Welcome to the Guinness World Records Italian Show – a weekly video series featuring the most astonishing, shocking and awe-inspiring record attempts from the recent seventh series of Italy’s Lo Show Dei Record.
 
To mark what would have been the 151st birthday of Willbur Scoville (the inventor of the scale commonly used to measure the spiciness of a chilli), we have an especially hot instalment.
 
Episode two sees Amedonou Kankue from Togo achieve Fastest time to eat three Bhut Jolokia Chilis in a breath-taking time of 30.70 seconds, on the set of 'Lo Show dei Record' in Milan, Italy.
 
The bhut jolokia chilli is one of the spiciest chillies available, on average 400 times hotter than tabasco sauce. Find out about the world’s hottest chillies here.
 
 
Four people were invited to attempt the record. They had all been selected during “Record Box” events, which saw brave hopefuls try their hand at the title in malls before the show.
 
Fastest-time-to-eat-10-bhut-jolokia-chillis-3
 
One of Kankue’s challengers was the current three chilli record champion Jason McNabb (USA), who consumed the chillies in 16.15 seconds, but he was no match for Kankue on the show.
 

As mentioned earlier, we have American chemist Wilbur Scoville to thank for the scale that rates the chillies we chomp. In 1912, long before high-pressure liquid chromatography tests in labs, he relied on taste alone. A grain of chilli was dissolved in an alcoholic solution added to sweetened water until it could barely be noted by a panel of testers. The more dilution required, the higher the rating.


Chilli Scoville rating
Peperoncini 100–500
Jalapeño 2,500–5,000
Cayenne 30,000–50,000 Tabasco
Scotch bonnet 80,000–300,000
Bhut Jolokia 800,000–1.04 million
Naga viper 1.38 million
Carolina reaper 1.56 million (the hottest chilli)

 
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