Lancashire chef eats world's hottest chillies to raise money for St Catherine's Hospice

Carl Redman, a volunteer chef in the kitchen at the Lostock Hall charity, wanted to support the cause further by carrying out a Man vs Food style fundraising feat.

Using chilli flakes and powder, from buying ‘super hot’ rated chillies online, he took on the world’s hottest Pot Noodle when he added the eye-watering ingredients to one of his favourite snacks.

The dad-of-six, from Walton-le-Dale, said: “You can’t buy these chillies from a supermarket – there’s a huge following online of ‘hot heads’, and I look out for independent growers online.

“To put it into context, a jalapeño chilli is rated as being 7,000 on the Scoville heat scale. One of the chillies I added to the mix, the Fatalii Gourmet Jigsaw, is 2.3 million.

“I put that and five others into the Pot Noodle, including the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion which is two million, and the Carolina Reaper which is 2.2 million, so I was eating close to 10 million combined Scoville units in one go.”

Carl, 42, a former builder, now runs a food blog, called Contemporary Cooking At Home, as well as volunteering at the hospice.

“I’ve done a few chilli challenges before, including eating the Fatalii Gourmet Jigsaw raw, and got 14,000 views just on my own Facebook page for that,” he said. “A few months ago I was searching on the internet for the world’s hottest Pot Noodle, and couldn’t find any extreme heat challenges.

“I thought it would be something a bit different to do to raise money for the hospice.

“Working in the kitchen here for the past 15 months has been a really good experience and I’ve learnt so much. And St Catherine’s really helps people at the toughest of times.”

After his challenge, Carl added: “It was ridiculously hot. I’ve never experienced anything like that before.

“Most of the time I enjoy hot food – I always add chillies to my food – but this was something else!”

Emma Jacovelli, community fundraiser at St Catherine’s Hospice, said: “Even just watching Carl’s chilli challenge made our eyes water!

“This is certainly one of the more unusual fundraising stunts someone has pulled to raise funds for us and we’re extremely grateful to Carl for putting himself through it.”

To support Carl, text ‘Hospice’ to 70444 to donate £3, or visit www.justgiving.com/chilliman See lep.co.uk for video