Portsmouth Chilli and Gin Festival: I fought the chillies and the chillies won

Turning up at Portsmouth’s first ever chilli and gin festival at Fort Purbrook today (May 22) feels like every spice lover’s paradise.

With stall upon stall of artisan hot sauces and chillies from all over the world it’s the perfect place to get your fill of fiery flavours.

And while there I am lucky enough to meet the UK’s ‘chilli queen,’ Shahina Waseem, who has won a record number 90 chilli-eating contests in a row over the past 10 years – with plans to make that 100.

Today, however, she’s not competing but is there as a special guest to present a trophy to the winner of a chilli-eating competition later in the day.

Luckily for me, she still has an appetite to try what’s on offer.

After I announce boldly that ‘I’ve not been blown away by anything yet’ she makes it her mission to find the hottest sauces on the menu.

We stop by the Badgers Chilli Kitchen stand – bearing in mind Shahina knows literally every hot sauce trader on site – where we try their XXX chilli sauce.

It’s got a bit of a kick but is more tasty than anything. The owner tells us to venture a few stalls down if we want a ‘real challenge.’

This leads us to the friendly folk from Wiltshire Chilli Farm. We each try the god slayer sauce (6.4 million on the scoville scale), followed by the aptly-named regret sauce (12 million).

I am surprisingly OK although Shahina admits it is pretty hot so I go on solo to try what is dubbed the ‘world’s hottest shot’ made with rum and Carolina Reaper chillies.

This knocks me back several pegs.

But Shahina is impressed and insists I push it further by entering the festival's eagerly anticipated chilli-eating competition.

So that’s how, a while later, I find myself sat in front of an audience with nine others signing a waiver to say I’m healthy enough to take part.

The rules state that you must eat the whole chilli, leaving only the stem. And if at any point you take a sip of milk in front of you or use a bin behind to vomit you are disqualified.

There are meant to be 10 rounds, with each getting hotter as it goes along.

The first chilli is nothing – one of my competitors comments that it ‘tastes like grass’ and so we think we’re in for an easy ride.

On to the second round and we are handed what I think are a large jalapeno each.

This is surprisingly hot, I’ve never had an issue with jalapenos before, so I start to worry.

However, I find the third and fourth round not so bad although I notice the man next to me is beginning to struggle.

I think on the fifth round is where things really start to go wrong. One of the judges tells us they lost a large number of competitors the day before.

We all struggle through but then they bring out the dried peppers, which I think (although my memory is perhaps blurred by all the spice) is where we lose our first competitor.

The dried ones are so much worse, having absolutely no moisture to cancel out the spice.

I can feel myself getting the shakes – my whole body feels strangely cold – and my tongue is swollen.

I’m not sure the order of things from there as all I can do is to try not to vomit or pass out – or both.

Along the way I think we lose one or two people but the majority of us are still there at round 10.

I’m thinking ‘this must be the end’ but the judges decide to keep going with more extreme levels of heat.

For round 11 they bring out not one, not two but three dried ghost chillies.

Already I know this isn’t good.

Three of my competitors have to drop out during the round, and although I finish all three of mine, after they announce the next round is a helping of deadly Carolina Reaper sauce I have to follow suit.

As the crowd cheers on my name to try to keep me in the game I feel like I am letting them down.

But with my mouth on fire and my stomach churning, I have no choice but to give in to the large glass of milk in front of me and make my exit.

Along with the rest of the crowd I watch on in awe as the remaining competitors keep going, until we are left with two to take part in a final battle to the end.

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As one of them is unable to keep going and reaches for the sick bucket behind him we have our champion.

Bradley Scarborough from Gosport takes the crown and is presented the trophy by our chilli queen Shahina.

When asked what the toughest moment was, Bradley has the same thought as me.

‘The dried peppers were the worst,’ the 32-year-old says.

‘I knew it was going to be tough getting through those rounds.

‘But it’s an amazing feeling to win today.’

I must say this man definitely deserves the adoration of the festival crowd.

Hats off to Bradley and all the other competitors.

And as for me – humbled before an audience – I’m going to be off the spice for a while.