The Machine Sets Two World Chile Pepper Eating Records - Enter to Win an Autographed Poster and Hot Sauce!
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This year at the Peppers at the Beach Tailgate Party, the man with the seemingly heat-retardant digestive system known as Steve "The Machine" Smallwood took down one World Record and set another one: respectively, the record for The Most Ghost Chile Peppers (alsa known as Bhut Jolokias) Eaten in One Minute, and The Most Trinidad Scorpion Chile Peppers eaten in One Minute. Although as of this writing it's still unofficial by Guinness, with the meticulous camera work, the timing and weighing of the chile peppers by Eat More Heat and I Love It Spicy, his daredevil gastronomical feats should be a shoe-in as officially Official very soon.
On Saturday, May 19, 2012, Smallwood demolished the previous Ghost Pepper record of 3 peppers by consuming a mind-boggling (not to mention lip-numbing) 8 chile peppers in a minute. What's even more extraordinary is that approximately one hour later he downed 8 Trinidad Scorpion chiles within a 60-second period and created a new World Record (there had been no previous record yet set).
This successful World Record Weekend was sponsored by High River Sauces, Chile Pepper Magazine, Endorphin Farms, ScottRoberts Web.com, and lastly Peppers.com, where the event was of course hosted.
When I hung out with The Machine this weekend, his demeanor and composure couldn't have been more calm; in fact, he was almost stone-cold...or, yes, machine-like. This guy was ready to make mincemeat out of super-hot chiles! But simultaneously, Steve is one of the nicest and most humble individuals I've ever come across in our Chilehead Nation. After he accomplished his feats, I asked him how it all went down...
Scott: Steve, congrats on both of the records! How did you feel in the days, hours, minutes leading up to the time it took to tackle the records? Even though you stayed at the same beach house as me, I couldn't tell, because you acted cool as a cucumber.
Steve: I was really excited and anxious to see all my friends and see how the attempts were gonna turn out. I'm as cool as the other side of the pillow! (laughs)
Scott: (Laughs) The first record was eating the most Bhut Jolokias aka Ghost Chile Peppers in one minute. The previous record was three in about 1:10. Did you feel totally confident in that you could easily take this record down?
Steve: I'm not trying to sound cocky or arrogant but I knew it wasn't gonna be if I was gonna beat the record. It was gonna be a matter of by how much I was gonna beat the record.
The Machine primes himself up before the record attempts, holding the bhut jolokias (left bag) and the trinidad scorpions he will use.
Scott: The last time I asked, you said you weren't doing anything out of the ordinary to train for this. Did you at any point since then and before the record attempt go for any trial run at eating a bunch of super-hot chiles in one minute? If not, did you have any estimation on how many you thought you could eat?
Steve: I never did a trial run or really train. I did however get some Bhut Jolokias from Wendy of Revel's Peppers. They were small but very hot! I ate 2 of those in under 8 seconds so I knew the speed wasn't an issue. I just needed to keep up my normal regimen of eating hot food and I figured I would be fine.
Scott: I saw you pick out the chile peppers you were going to eat right before the challenge. They definitely were some of the biggest, ripest jolokias I've ever seen. Was this to preemptiely silence any naysayers so they couldn't say these were tiny peppers?
Steve: Yes, that was part of why I selected some of the nicer ones in the bag. I also wanted the ripest ones to end and complaints if there would be any on trying to say I was going for the weaker heat ones in the bag. I also wanted really ripe and sweeter tasting ones was a big reason why I got the really ripe ones.
Scott: How did it feel having the crowds around you watching you?
Steve: I was fine with the crowd. I loved it when the were chanting and cheering me on! That was awesome!!
Scott: Did you have any particular strategies you used to eat as many as possible once you started the Ghost Pepper attempt?
Steve: The only thing was to be efficient with time. You only have 60 seconds so while I swallowed and opened my mouth to prove it was gone I was reaching and getting another pepper. I was multi-tasking! (laughs)
Scott: After you ate your third ghost chile, you spit a few tiny pieces out of your mouth. Was this caused from an involuntary reaction such as hiccups or nausea?
Steve: I was sick all week with some kind of sinus infection or bronchitis, and on that particular pepper I could feel a cough trying to come up. I was trying to swallow at the same time and the cough won the battle. I thought for a second, "Please don't puke!" (laughs) You don't want that on camera! That's why right after I went back in stride like it never happened.
Scott: Yep. After that, you were like clockwork....almost machine-like. (laughs) Did you feel comfortable after that tiny bump?
Steve: I was completely fine after that little hang up and went back to business.
Scott: How did you feel after you downed the eight jolokias?
Steve: I had the worst throat burn I have ever had in my life.I don't know if it was a combination of me being sick and coughing all week and the peppers or if it was just those wicked Bhut's from Revel's. I'd like to rename her bhuts as "Nuclear Jolokias"! They are wicked!
Scott: It was about 45-60 minutes in between the Ghost Chile and Trinidad Scorpion attempts. Was there any strategy or thinking process with this amount of time? Or did you just wing it?
Steve: I just winged it. I was actually ready in about 25 minutes after the Bhut record attempt for the Scorpion attempt but I got held up by people wanting posters singed and pics wics. Plus, I had to give James Wreck and Eat More Heat guys time get everything ready to go on their end with the video stuff.
The Machine in the middle of slaughtering the ghost pepper record.
Scott: Did you have any expectations going in with the scorpions?
Steve: I actually thought with the size and shape of them I could do more of them and I actually did eat more weight-wise by 1 gram. I thought correctly. The Bhuts being longer and skinnier were harder to eat than the scorpions. I was tossing the scorpions in my mouth like chicken nuggets!
Scott: What about the heat of the Scorpions versus the Ghosts?
Steve: The Bhuts have a faster-hitting heat. I was feeling heat before the second pepper was swallowed. The Scorpions have a lot slower building burn but they do peak a lot higher than the bhuts.
Scott: It's hard to fathom eating 16 super-hot chile peppers within roughly a 60-minute period. How was your mouth and throat after this? How was your stomach?
Steve: My throat after both attempts was on fire feeling raw and like I had road rash in my throat is best I can describe it. That's why I tried using some whipped cream, and let me tell you - it did nothing to help. My nose between eating the peppers and being sick. I had a snot fountain going on. I was in bathroom blowing my nose for at least ten to fifteen minutes. I was back to normal in a relatively short period of time. My stomach surprisingly didn't bother. I figured it was gonna hurt with all that in there but it didn't.
Scott: It was so funny to see you at supper a few hours afterwards. You ate a whole slab of ribs with mashed potatoes and mac & cheese as if nothing happened. (laughs) Did you have any ill effects later that night or the next morning?
Steve: I had my snack at the record attempts afterwards I was ready for real food! We even was eating that sauce that you brought to the restaurant - the Heartbreaking Dawns new limited Goin' Blind Sauce with cap crystals in it, plus there was my homemade 12 pepper powder I call the "Diabolical Deadly Dozen". My powder seemed almost non-existent after being numbed up from crystals. (laughs) The only side effect I had was a one time case of fire water. (laughs) It wasn't excruciating but enough to let you know know something was going on.
Scott: Even though at this point it's still unofficial with Guinness, you're a holder of two world records. How do you feel about this?
Steve: I feel awesome and one thing that stands out as a cool special moment. That night after the Karaoke Rockaria, John Hard aka Mr. CaJohn himself came up to me and give me a big hug and said, "man, we are really proud of you. What you did today was really great. It was cool!" . This is from in my eyes the Godfather of all fiery gourmet foods! I thought that was a really cool, special moment. I was glad that some of my fiery family was there to experience it with me. I wish they all could have been there. It was a special day in my life.
Scott: Well, I am honored, too to have witnessed this. Congrats again, Steve. You're one of the coolest guys I've met in the chilehead world and you deserve the best from this!
Steve: From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank everyone that had anything to do with this event. I don't care if you were just a customer coming to check out what was going on, an organizer of the event, a vendor, a blogger, a writer, a photographer, whatever! You made this lonely Kentucky boy feel like a rock star that day and give me an experience I'll never forget and relish for the rest of my life. Thanks everyone especially Al "Buddah" Goldenberg and "Firehead" Thomas Gately for approaching me at my first Weekend Of Fire in 2010 about doing reviews and that caused me to do reviews and attend more and help "The Machine" to be born! I want to thank you, my good friend Scott Roberts, as always doing a great job covering the events. I had a blast hanging with you guys!
Enter to Win Autographed Posters and Hot Sauce!
Now YOU can be a part of history! To help celebrate The Machine's accomplishments, ScottRobertsWeb.com and High River Sauces are having a prize pack giveaway! Three lucky winners will each win a Peppers at the Beach poster autographed by Steve "The Machine" Smallwood himself (pictured to the right), AND a smokin' hot bottle of a High River Sauces hot sauce!
To be eligable to enter, just send an e-mail to scott@scottrobertsweb.com with the subject line "Autographed Poster/HRS Giveaway", with your Full Name, Street Address, City, State & Zip Code and Phone Number by 11:59 pm Central Time on June 15, 2012. At a later date, three entrants out of all the eligable entries will be chosen at random and be contacted by e-mail.
Of course, all the standard rules apply: Anyone who's previously won a contest on ScottRobertsWeb.com is ineligible. Multiple e-mail addresses from the same person are also ineligible. Any e-mail missing any of the aforementioned necessary contact info will also be ineligible. And I promise not to sell your info to any third parties. U.S. entries only.
Related Articles:
World Record Weekend at Peppers At The Beach
Firetalkers - Interview with Steve 'The Machine' Smallwood - The Peppers Preview
Comments
2012-05-25 21:14:27
YOU did it.
Thank YOU, Mr. Machine.
2012-08-31 03:54:08
BUT have you niticed what we did in Finland last sunday 26.8.2012? I think we have the WR with 203,22 grams of 1,2miljon SHU Naga Morich in 30 minutes.
You can find the video from youtube http://youtu.be/GeEdI40tJ4M
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