Speed eater Mike Jack scoffs 25 "extremely hot" Carolina Reaper peppers in record time

Champion speed eater Mike Jack has been scoffing some of the world’s hottest chilli peppers again.

This time, the Canadian YouTube star (check out his channel Mike Jack Eats Heat) smashed the record for fastest time to eat 25 Carolina Reaper chilli peppers in just 4 min 36.26 sec.

Carolina Reapers were the hottest chilli pepper the world had ever seen until recently, with Pepper X taking over in 2023.

Mike, who already holds records for eating 50 of them in 6 min 49.20 sec and 100 of them in 36 min 38.81 sec, made it a hat-trick in September 2024.

Watching his attempt back, the 42-year-old said: “Right now I’m a little bit nervous – not because of the heat, I know I can handle the heat, but because of the speed involved.”

He added: “You have to weigh each pepper before the attempt and each one has to weigh at least 5 g.

“These peppers were a bit overweight so it was a lot more to get down in a short amount of time.”

A Carolina Reaper has a Scoville Heat Units (SHU) measurement of around 1,641,183.

For context, a jalapeño has a SHU of between 4,000 and 8,500.

Mike said: “Just so you know, the average person is going to bite into one of those peppers then they’re not going to want to take a second bite after that.

“They are extremely hot, they were the Guinness World Records title holder for hottest pepper until about a year ago when it was beaten by Pepper X.”

Explaining part of his technique, Mike said he often holds his fist over his mouth to prevent himself from spitting any of the peppers out.

He said: “I might make it look a little easier than it is but I’m burning up here, I really feel it.

“The peppers, they really hurt a lot.”

He added: “It’s a misconception that they burn you, that they’re going to burn a hole in your guts or throat and stuff like that.

“They hurt a lot but it’s all just a mind trick. That being said, I wouldn’t go eating 25 Carolina Reaper peppers if you’re not an experienced professional like myself.”

Mike also holds the record for fastest time to eat 100 Bhut Jolokia chilli peppers with a time of 66 min 48 sec.

And he’s previously earned other titles for eating hot sauce, drinking a Capri Sun and kissing wife Jamie after eating habanero peppers, and much more.