Sunderland’s Purple Bar – part of the Point complex at Holmeside – is emulating the US reality TV show by calling on customers to eat its chicken wings covered in a sauce made with three of the hottest chillies in the world.
The 10 Wing Tap Out Challenge, which takes its name from a mixed martial arts term where fighters ‘tap out’ to indicate they submit, is claimed to involve so much heat that it is being limited to over-18s only. And anyone who wants to take part also has to sign a disclaimer that acknowledges they are aware of the risks they are taking.
The wings are covered in the bar’s MK1 secret recipe chilli barbecue sauce, using chillies ranked at more than one million units on the Scoville Scale – the recognised international measure of the heat of a chilli.
Scorpion pepper
The chef at the bar – who has to wear gloves when preparing the sauce – has combined the notorious margula scorpion pepper from Trinidad, the naga chilli and the Florida-grown Ghost pepper.
As a comparison, the more familiar fiery scotch bonnet chilli ranks at only around 100,000 units on the Scoville Scale. Anyone taking part has 10 minutes to eat the 10 wings at a special table and is not allowed any further food or drink for at least five minutes afterwards.
“This challenge is definitely not for the faint-hearted, but we believe there are lots of brave people out there who will want to take it up,” explained Lorraine Griffiths of Nightlife NorthEast, the company that recently took over the Point.
“The furthest anyone has got so far is two wings,” she added.
Meal refund
Anyone who does succeed will be refunded the £7.95 cost of the meal.
The newly-launched finger-food operation is also catering for people who prefer their food without the heat, with an American-style menu that features a range of ribs and burgers or wings in a choice of milder sauces.