Daniel Flynn . Competitive Chili Eating Champion

Ep 8. Daniel Flynn . Competitive Chili Eating Champion

In today's podcast episode we will hear from Daniel Flynn, an international award-winning champion in the competitive chili eating arena. Known by the name ‘Hot Wheelz’, Dan and I talk about his journey into the competition, the Chili eating community, personal growth associated with this sport, and what might be next for Townsville and Australia in the competitive chili eating space.

Thank you Daniel for your time and we hope you enjoy!

Links Discussed in the Episode:

1.        Hot Wheelz YouTube: https://youtube.com/channel/UC8CVKt3u8WNJUrDbaacnGJg 

2.        Hot Wheelz Facebook: http://facebook.com/HotWheelz83 

3.        League of Fire http://www.leagueoffire.com 

4.        Hot Dang Show https://youtube.com/c/HOTDANGSHOW 

5.        Heat 101 https://youtube.com/c/Heat101 

6.        Chase the Heat https://youtube.com/c/ChaseTheHeat 

7.        N.E.U.K. Chilli-Heads:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/346701695472904/?ref=share 

8.        League of Fire - Chilli Eating Champions: https://leagueoffire.com/ 

9.        Australian Chilli Festival directory https://mychillifestival.com.au/ 

10.     Psycho Bears: https://www.rummybears.com/product-page/psychobear 

11.     Burning Bites Down Under: https://www.facebook.com/burninbitesdownunder/ 

12.     Scarlet Habanero: https://www.chillimagazine.co.uk/scarlett-habanero-shares-the-love/ 

Transcript

1:01

Welcome to Towards Better, where we share the people, the stories, the ideas, and valued roles that are bringing out the best in communities across Australia and creating better lives for everyone. Each month, we will bring you new and exciting content as we share the insights and the stories of local thinkers, connectors, and community builders. You can find all the stories, links, and other content on our website towardsbetter.com.au or follow us on Facebook or Instagram for more great content. Thank you for listening and enjoy! In today's podcast episode, we'll hear from Daniel Flynn, an international award-winning champion in the competitive chilli-eating arena, known by the name 'Hot Wheelz.' Daniel and I talked about his journey in the competition, the chilli-eating community, personal growth associated with the sport, and what might be next of Townsville and Australia in competitive chilli-eating space. Thank you, Daniel, for your time. We hope you enjoy. All right. Well, welcome to episode eight of The Towards Better Podcast. Today I'm joined by Daniel Flynn. Daniel and I have known each other for some time in various capacities. Today we're not talking about anything work-related. But more so, well, I guess you could tell us a bit more Daniel about your passion for eating hot stuff. That's kind of what brings us together today. So maybe tell us a bit more about who you are in that capacity. Certainly. Thank you. Well, I guess, I'll start by saying that in my kind of work and daily life, Daniel is my name. Most people call me Dan. In the chilli or spice world, I'm known as 'Hot Wheelz.' It was a moniker that followed me somewhat as a joke in high school. While I'm totally stuck a few years later in university and in those kind of formative young adult years, I've always enjoyed eating spicy stuff. I've been in and out of wheelchairs for many, many years. Then I acquired a spinal cord injury when I was 18, which kind of sealed the deal and put me on a wheelchair for the rest of my life. Yeah, spice is one of those things that I've always been attracted to. I've always enjoyed the feeling that you get from eating spicy. When the old "Rona" came around in 2020, I found myself having to be very isolated. Frankly, not a lot has changed in that regard just yet. I lost the ability overnight to do a lot of the things. That made me feel out of society. So, I needed something quite quickly to fill that gap. The spice world was something that was already familiar to me, something I enjoyed. So, I decided to go down that rabbit hole a little further. What a wild ride it turned! That's super cool to hear your passion there and how that, I guess, led you maybe down some pathways that you didn't necessarily expect. I'm keen to talk further on about just when you knew you could eat, like how you knew you could eat some of that hot stuff. But I guess tell us a bit more about the — you do more than just eating hot stuff. You actually compete. So, I guess tell us more about that. Sure. There are very many different ways that chilli heads — I guess chilli head is probably the most universally accepted title for someone that does the kinds of interesting things that I do. Some people may call it crazy; I would say interesting. Probably, the largest and probably most organized group that ranks and officiates the more heavy eaters in our community is known as the League of Fire. They're based out of the UK, formed five or six years ago. There's a whole bunch of different challenges and chilli-eating competitions that attract certain amount of points that are done under very specific conditions so that we're not always necessarily in the same room together. Certainly, the old "Rona" has put a new meaning to that. It gives us a way to see where each other's at and form some kind of pecking order, if you will, within those that are more competitive in the community. Yes, I've been quite fortunate to compete in that now for two and a half years. Until quite recently, I was ranked number one in Australia. I'm currently ranked number two. I'm sure we'll probably talk about it a little bit later. In August, I'll be representing Queensland in the Australian Chilli Championship, which is the national competition that takes place once a year. Wow! That's fantastic. Daniel, I guess I didn't realize that there's so many facets to that community. I didn't realize that even though you've been eating the hot stuff for quite some time in terms of competitively, this has only been a recent endeavor. If you think of any sport, two years into the game, and you're already holding some national and international records in this space. It's pretty impressive, especially when you consider that it is very interesting. Some might consider it, yes, quite wild. But it is extremely interesting. I'm keen to hear more about, you talked about being ranked number one and now number two. Is that in a particular challenge or category? That's in the overall rankings. I do hold certain world records in particular categories. But in the overall standings right now, I'm ranked number two in the country. I saw a video of you, and that's impressive. I mean, what? Australia, 25 million people. That's extremely — I don't know what the percentage of that is. But top 2 out of 25 million is quite impressive. I did watch a video of you eating. It was a Rummy Bear Challenge. I'm curious if you're still holding that record of Rummy Bears. The world record that I hold is for what are known as 'Psycho Bears.' They are, I suppose, the cousin of the Rummy Bears. Both are very hot gummy bear type sweets. They are of the heat level that most people would take one bite and baulk at. I ate 6 over the course of about an hour and a half back in August last year. I beat the pre-existing world record for that particular challenge, which I still hold today. Wow! That's fantastic. I remember watching the video and thinking, surely, he gets to have water or something else in between. But no, it looks like in the challenge, it is purely eat them. Then there's a certain timeframe where there's nothing else allowed. Just endure the pain. Correct. Standard rules in any chilli competition, whether it is fresh pods or some other chilli-containing product rum, you say a disclaimer. Because the reality is, it is an extreme sport of hots. So people can and do get hurt if they go in not understanding the risks and not being properly prepared for that. Once you've said your disclaimer, you don't leave the frame of the camera. No food, no drink. Basically, nothing bounces your lips except for the challenge product. There's always some kind of burn time. We call it a suffer session, where you consume the said product often within a time limit. Then you just enjoy the burn. Because I had to consume 6 of those Psycho Bears to gain the world record. I believe there was about three or four minutes spent time per bear after consuming each one of them, so that through it out, over about an hour and a half before I could actually go and take any kind of relief. A challenge like that, you will be feeling it for six hours afterwards. Wow! So, there is that kind of aftereffect almost if someone's competing in anything, whether it's weight training or a sport. In fitness sports, they call it delayed onset muscle soreness or something, the aftereffects. It's interesting in that even in this sport, those are the aftereffects that people have. Does your mouth just still feel like, I'd imagine there's some numbness as well? That certainly can be the case. You can have numbness. Some people lose their sense of taste for a couple of days after some of the more extreme challenges. It's quite common to have quite a bitter taste in the back of your mouth for a couple of days afterwards, as your esophagus readjusts to what you've put it through. I suppose one of the most common elements of chilli eating and a lot of other extreme sports truthfully, I suppose if you get to the road of it, it's the reason why most people do any form of extreme sport. It's the endorphin rush. At some point, your body, whether your mind knows you're going to be okay or not. That largely becomes a part of experience: having done it enough times to know that you will be okay. Regardless of what your brain is telling you right here and right now, you're going to be fine. Physiologically, you go through the early stages of shock. As a result of that, you get an endorphin rush. I've got a lot of chronic pain. I've got multiple herniated discs in my back, and I'm on painkillers all the time. They really don't cover the pain. They just take the edge off. A good endorphin rush from chillies, I'll be pain free for 12 hours. Our bodies do amazing things. I'm just extremely surprised to hear the level at which these competitions would take your body and the effect that that has. Dan, I'm sure that you got into that. It sounds like purely out of passion. I'm wondering. First, in this upcoming competition, what are you competing in? Is it set events? Yes, the national competition in August this year, there's, I believe, around about 30 rounds. They're all going to be very extreme by anyone's measure. Yes, they will certainly test everyone in terms of their limits, all of the competitors. I suppose the objective of the event is to find the person who not only has the highest tolerance but has the endurance as well. Because a challenge that has 30 rounds is going to last, probably on the order of two and a half, maybe three hours. Whoever does take out that title, certainly, a red-hot favorite at the moment—not myself, I will admit—who will then travel to New Zealand and battle it out for what's known as the Regional Belt. It's about similar to a boxing belt or a wrestling belt, something like that. If they're successful in getting the regional belt, they'll go to the UK and compete for the world belt. So it'll be an interesting process. That's quite intense. How does one train for something like this? There's obviously some mental preparation. I'm interested in some of that. But then, how do you train for this type of event? Absolutely. There's certainly a very heavy mental aspect of it. My tolerance is not always as high as my competitors. My tolerance right now, today, is quite high. I fought against two amazing competitors, probably a month and a half ago now, for the Queensland representative spot in the national competition. On that night, my tolerance, definitely, was not as high as at least one of those competitors. But I had the edge in that I've done a lot of challenges. So I know what to expect of my body more so than what I'm putting into my body. I knew what my body was going to do and how to adjust for that. Also, as I mentioned before, I've endured an awful lot of pain in my life—physical and otherwise. Pain doesn't really scare me anymore. We're naturally built, hardwired, to run away from things that are painful. It's something that is part of being human. You've got to get past that and realize that pain can be your friend in order to do a lot of extreme sports and chilli eating certainly. Well, yes, there's physical training. I happen to have these, but it seems like the camera is probably not going to — There we go. My camera is being kind. They're Carolina Reaper lollies. I just happened to have them on my desk right next to the camera at the moment. Those are sufficiently hot that most people would take one lick and run and drink a gallon of milk. They're the kinds of things that I will just suck on throughout the day. Because the more you expose yourself to an unpleasant stimuli—whether that is fear, or hate, or pretty much anything—the more familiar your body becomes with it and the less it baulks at that sensation. Putting yourself through a little bit of an uncomfortable sensation and pushing those limits is definitely how we physically train. But the mental aspect, at least in my case, is much more significant than the physical aspect. It sounds like it's the knowing, the self-awareness of knowing yourself well enough that your body responses when you do eat hot things. Then also, just the endurance that it takes for something like this. Because it would be probably quite a natural response for people to panic. I guess, it leaves me wondering, too. You've eaten hot stuff for a number of years before you got in into doing this competitively. How might someone get in, explore if this is for them or get into this sort of sport? Because it's definitely not a case of, "I'm going to wake up and eat some really hot stuff." You can't just frown up and hope that it happens. No, there are literally thousands, probably, tens of thousands of videos all over the internet of people who had the ill-gotten belief that they could wake up and try something truly extreme in terms of chilli or spice. It usually involves calling an ambulance, and you're in a hospital. Truth be told, the hospital doesn't do much for you. They'll laugh at you. They'll put you in a bed. They'll monitor you, but they're not actually going to do much for you because there's not a lot they can do. You haven't consumed anything that's going to kill you. It's just going to cause you an ungodly amount of pain. If you prepare yourself for that, both in terms of the longer-term training, by very slowly eating things that are gradually more and more spicy. I started out two and a half years ago where Bird's Eye Chillies were very spicy. Say, 10 years ago, my tolerance was not as high as it is today, but still very, very high. I then went through some very severe health issues five or six years ago and couldn't really eat much for about three months. During that process, I lost most of my chilli tolerance. At that point in time, Bird's Eye were very, very, very hot. That process of building my tolerance again was okay, so I started out with having some Bird's Eye in my food. Once that wasn't so hot anymore, I ate half a Bird's Eye Chilli. Once that wasn't hot anymore, I ate two Bird's Eye Chillies. Then I have an Arrow Chilli. On and on I went until I could munch on Carolina Reapers, which are, at least officially, the world's hottest chilli. There's fairly good evidence to say that there are hotter chillies out there these days but none have officially been tested under the Guinness Book of World Records' requirements to officially take that title away from the Carolina Reaper at least. Lots and lots and lots and lots of training, and do it slowly. If you genuinely enjoy that, that pass that you get when you eat hot stuff, and you enjoy the pain and the sweating and all those cathartic, pejorative feelings that you get from eating hot stuff, then don't think you've got to be a spicer overnight. Do a little bit one at a time. I'm just amazed even hearing it. Because I've tried Bird's Eye Chilli. You put it a little bit in food, and I'm like, "My gosh. That is hot." So, I'm just envisioning munch. Just the word snacking or munching on a Carolina Reaper just absolutely blows my mind. But it's cool to hear the pacing, that you didn't just wake up and go, "Hey, I'm going to eat this really hot thing," that it's taken time and dedication and sort of building up to that. I'm wondering if you order any food of any kind. I think if I order from an Indian restaurant and they ask how hot you want it, is there anywhere in Townsville or in North Queensland where you can find something that is sufficiently hot enough, or you really have to order specialty places? There have been a few restaurants that have released very time-limited challenges. They tend to be of a pleasing level of spice for someone such as myself. Now they'll do the whole thing of, you've got to sign a disclaimer. You've got to wear gloves. You've got to wear goggles. Because they're afraid of being sued. That's, generally, the level of spicy that I ate most days and a lot of other people who are my peers in the spicy world. Wow! That's just amazing, Dan, just in terms of thinking about some of those challenges. Because I've been a part of that, where they do all of those things because they think this is the standard person. This is going to cost them lots of pain. They maybe never to come back here again and maybe to call an ambulance. So it's funny to hear that. I guess when you think about any athlete, there is the standard person who's just amateurly in it, and then you've got Olympians who are really well-trained. It's cool to have that contrast. I'm wondering. Because of the nature that League of Fire is over in the UK, this is quite a worldwide sport, what opportunities do you see—especially in Australia or Queensland, in general—for the scene to be built up a little bit in this regard? Certainly, as a community, we had spent a lot of effort in trying to build Queensland and North Queensland up. Unfortunately, that had to be put on hold with the old "Rona" that forced a lot of people to change what they were doing in 2020. A lot of that hasn't got back to normal just yet. We're hoping that by this time next year, things might be in a slightly better position for that. But we have a wonderful, wonderful lady, by the name of Scarlett Habanero, who has planned and orchestrated many of the National Chilli Festivals all around Australia. She had planned one for Townsville back in August 2020 which, unfortunately, couldn't go ahead of time. But we're certainly hopeful that once things are in a more conducive state, we'll be able to enjoy having events hosted here in North Queensland. We're also about to become home. At least, Queensland is about to become home to one of the most highly awarded international champions in the Chilli World—a guy from America, by the name of Johnny Scoville, who is very, very well-known in the spice world. He's in the process of getting his races sorted out and everything, and moving over from the sites to be with his partner in Toowoomba. No, sorry. Bundy. My apologies. That is super cool, just the fact that Queensland will have a number of, including yourself and Johnny, internationally-renowned Chilli Heads living in the state. With the Chilli Championships coming up, it seems like there's a lot of momentum in that arena which is quite exciting for somewhere like Australia. How do people tune in to the Chilli Eating Championships? Where will those be? Do you know yet? The Chilli Eating Championships will be on the evening of Saturday, the 13th of August. I

believe we'll start at 6:30 PM. Maybe 6: 32:19

00. That will be hosted by a guy called Julie Philly, who's down in Sydney. There'll be a simulcast across six or seven different channels—Facebook, Insta, YouTube. Probably, the easiest for the common viewer who's not a part of a lot of the groups involved would be just to go on to YouTube and search for Burnin Bites Down Under, the YouTube channel on that platform. He will certainly be broadcasting on YouTube at that point in time. That is probably the easiest for most people to view it from. That's great. Cool. I'll now put links, too. I've made notes of some of these. I'll put the links to some of these in the podcast notes at the bottom so that people can know where to go. Lots of exciting things coming up, Dan. I'm really curious. Most people have some goal in mind, one of which would be to take home the Chilli Championships, that could win that regional event and onward. Do you have any other goals in this space in terms of a certain challenge or, I guess, where you're headed to next in competition? I guess for myself, personally, I am mindful that August this year may not necessarily be my time to take up the National Championship. Because we've got an amazing set of competitors this year. There's a number of so good, I'll certainly be saying worthy of taking out the national competition. Also, I'm mindful of the international obligations that will come with that. Because of the current circumstance that exists around the world from a health perspective, international travel isn't really in my to-do list right now. I'm certainly hopeful that that will change again. I guess time will tell. But for myself, right now, it's more just about learning more about myself and learning my own limits. I guess I haven't really found my limit yet. I keep pushing. My body keeps saying yeah, okay. You can do a bit more. So it's almost a journey of self-discovery. I'm not quite sure whether it ends or if it ends. My mind is blown. Dan, I'm just thinking how cool it will be to see where the journey takes you and watch that space. Also, whatever comes next of that, whether that's something you talk or write in more detail or publish something else, who knows where some of that will go. I think it's definitely an area that people are becoming more and more interested in—whether it's growing chillies, or competing, or just a range of hot food items. I'm wondering if you have any kind of either suggestions on resources online or in print form, where someone might go to get cool learning about some of this stuff or get connected with some of the communities that exist around this. Sure. I can certainly send you a few links for, probably, the largest and kindest online communities in the chilli world. I guess as with all communities, there are yard sale group that exists in the community. But one thing that I've appreciated about the chilli world from years ago, honestly, is the fact that—whether you find habaneros hot, whether you find jalapeños hot for that matter, up to Carolina Reapers and beyond—all are welcome. As long as you have a desire to enjoy that spicy feeling that you get from eating hot, spicy food, then everyone is welcome. Everyone is seen as being a valid part of the community. Every community has the exceptions, but most of the community is so friendly and so welcoming. We just enjoy each other's company. I guess, a testament to that fact, that so many in our community come from all walks of life in the past where they might have been shunned by the the majority of society due to alcohol abuse, drug abuse, various other things. Many people feel as though not so much necessarily that chilli is going to help them break that, but that our community gave them the support network that they needed to break free of those things. It's a great place to be. That's really cool. It's a really cool community. Really good. All of that speaks to me in terms of the developmental journey that you've touched on, which I think many people don't realize comes along with something like this. At the same time, anyone who's competing in something, that takes time and dedication. It's quite a journey. It doesn't always turn out the way you think it is. You have successes and failures for learning opportunities. It sounds like it's quite a developmental journey and cool to hear. I really look forward to — I'll put those whatever links you send me in the chat as well, so that people can get connected to this community of chilli heads and see where that might take them individually. But just in closing, Dan, I just really want to thank you for your time, for sharing yourself and more about this. I think I'm really grateful in terms of value that you've added in our time together. So, thank you. Thank you, too. I really appreciate it, Ricky. I guess spice is not something that gets a lot of camera time. When it does, it's something that a lot of people don't take seriously and just laugh at. But yeah, it's much deeper and more meaningful community than what most people give it credit for. It sounds like that 100%. Who knows? Maybe I might get involved myself at some stage. So, you may have convinced me. Thanks, Dan. No worries at all. You have a great day. You, too. Thank you for listening to this episode of Towards Better. You can find more stories, links, and other content on our website towardsbetter.com.au or follow us on Facebook or Instagram for more great features. Thank you again for listening.