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News editor left in ‘roaring pain’ after charity chilli cookie challenge

Pete BryantA challenge involving a cookie baked with the world’s hottest chillies inside it left a weekly news editor feeling like he’d “eaten a can of tear gas”.

In July last year two journalists from Brighton daily The Argus ended up in hospital after undertaking a challenge to eat what is believed to be the hottest burger in the country.

But a group of Trinity Mirror journalists have now put themselves through a similar ordeal after taking on the ‘cookie roulette’ challenge for charity.

The challenge came about after a box of the cookies arrived at Trinity Mirror’s Get Surrey offices in Guildford last Wednesday.

It involved six willing participants – including Aldershot News & Mail news editor Pete Bryant – each taking a biscuit from a specially produced box of the treats.

However, one contains a Carolina Reaper chilli – which is anywhere between 400 and 1,600 times spicier than the average Jalapeno.

The challenge was issued to mark the start of ABF The Soldiers’ Charity Big Curry month, which sees people host curry-themed events to raise money for the cause.

The other participants who picked the ‘safe’ cookies were Get Hampshire and Get Surrey chief reporter James Chapple, News & Mail chief reporter Charlotte Neal, Get Surrey senior reporter Natasha Salmon, Surrey Advertiser reporter Becca Taylor and trainee journalist James Hockaday.

Said Pete, pictured above left after taking part in the challenge: “I chose the biscuit in the middle of the box, which was slightly bigger than the rest.

“I thought perhaps the biscuit that stood out like that was less likely to be the dangerous one. This, in hindsight, was a flawed piece of judgement.

“When we all munched the biscuits in unison, I tasted quite quickly that there was hint of chilli in mine. But, since there was no immediate heat, I assumed maybe they all tasted a bit of chilli. This was my second incorrect assumption.

“The heat hit a few seconds later, which led to discomfort, which led to roaring pain. It was literally unbelievable how powerful it became. It was like I’d eaten a can of tear gas.”

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  • October 16, 2015 at 7:39 am
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    So are they biscuits or cookies? Which side of the Atlantic do you want to be, or have you now gone all Guardian on us and you’ll mix it all up from now on? Either way, eating something when you don’t really know what it will do to you doesn’t make too much sense to me, charity or not.

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  • October 16, 2015 at 9:25 am
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    It’s a shame the super Chilli eating stunt, which has deservedly become a ‘global internet sensation’ could not be combined with the bucket of iced water challenge (last year’s five second global internet sensation).

    ‘Go on Blenkinsop, look into the video camera and pull the trigger on that revolver – the other five group editors have done it and survived – and just think of all those clicks!’

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