and I got off the internet,
and, you know, the attention stopped,
yeah, I got a little lonely.
I started drinking a little bit.
Um--
Well, not a little bit, I started drinkin' a lot a bit.
I started drinkin' about six beers a night,
and that turned slowly into 12 beers a night.
The old addictions do keep comin' and hittin' on the door,
knockin' on the door, but, uh,
we try to keep 'em at bay as best we can.
And the only way to really, really relieve that trigger
or that warning
is to do somethin' to make you feel different.
NARRATOR: After giving up superhot,
it hasn't been easy for Zach to strike a balance.
Past demons have crept in.
So now, he and his wife, Anna, have hatched a new plan,
a safety valve once a month
that allows Zach one very spicy bender to scratch the itch.
ZACH GOOT: With the burn comin' back into my life,
I can kinda see the worry on my wife's face,
but this is my opportunity
to come back to the chili community a different man.
NARRATOR: While Zach Goot gets ready for a weekend heat bender,
♪ dramatic music playing ♪
a select group of his fellow chiliheads
are on the precipice of something much bigger.
[fryer sizzling]
Going hotter and more mainstream than ever before.
TROY PRIMEAUX: How y'all doin'?
You nervous for this? [laughs]
AUREA DE GUZMAN: Yes.
JOE GUITH: Welcome. - Thank you.
ERIC STEIN: It's good to see you all. - Good seeing you all.
Good morning.
Guys wanna give it a try there?
JOHNNY: Yeah, l-- um, may I?
KEVIN HOUSTON: Absolutely, help yourself.
NARRATOR: The spicy world of pepper people
doesn't often include corporate retreats
with Fortune 500 companies,
but today is the exception.
JOE: We got more chicken coming.
I know a few people. [laughs]
Yeah. Yeah. [laughs]
NARRATOR: The executive team from a company
called Church's Texas Chicken
invited Troy Primeaux, Jimmy Pickles, and Bobby McFadden
to create new sauces based on their superhots.
Excellent.
We're gonna make, make it sing in a little bit.
JOE: Johnny, it's great, great to meet ya.
I've seen you on my, my son's phone many times.
JOHNNY: Well, that's really cool.
It'd be cool if I could have met him. Little chiliheads are the best.
You know what? Non-school day, maybe I could have convinced my wife.
JOHNNY: Maybe in the future, we'll do that.
- Yes, that would be awesome. - I got a question for ya,
'cause I've been kinda scratching my head for a while,
Like, how did all this happen?
Like, how-how are we standing here--
- Yeah. - 'Cause I'm curious.
- Well-- You know-- - If you can share that.
Yeah, so I've never seen a brand
where more hot sauce has gone out the door.
I-I kid you not, right?
And-and-and so clearly it was a part of who we are, and yet,
we didn't really have anything signature on the sauce side.
I mean, tons of hot sauce, but it's someone else's hot sauce.
So I came back and said, "Listen, we need to figure this out.
We need to do our version of this."
- Brilliant. - And so, the first thing, they're like,
"Well, we've got to go to the source,
we need to start talking to some growers."
Sounds exciting. JOE: Uh, it's very cool.
If you get a corporate company to look at you like that,
that's the dream.
All these pepper growers thinkin',
"That's me, I can do that."
But if you can get the attention of a big corporation,
it's a life-changer, that's it, a life-changer.
We definitely need a, a signature hot sauce,
and we definitely think the door is wide open.
TROY: Well, we'll have some fun and see what we come up with. Yeah?
JOE: Awesome.
♪ upbeat dramatic music playing ♪
NARRATOR: Big ideas can only take you so far.
Opportunity is everything.
And today, our pepper people have an opportunity
to bring their heat to the mainstream,
developing a new fried chicken dipping sauce
that could go worldwide.
We're talking every country in the world.
Maybe Mars if we get that rocket stuff together.
JIMMY: That's the good stuff.
JOHNNY: You know what you're doing, you have a plan, huh?
JIMMY: Absolutely.
NARRATOR: Of late, Jimmy Pickles' reputation
has come under fire,
with accusations about him and his JP Piranha.
Can I tell you something?
I'm trying to figure out how I'm here at all.
So I don't know.
Love Jimmy, but Jimmy thinks
that everybody's out to get his lucky charms.
NARRATOR: Despite the noise,
Jimmy knew he could not hide out and miss this.
So for the occasion, he's asked for a little assistance
from the only person he trusts right now.
JOHNNY: How much zest do want me to put in this?
I want approximately three oranges.
Okay, I got one more to go.
JIMMY: Okay, perfect, then we'll go from there.
JIMMY: Big dog?
Because uh,
there's a lot of people I don't trust in the pepper community,
but I trust Johnny Scoville.
I value his expertise.
After all the reviewing hot sauces,
he is an asset.
Thank you.
My relationship with Johnny Scoville has been great.
We have some unique experiences.
I started my company the same time Johnny started reviewing
and we watched each other grow.
This is a JP Piranha, agave, orange dipping sauce.
My approach is actually, I wrote kind of a recipe,
spur of the moment, in my head--
JOHNNY: He's using the force.
JIMMY: So i-i-it's-it's basic.
JOHNNY: You know that's great though,
'cause if you're doing something on a grand scale,
simplicity is your friend.
If I end up doing a deal with Church's Chicken,
it would be a fantastic opportunity.
Actually, not just for me, but for the entire community itself
because they're actually expanding the knowledge of the chili community.
So not only would I win, the entire community would win.
But I mean, ultimately, I would from the deal,
you know, make no mistake.
I feel like, uh, this is meant to be.
BOBBY MCFADDEN: Take 'em out, and shake 'em.
AUREA: Shake 'em.
Shake 'em like you're crazy. There you go.
[container rattling]
Shaky, shaky, shaky.
BOBBY: I'm tryin'.
[container rattling]
TROY: Used to be a bartender or what?
That's what I'm doin', man, serving up garlic cocktails.
NARRATOR: Only a few months ago,
Aurea De Guzman and Bobby McFadden were online friends
on the periphery of the chili world,
but Bobby's superhots and Aurea's hot sauce expertise
have catapulted them here today.
AUREA: Right now, we're confit-ing the garlic,
so it's cooking it in a really low temperature.
Also creating my spice blend here, building flavor.
Um, I'm always interested in layers of heat,
so not necessarily just spice in the mouth
but spice in, in terms of, uh, different herbs
and different types of ingredients.
NARRATOR: The sauce they're creating today
incorporates traditional Filipino flavors.
AUREA: Star anise,
Sichuan peppercorn, and cloves.
NARRATOR: With Bobby's Grumpanero,
a pepper that actually looks like a grumpy man.
BOBBY: Flavor of the Grumpanero is sweeter,
and it's got a nice, rounded heat.
It's gonna work good in this recipe.
NARRATOR: But there's one additional ingredient at its core
that truly sets it apart.
This is sort of an, an homage to, uh, my dad.
The base of this recipe is his favorite...
- Yeah. - ...thing to put in food.
So--
Before my father died in 2017,
we shared a certain love for peppers,
and I would always make him a batch of chili oil
that he would put on his rice and, um...
[choking up]
...and the last time I ever made that,
he had about a-a fourth of a cup left in a jar,
and every time I clean, I clean the fridge,
I can't bring myself to throw that out.
And then I get a call from Bobby and he said,
"Hey, so, um, what kind of sauce are we making?"
I opened my fridge and to the left door was
the last, um, batch of chili oil
that I ever made for my dad,
and it just came to me, like,
I'm gonna make this into some type of dipping sauce.
You know, hopefully it turns out good.
BOBBY: Yeah.
I think it will.
Means a lot to her.
That's something that was personal to her
that she used to make for her father that he enjoyed,
and I think putting that into the sauce,
you know, I think it was a really good thing
that we went ahead and did that, you know?
I think it was really important.
Oh, my--
Right?
Smells so good.
NARRATOR: Bobby and Aurea are betting big on her family recipe,
but they're not the only ones here relying on family.
Whenever Troy Primeaux is making sauce,
his wife is at his side.
See, she's my assistant, but really,
um, no, I'm her assistant.
That's the truth, that's the truth. [Kara laughs]
She's the halo, and I'm the horns, that's the reoccurring theme.
The peaches.
That's-that's hell of a lot of, uh, faith, ain't it?
I'm typically not a peach person, man,
but, uh, it's just peachy.
[laughs]
Peaches go really well with things.
Um, I know people in this-- uh, in our area, they like sweet stuff.
TROY: It's got the sugar.
KARA PRIMEAUX: I think they go great with, with chicken.
So, that's where we are. - It's her idea. [laughs]
It's her idea.
So, if we wanna kick it up a couple of notches,
these are dehydrated 7 Pot Primos I brought
and if you blend this up, you end up with this.
I had to ship it ahead of time
because I, I didn't wanna be on a plane with this
and have something happen in checked luggage or baggage.
Could you imagine a whole plane?
I'd be on the news today, for the wrong reasons.
It's a scorcher, you know?
Should call this thing stupid hot.
[laughs] You know?
Superhot, it's stupid hot.
This is some pepper mash I brought with the 7 Pot Primo.
NARRATOR: Troy refers to himself and his wife Kara
as the halo and the horns.
This stuff is good.
You're talkin' some serious heat there.
NARRATOR: And today, they're using that relationship
to develop a new spin on the 7 Pot
that could make their sauce undeniable.
TROY: I wanted to put five times as much of this in here.
It's killer, man, but Kara's like,
"No, no, it's too much, please."
Some of the best things are made from a push-pull,
when somebody challenges you, and I'm always gonna wanna push it,
maybe-maybe a little further than I do with the heat,
and she hones me back in.
I'd like to put more of it,
but right now we're startin' with a base.
And I think this is a great opportunity, you know.
If we would have more financial security,
then Kara would be happier and our family would be happier.
[knocks on table] Knock on wood.
That's lookin' pretty good.
A little nervous.
Feel better now.
[rain pattering]
ZACH: Hello, beautiful lady.
- Hi. - How are you?
Good, how are you doing?
I'm excited to get into it tonight.
This'll be the spiciest I've went in a while.
NARRATOR: After retiring from the chili community
to focus on family, Zach Goot has struggled
with the absence of superhot in his life.
The Zach spicy hall pass.
Hey, it's better than goin' around
finding needles and straws and rolled up dollar bills.
It's a healthier hall pass.
ZACH: It's a healthier hall pass.
NARRATOR: To find balance,
his wife Anna has agreed to a weekend dive into heat,
a temporary binge, that along with AA,
might help him avoid his darker demons.
ZACH: I have to be honest,
I had a really bad cocaine problem,
right around the time that I entered the spicy community.
Oh buddy. [laughs]
BRANDON COLLINS: Look what I got.
I was wondering when you were gonna bring that.
[sighs] Spicy.
I'm so proud to say that I haven't touched cocaine
in two and a half years.
Once I realized eating spicy stuff, it was the same effect as doin' my drugs,
creates serotonin bursts or euphoria,
and once I-- once I've realized and figured that out, it was over.
BRANDON: We're about to be in a lot of pain.
Cheers, bro. - Cheers, buddy.
[crunching] BRANDON: Mm.
Mm, I wanna try these Carolina Reaper peanuts.
So, these are ghost pepper ranch.
Wow, that's good.
NARRATOR: They say whatever happens in Vegas
stays in Vegas.
ZACH: My mouth's on fire!
NARRATOR: Well, the same rule applies here.
Happy tears, we call it.
NARRATOR: Except for instead of drugs,
it's weird hot things.
Join me as we slowly descend into madness.
Cheers.
[crunching]
♪ dramatic music playing ♪
[growls]
♪ electronic dance music playing ♪
♪ Break it down ♪
♪
BRANDON: This is the lit.
Oh. [laughs]
That's hot.
ZACH: Those are the plasma flakes.
Oh, man.
Goddammit. [claps hands]
♪ electronic dance music continues ♪
[maniacal laughter]
ZACH: Eating spicy stuff,
even that can turn into... problematic.
Ah!
I got it in my eye.
I got superhot pow in my eye.
You know, a healthy addiction can turn into an un-unhealthy addiction.
Can I be honest?
Even though I got it in my eye, I like it.
Is that weird?
The burn around my eye even is addicting. [laughs]
This is living. BRANDON: You know?
ZACH: This is living right.
NARRATOR: Zach's spicy bender is just kicking off,
a momentary madness that might deliver some balance
to his life for now.
But while he travels deeper down the rabbit hole,
his fellow pepper people are working
to tone down superhot extremes
to bring a milder heat to the mainstream.
Just dip.
Alright.
Mm. Cheers.
[Kara laughs]
♪ dramatic music playing ♪
Needs more heat.
Needs a little bit more heat, I think.
JIMMY: We're gonna reduce it, that's all we're doing.
Take a spoon, uh, be careful of temperature.
How we lookin'?
I may have to add a little bit more heat.
The only issue is the thickness,
if you can get the thickness right, that's ridiculous.
I mean, really. JIMMY: I think we got a solid product.
JOHNNY: Wow.
Johnny and these two guns.
♪
[crunching]
Mm, that's yummy. [laughs]
[Bobby laughs]
It is good.
How's the spice?
It's good.
- Creeps up on you. - Mm-hmm.
That spice, ooh, that's good.
Once the heat kicks in.
AUREA: Yep. - It's good.
NARRATOR: As each grower finishes up their sauce,
they prepare a sample for the Church's exec's blind taste test.
That's right, no pitching your sauce here, no razzle-dazzle,
no little picture of sauces on top of volcanoes,
now it's time to taste.
I'm glad we're at the end of this phase
'cause I'm ready to eat.
We've been talking about this for a while.
So we really need to be going.
Thank you.
We're super excited [overlapping chatter]
TROY: And I'll say, I'll say, look,
if it's not what you expected or what you wanted,
I hope you enjoy it, and we had fun.
Alright. KARA: Yeah. Thank you.
TROY: Thank you. NATALIA FRANCO: Alright, guys.
NARRATOR: Troy's Peach Primo, Jimmy's Orange Agave,
and Bobby and Aurea's chili oil-inspired sauce
all make their way from the cook station
to the executive table.
NATALIA: Okay.
JOE: Alright, should we get some chicken goin'?
ERIC: Let's do it. KEVIN: Let's do it.
JOE: Okay.
NATALIA: Okay, let's go for it. JOE: Mm, interesting.
NARRATOR: It's now the moment of truth.
- It sneaks up on you. - Is that that back burn?
That is the back burn, yeah, absolutely.
NARRATOR: To evaluate what these superhots can do
and how they might bring next level heat to millions.
I'm gettin' a little bit of the burn, right now.
[group laughs]
KEVIN: It's a nice build. ERIC: Yep.
JOE: That is delicious.
[rain pattering]
Ah, I'm nervous but I'm excited, you know?
You know what I mean. BRANDON: I know what you mean.
ZACH: Nervous but excited at the same time.
This is gonna be one hell of a ride.
NARRATOR: When Zach Goot stepped away from superhot,
it was to find equilibrium,
but unfortunately, it opened the door to old addictions.
Alright, where did the extension--
Oh, there's the extension cord right there.
Awesome. BRANDON: Alright, bud.
Let's plug the phone in.
NARRATOR: Hoping to find a happy middle ground for now,
he's spending a weekend down the rabbit hole.
ZACH: Go time, buddy.
NARRATOR: Which means a return
to his Texas Hot Spot livestream.
ZACH: You ready?
Yeah.
[Zach grunts]
What's up, everybody, welcome to The Texas Hot Spot.
My name is Brandon Collins, and of course, you know who this is.
- Zachary Goot. - Our boy, Gooter.
We're goin' for the world record of Un-bear-able Ones.
And eatin' about 12 of them
'cause right now the record is 10.
Right before getting into the challenge,
there's a zone, there's a place that I have to go.
You have to... go somewhere
that we call your happy place.
Are you ready? - [laughs] Yeah.
- Cheers. - Cheers.
First one down the hatch,
here we go. - Let's go.
I'm so fuckin' happy right now.
[Brandon laughs]
I don't feel nothin'.
My happy place started when I was really young.
I made this little happy place that I would go to
where everything was okay.
I didn't have to listen to my mom screaming
or gettin' beaten up.
I didn't have to listen to my stepfather
or my father being drunk.
And I used it throughout the Army,
and I used it when I was in Iraq both times,
and I use it when I eat chilies.
- Cheers, guys. - Cheers, bud, number six.
Number seven.
BRANDON: Yeah, I really gotta focus right now,
I can feel it.
ZACH: My tummy is not happy with me right now.
NARRATOR: For Zach Goot, there's no telling what this challenge
or the weeks ahead have in store.
Uh-oh. [rain pattering]
[Zach slams table] - Ah.
NARRATOR: He might just break the world record.
BRANDON: Doin' number 12.
Oh, shit, Zach.
[retches]
NARRATOR: Or... you know... maybe not.
BRANDON: Damn, Zach, damn!
ZACH: All I gotta do is go to my happy place
and I'm not scared of anything,
I'm ready to take anything on
because I'm huge in my happy place.
I am indestructible in my happy place,
but I have to freak out and sweat and breathe heavy to get there.
And so eating spicy stuff,
I think that'll always be a thing for me.
[pained breathing]
ZACH: Feeling like I might have diabetes now.
[Brandon coughing]
ZACH: I do need some milk.
NARRATOR: Whether it's superhot, addiction,
or balancing family, one thing seems clear,
the road ahead won't be without its bumps and bruises.
Spice, with all its allure and pain,
is Zach's cross to bear.
I wanna come take a look at this pile of chocolate.
BRANDON: You don't wanna see it.
ZACH: Oh, yeah, I do.
That is disgusting.
[Brandon chuckles]
NARRATOR: Zach Goot is walking the line
between superhot and sanity.
Meanwhile, fellow chiliheads Aurea and Bobby,
are riding a different kind of high,
after creating their very own superhot dipping sauce.
BOBBY: I'm really happy with your recipe.
I think it turned out pretty good.
AUREA: That was surreal.
Yeah.
I've always felt like we were the outliers
and just the observers, the watchers, the audience,
and now we're, we're part of it.
Hopefully something comes out of this, you know?
Hopefully a huge contract with Church's Chicken, you know?
I could use a-a break, you know? Life's been not the easiest, so--
That would be-- - If not that, the memories, man.
Yeah, if nothing else, this was just
a great experience, you know, doing this stuff with you.
First time I ever saw a hummingbird was today.
Oh. BOBBY: Yeah.
AUREA: Even if you put out feeders,
no hummingbirds come to your house?
[phone rings] BOBBY: I'm getting a phone call.
CALLER [over phone]: Hello? - Hello?
- Uh, Bobby? - Yes, this is Bobby.
BOBBY: Oh, hi, how are you?
Oh, yeah, I'm sure we can turn around, r-right?
A-A-Au-Aurea, we can go?
AUREA: Where are we going? - They want us to meet them.
Yeah, that's fine, we can do that.
NATALIA [over phone]: Okay, great, so I'll see you in a little bit then?
BOBBY: Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll head, we'll head right over.
NATALIA: Okay, perfect, that's good. - Alright. Alright.
NATALIA: Thank you. - Thank you.
NATALIA: Okay, bye. - Alright, bye-bye.
- What? - Uh... [laughs]
- What. - What? [laughing]
What? - What?
What? - What just happened?
Wow, okay, so apparently they want us to meet them
and see what's going on.
I-I don't know what they want. [laughs]
♪ playful upbeat music playing ♪
♪
AUREA: I guess we're turning back.
♪
Hope we don't miss our flight. [laughs]
I know. [laughs] I hope we don't miss our flight.
We can't, we can't-- We have to go, this is--
AUREA: My hands are sweaty.
BOBBY: My hands are sweaty, too.
♪ dramatic music playing ♪
AUREA: Okay. - Okay.
AUREA: The anticipation is killing me.
NARRATOR: Like we said way back at the start,
a pepper can be a lottery ticket.
BOBBY: Ready?
NARRATOR: Well, Bobby and Aurea might just have the winning numbers,
earning a sit-down with a Fortune 500 company.
BOBBY: Hello, everyone. [laughs]
NATALIA: Hi. JOE: Hey, guys.
BOBBY: That was an unexpected phone call. [laughs]
Thanks for comin' in on short notice.
- Oh, yeah. No problem, guys. - Appreciate it.
How are ya?
NATALIA: Good, good. JOE: Very good.
Well, listen, thanks again for comin' in.
Um, you know, as we said, we were really looking
for a new sauce to really elevate the brand.
And specifically what we were looking at
were things that would really work for the brand,
but also something that we felt we could actually execute.
BOBBY: Okay. - So it was a difficult decision
because everybody has been great
and we've really enjoyed the process.
That said, we're happy to say that we felt
that your sauce had the best fit for us.
Shut up. I'm sorry. BOBBY: Are you serious?
I didn't mean to say shut up.
[all laugh]
JOE: So, so we're really excited... - Oh, my God.
JOE: ...to continue the conversation with you...
Wow. JOE: ...about what the next steps
would be in the process.
Okay, yeah.
AUREA: This is big. - This is awesome.
This is really cool, guys.
We were questioning our place in this whole thing,
this whole time. - So...
Well, I guess the question's been answered now.
BOBBY: Yeah. [chuckles]
- Thank you so much for giving us a yes. - I don't know what else to say.
Thank you so much. AUREA: Thank you.
JOE: Thank you. Alright, thank you, guys.
- Thank you. You get a hug. - We look forward to working with ya.
Alright. Yeah.
Bring it on in. Alright. Thank you. NATALIA: Big hugs. Congratulations.
Congratulations, Aurea.
NATALIA: Congratulations. BOBBY: Thank you so much, guys.
This has been the recipe I've been making
for my-my late father.
His name was George.
Did you know that the founder of Church's Chicken
is George Church?
It's meant to be.
I made it for my dad, who passed away, and it's--
JOE: What was his name?
George. JOE: George.
ERIC: Wow, George Church's--
JOE: George's sauce.
ERIC: Yeah, George's sauce. - George's sauce.
AUREA: George's sauce. ERIC: Oh, there you go.
Imagine, he is watching you, right now.
AUREA: What it means to me when I say,
I get to work with a-a big, nation-wide company,
I can devote more time towards taking care of my mom.
I can help my sister, who just got accepted to Harvard.
I'm a proud big sister.
The only reason she's not going is because we couldn't afford it.
I can't wait to drive down to Atlanta from Chicago.
Oh, oh, I think we can fly you down.
I know money doesn't, you know, create happiness,
but it definitely would make it easier
for us to, to find what makes us happy.
Do I jump? What do I do? [laughs]
Listen, I started out as a guy just growing peppers
and teaching people to grow.
I love that, but if I can do something with this
that I can live off of,
that is definitely a dream of mine.
Guess we get to hang out some more, huh?
[laughs]
Can't get rid of me that easy. [laughs]
[softly] Oh, my God.
NARRATOR: When someone gets a big break,
it usually means someone else goes home sad, alone,
staring at their wall for hours.
In this case, both Jimmy Pickles and Troy Primeaux
missed out on the Church's payday, for now at least.
Church's reps asked to explore other possibilities with both.
But despite that potential, they leave empty-handed.
Everybody wants to be a winner but, you know,
there's no losers in this thing, you know?
It's-- Just being involved in it
is-is-is awesome, you know?
NARRATOR: I said it before and I'll say it again,
the pepper business is pretty cutthroat.
But while the growers head home to regroup...
I'm just floating.
[laughs] AUREA: I know, my heart's still racing.
NARRATOR: ...chili kingmaker Johnny Scoville,
has other things on his mind.
There's gonna be one that holds their hand victorious
and the other one's gonna be checked off that list.
NARRATOR: He's discovered a pantheon of contenders
for the hottest pepper on Earth,
the hottest of superhot that just might redefine
the very notion of heat.
But as of now, few questions have been answered.
Well, that's all about to change.
All of these superhots will soon be under one roof
for the very first time.
And before all is said and done,
we'll find out just how hot they truly are.
JOHNNY: I know we can do it, I know we can put the,
the discussion to rest.
To me, that's almost like the perfect crescendo,
that's the perfect way to culminate this whole thing
is I'm gonna find it.
I'm just going to.
[flames sizzling]
♪ dramatic theme music playing ♪
♪
♪ music stops ♪
[whistling]