Not the Toughest Tongue, But Close!

Today I entered the Toughest Tongue Contest at Salvador Molly's. There were 10 contestants. The person to eat the most Habanero Fritters was to become the Toughest Tongue in town. Here is the play by play:

As we got ready to start eating, we all received 5 balls on our plates. I have previously only eaten 5 at a time, so I knew this would be no problem. We had 3 minutes to eat all 5 GBOF. I didn't know we were going to be timed, so this was a bit of a shock for me. I was able to get those 5 balls down with a minute or two left. All of the others were able to finish their first 5 as well. After the first round, we received a 2 minute break. These two minutes were verrrrrry long. While you eat the fritters, your mouth is hot, but if you keep eating, the heat stays the same. Once you quit eating them and you start breathing through your mouth, the heat intensifies with every breath.

In round 2, we were given 5 more balls, but had 4 minutes to get them all down. We lost one person before the round started. When they counted down to start, I had no problem getting these 5 down, but we got a 4 minute break after. The breaks were killing me.

During the contest, they provided water or pineapple juice to help with the burn. Knowing that whenever I eat spicy foods cold water makes it worse, I opted for the pineapple juice. During the 4 minute break, I refilled my glass 2 times, and by the time the next round started, I only had half of a glass of juice.

The 3rd round was the killer. We started of with 5 more balls, but there was not to be any break after that, you just kept refilling your plate with 5 more balls. By this time I was still not crying or sweating, but the blood circulation in my arms and legs was diminishing. My hands and feet were freezing. I ate 5 more balls, filled my plate one more time and put down two more. There were 5 people still in the contest including myself. My goal was to eat at least 15, so I beat my goal. I ran out of juice and my mouth was getting hot! My stomach was getting quite full of spicy balls and pineapple juice. I was done. The dude in the gorilla suit on my left was done too. I put away one more than he did, so I felt pretty good about quitting.

When all was said and done, the 3 guys that were left were able to stop at 25 GBOF. I didn't end up too far behind them and I earned $234 towards helping families heat their homes.

The circulation in my arms and legs did not return until about 45 minutes after I ate my last GBOF. I have had round one in the bathroom so far, and I won that round. We'll see what happens later, but I doubt if I will share. My wife is bringing me some Macaroni and Cheese from a restaurant. I think I can eat as long as it is bland. We'll See!

Don