Ghost pepper eating world record shattered by competitive eater

An extreme close up horizontal photograph of a ghost pepper, aka Bhut Jolokia, it is one of the worlds hottest peppers weighting in at 1,041,427 Scoville Heat Units, making it 400 times hotter than Tabasco Sauce.Legend has it that it's named ghost pepper because if you eat one you either start seeing ghosts or flat out give up the ghost. (iStock)

Just a few bites of one of the world’s hottest peppers has been known to send tasters to the hospital.

But one competitive eater recently chomped his way to infamy by consuming 13 esophagus-burning, sweat inducing ghost peppers.

On May 3, competitive eater Kevin Strahle, known to fans as “L.A. Beast,” ate 13 ghost peppers (that’s over 121 grams of the bhut jolokia) in just two minutes—shattering the previous world record of just 66 grams of the chili.

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At more than 1 million Scoville units, the pepper, which originally comes from India, has been known to send those who consume it to the hospital.

According to Thrillist, Strahle spent a month practicing to break the record by chewing on dried ghost peppers. To overcome the inevitable burn, the competitive eater claims he uses a mind-over-matter strategy to mentally block out the pain.

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But even professionals can only take so much. After finishing his last pepper, Strahle, whose face turns a mild red by the end of the feat, is seen chugging a gallon of milk.

Soon after the Guinness World Record official confirms Strahle’s victory, the eating champion doesn't appear to be able to savor his own record-breaking accomplishment. As he runs off, he can be heard saying, “I’m not gonna make it.”