A speed eater who broke the record for eating 50 of the world’s hottest chilis in record time says he was inspired by a Buddhist monk who burned himself to death.
Mike Jack, a famous speed-eater from London, Ontario, set out to break the Guinness World Record by eating 50 of the Carolina Reapers as fast as possible. He did so in six minutes, 49 seconds last November and attained his desired record.
Jack has since revealed his unusual inspiration in a new interview with The Washington Post.
Before taking his first bite – Jack, 41, laid out pictures of the people who inspired him to take on the challenge. One of the pictures was of Thich Quang Duc, the iconic Buddhist monk who set his body on fire in June 1963 protest of the Vietnamese government’s persecution of Buddhists. The monk died in the protest.
Jack says he was inspired by the monk because of his incredible feat which makes the spicy challenge seem less scary in comparison.
Mike Jack, 41, set out to break a Guinness World Record for eating 50 Carolina reapers as fast as possible in London, Ontario
He said he was inspired by the famous monk who burned himself to death on the streets of Saigon in 1963 to protest the Vietnamese government’s persecution of Buddhists
The professional spice-eater managed to eat all 50 peppers in just six minutes and 49 seconds
The professional pepper-eater said that when he looked at the pictures of his inspirations ‘who have done these incredible feats’ he said ‘it just makes what I’m doing kind of smaller and more manageable’.
The Vietnamese Buddhist monk that motivated Jack’s bravery was front page news on June 11, 1963 for burning himself alive on the streets of Saigon.
He became known as the ‘Burning Monk’ after his extravagant act of protest which cost him his life.
He sat calmly on a single cushion with his legs crossed in the middle of a busy Saigon intersection as a fellow monk poured five gallons of gasoline on his head.
Duc chanted a Buddhist prayer as he calmly twirled beads around his neck, still covered in the gasoline, before lighting a match and dropping it onto his robes.
His body was instantly engulfed in flames and everyone panicked, except Duc. A witness said: ‘He never moved a muscle, never uttered a sound.’
The photographer who managed to snap the iconic picture of the ‘Burning Monk’, Malcolm Browne, said: ‘I don’t know exactly when he died, he never yelled out in pain.’
Thich Quang Duc’s act of protest had such a significant impact that some think it to be the reason that America entered the Vietnam War.
Jack’s world-record breaking act involved a different kind of fiery heat but still required the same bravery, which is why he considered Duc an inspiration.
He said: ‘I wanted to do something that was bigger,
‘I felt like I was known as the speed guy who could eat peppers fast but maybe not the guy with the endurance. I wanted to show I could eat a massive amount.’
Jack established a career for himself that involved eating spicy things. He didn’t like spicy food in college – but when he started to add spice to his food he realized that every time he would add a few more dabs than last time and was interested in seeing how far he could push the boundaries of his tolerance to heat.
He started a YouTube channel called ‘Mike Jack Eats Heat!’ which has nearly 30,000 subscribers and 3 million views.
The speed-eater broke his first Guinness World Record in 2019 when he ate three ghost peppers in less than 10 seconds. He’s since broken 11 more world records and holds on to the titles for five of them.
Jack and his wife set out to break the record for spiciest kiss in February which required the couple to kiss for more than 15 seconds after they had both eaten spicy habanero peppers.
His most recent world record was one that he proposed to Guinness himself.
After setting the record for 50 Carolina reapers in six minutes and 49 seconds, Jack pushed himself even further by embarking on the second plate of peppers to see how many more he could eat.
Jack said he is inspired by the monk – Thich Quang Duc – because of his incredible feat which makes the spicy challenge seem ‘smaller and more manageable’
After Jack put away the first 50 peppers and completed the world record… he reached for ANOTHER plate and ate 85 more to beat his OWN record of 60 chilis.
At 11 and a half minutes he reached his personal best of 60 chilis – but he kept going. He finally called it a day at an hour and eight minutes after eating a shocking 135 Carolina reapers.
That falls short of the record for the most ever eaten by a person in a single sitting -150.
He stopped because he simply didn’t have enough room in his stomach.
Jack said: ‘I like to push myself and see how far I can go with things’.
His goal for the day was to go until his body ‘gives out’.
The other inspiration that the 41-year-old cited as motivating his record-breaking-aspirations was Terry Fox – who ran over 3,300 miles on an artificial leg to raise money for cancer research in 1980.
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