Tears of pain were mixed with laughs of joy as a group of Fermanagh lads bravely ate some of the hottest sauces and chillies in the world in front of a captive live and online audience, all for a great cause.
Around 50 people came out to Pat's Bar, Enniskillen on the evening of July 7 to witness Adam Doherty, Dan Reihill, Billy White, Jack McGowan, Adrian McCaughey and Ryan McClintock put themselves through torture as they tackled a hot sauce gauntlet, where they ate eight different sauces, all increasing in heat, to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Hundreds more watched the chaos unfold online via a Facebook live-stream.
So far, more than £500 has been raised for the charity, with the event's GoFundMe page still accepting donations.
Speaking to The Impartial Reporter following the hot sauce challenge, organiser and participant Adam Doherty described the event as "very enjoyable" considering the "agonising pain" that he and the other lads put themselves through.
"I think the adrenaline helped," he said, admitting that the hardest part was the build-up to the event: "Going up the stairs wondering if it was just going to flop and no one would come, so I’m so happy people did!
"Of course, the other obvious hard part was 'Da Bomb Beyond Insanity'," said Adam, referring to one of the hottest sauces on the night, which has a 135,600 Scoville units rating on the grade by which such sauces and chillies are rated.
He previously told this newspaper that 'Da Bomb Beyond Insanity' is the most famous sauce on the popular YouTube series 'Hot Ones', for the pain it causes.
In addition to the original line-up of participants, Maguiresbridge poet Robert Elliott dared to take part.
"We had Robert Elliott eat a Scotch Bonnet and then read poetry, and it was very entertaining to watch him do his best but fail so miserably," said Adam.
Inspired by Robert's Scotch Bonnet-fuelled poetry recital, Adam has great plans for next year's hot sauce fundraising challenge.
"We thought we would try during the mid break of eating next year’s hot wings to do a mini talent show and ask people to come up to show their talent, be it dancing, singing, poetry whatever it may be ... but they’ll have a Scotch Bonnet just beforehand," he explained.
"So, next year, we have a lot of plans but apparently I’m going a bit too crazy about it, so Ryan had ordered four nine-million Scoville [unit-rated] gummy bears so that I can be humbled with the ideas, and calm down a little!
"We will live-stream it [the recording of the July 7 event] at the end of the month as a final push for the online donations," he told this newspaper.
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