The Carolina Reaper pepper is claimed to be the hottest pepper in the world. It is also the key ingredient in the hot sauce known as the Flashbang. Pepper Palace in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina uses this hot sauce in a special hot sauce challenge. The challenger must dip a toothpick into the sauce and eat it. Also, water cannot be used for five minutes after consumption.
Randy Schmitz thought the challenge would be fun to do while on his vacation. After signing a waiver to do this challenge, the 30-year-old successfully completed the five minutes of torture. However, the series of events to follow this challenge would forever change his life.
The incredibly hot sauce activated a tumor that was growing in his brain. This activation caused him to have a seizure in the restaurant. An MRI showed the tumor to be 2.5 inches by 1.5 inches.
Schmitz quickly received surgery and was put on radiation. The cancer was completely removed just a few weeks before his big wedding day.
Doctors claimed that without the tumor being activated, it wouldn’t have been noticed until it was too late. While a seizure doesn’t seem like the best result of a hot sauce challenge, it ended up saving his life.
The dramatic experience didn’t even come close to putting him off of hot sauce for life, however. He even told the Chicago Tribune,
“I love this sauce beyond words… I consider it a miracle.”
Pepper Palace gave Randy Schmitz a free year’s supply of hot sauce for a wedding present. This may be one of the hottest stories to come out of Pepper Palace.
