He Came, He Saw, He Devoured: This Year’s Master of Spice is a Total Unknown

He Came, He Saw, He Devoured ... He Ran Away?: This Year’s Master of Spice is a Total Unknown

Scott DeVoy Su | Aug 17, 2016 4:00 pm | Add a comment | 1567 reads

The world of sports has produced some interesting headlines as of late: Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps have both been dominant in Rio, our city’s newest sports franchise was dealt an embarrassing blow, and now Beijing’s freshly-crowned Master of Spice, crowned this past weekend along with Beijing's Bar & Clubs, has chosen to remain anonymous. That’s right, the official winner of the Beijinger’s annual chili pepper eating contest, the man who devoured 17 chili peppers in less than five minutes, is a total unknown – he scurried off from the stage after receiving his winner’s plaque (declining to leave a name or receive the RMB 500 gift voucher we promised).

This tale of courage under fire – a spicy fire that numbs the palate – is even more interesting as our unsung jalapeno hero was the very last participant to get up on stage (reminiscent of Willis Reed in Game 7 of the 1970 NBA finals). I mean this guy didn’t even bother putting on the T-shirt we gave to all our contestants ... (Kids take note: this man exemplifies the true ethos of a champion – knowing that the limelight, fanfare, and possibility of a free T-shirt all mean diddly squat compared to personal achievement.)

This year, the Chili Pepper Eating Contest was the marquee event at our 2nd International Foodie Weekend, and it comprised one of the most formidable 10-man fields we’ve ever assembled. Runner-up Bill Weydig, a 45-year-old high school English teacher who enjoys drinking hot sauce from the bottle, managed to scoff down 15 chili peppers in five minutes, whereas Sichuan-native 周优优 took third, after eating 14 peppers.

Note: The chili peppers we used are referred to in Chinese as 小米椒 and range between 30,000-50,000 on the Scoville heat scale. They can be found in almost any local supermarket; I invite you to buy some and see how many you can scoff in five fiery minutes.