For those of you who don't know, Nick is a spicy food connoisseur of sorts. When we first got married I bought regular hot sauce, but that just wasn't hot enough. The next hot sauce I bought for him was the habanero kind and that didn't cut it either. The one he likes best is the Dave's Insanity Ghost Pepper Sauce. It's not even the regular Dave's Insanity sauce (he tried that one at a sub place and said it wasn't hot enough). This bottle has lasted him a few months so far because he doesn't have to put as much on food to get the heat that he wants.
Knowing that he can handle the spiciest of spicy food, we looked to see of any spicy food contests in Utah and found a couple but hadn't gotten around to trying any yet... Now that it's almost December we finally decided to go this evening to Kobe Sushi and let Nick try the Hellfire Challenge! My step-dad Chad and my mom came too and Chad tried the challenge as well though he didn't quite make it to the end. That last roll got him.
This challenge was featured on the show Man vs. Food, so here's a clip from that show that can introduce the challenge a little better than I can:
Since then, the challenge has changed a bit - You eat one level 4, one level 5, one level 6 roll, and that is considered the qualifier. Then you eat a 6.5 to see if you can handle the extra heat. Then you sign a waiver (no joke!) saying you will not hold them liable for any health problems that may occur from eating the level 7 rolls. Then you eat 3 rounds of two level 7 rolls (so 6 level 7 rolls total). They do it in rounds of 2 because they have so many people drop out after eating just one so then they don't have to waste any food if people quit (out of 3500+ people who have attempted the challenge, only 190 have finished so far - Nick was 190). They also provide puke buckets between the rounds because puking is inevitable mostly because the taste isn't that appetizing and some people's stomach's can't handle the super heat.
Anyway, here is a picture of the level 7 rolls. Nick and Chad both said the worst part was the flavor and that it was a huge glob of the nasty flavor on top of the roll. The spiciness/heat didn't bother them at all, but the flavor was gross. My mom and I both thought they smelled gross too so I really believe them when they say it was the taste that actually made them puke.
And here is Nick with Chef Alex just a few minutes after he finished the last two level 7's, puked up almost everything he had just eaten, and got his t-shirt which, when he wears it there, will give him a 10% discount for life off of bills at Kobe Sushi.
