Speak & Tell: I ate the hottest pepper in the world...

This is the text of the personal story Nick told at the closing ceremony for the "Speak & Tell!" Camp on July 8, 2016.


By Nick Ungarino

I ate the hottest pepper in the world…

So it was a normal day at my house. Just me and my brother. Eventually, he told me about a pepper garden that his friend was growing and asked, “do you want to eat the carolina reaper pepper?” Making a not so great decision I accepted his challenge. We soon moved out to prepare. We went to the local grocery store and stocked up on ice cream and milk. After returning home, his friend finally arrived. He was wearing thick gloves holding the pepper, which looked like it was something created by the devil. The pepper was red, shriveled, and had a tail coming off the bottom of it. None the less, I ate the pepper.

Five seconds went by and I felt nothing. The only thing I notice was how gross it tasted. But a few seconds passed and it immediately became the most painful thing I have ever experienced. Everything was burning: my nose, my mouth, and especially my throat. I immediately went for the milk. Half a gallon in I could drink no more. I tried the ice cream but that just made it worse. There was no escaping it now, I just had to sit through it. My face became cherry red, my eyes were watering, and my whole head was beading with sweat, not to mention that every breath of air was like taking a dagger to the throat. I honestly thought I would need to go to the hospital. After fifty minutes of this terror it was finally over, or so I thought…

Soon enough the stomach cramps began. The first one had me laying over a chair to relieve the pain as much as possible. After about ten minutes this one was over. The second one woke me up at two in the morning. This time, I was very close to throwing up. I'm not exactly sure how long this one lasted, but I do remember that I woke up that morning on the bathroom floor. But as you probably know, all things good and bad must come to an end. Just as the pepper had entered it had to make an exit at some point. Now I'm going to keep this part short and simple; it felt like sitting on a burning hot frying pan. Now though I can say that I ate the hottest pepper in the world.

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Nick Ungarino, 17, will be a senior at Northgate High School this upcoming school year. Nick was also a participant in Luminari's 2016 I Want to be an Ambassador! camp.