Paqui One Chip Challenge

[JeffJ]

Even before I heard the story about this kid dying my response has always been a hard pass. It just seems like it would be really unpleasant if not extremely painful. I don't need that.

[fzxdoc]

Apparently part of the "challenge" on the packaging is to see how long you can go after eating the chip without drinking water or taking, say, a creamy antidote to the capsaicin. Capsaicin poisoning is so common that there's a warning to call the Poison Control Center when eating it causes an adverse reaction.

This is heartbreaking, a kid dying like this. Just the fact that he was giving it a try with his buddies shows his enthusiasm for life and for taking risks. It's fun to be a daredevil, until things go sideways. So very sad.

Kathryn

[fzxdoc]

Good call. When a chile knocks out the taste buds, the entire meal is ruined. I like the warm fruity heat of a chile in the back of my mouth after the bite is long gone. To me, that's the perfect amount of spice.

K.

[mrichie1229]

Agreed!

[jfmorris]

Pretty sad about this kid. I am guessing he had an allergic reaction to the insane amount of capsaicin in the potato chip. I'm not allergic to any foods, but my own panic attack style reaction to a "death nut" a few years ago tells me that someone with any level of allergies or possibly something like asthma could easily be overwhelmed by the reaction to one of these crazy pepper challenges.

[ecowper]

Stacy told me about this yesterday ..... a young man in Mass died on 9/1 due to the Paqui One Chip Challenge.

Vigil planned for Massachusetts teen who died after taking part in One Chip Challenge (msn.com)

[Bkhuna]

Hard pass. I like spicy food, and at one time went through a chili head phase. Ruined a fair number of meals trying to see how much heat I could put into a recipe.

I finally grew up and put away such silliness.

[Bkhuna]

Come on ice cream!

[Richard Chrz]

I had forgotten about this, and my wife just told me about the death’s from this. So sad!

[mrteddyprincess]

I thought the one chip challenge was a fun thing, but I'm sorry it ended in someone dying.

[fzxdoc]

This is so sad. A 14-year-old child died hours after eating a One Chip Challenge chip. Paqui has withdrawn it from stores. I read about it in the Washington Post this morning, but here's an article about it that is not behind a paywall:

https://www.npr.org/2023/09/08/1198369305/maker-one-chip-challenge-pulls-product-from-stores

Kathryn

[shify]

I would not recommend using it as a flavoring device.

If you are interested in a spicy but tasty chip, Paqui makes a Haunted Ghost Pepper chip that is sold in supermarkets and comes in normal size bag (like a bag of doritos). I think that chip is really good and pretty spicy, but in a more normal way. I could eat a handful of those chips but my wife freaked out at half of one.

[DiverDriver]

2 Guys at work here did it as a challenge.... I was prepared to hose them down. It is every bit as bad as the vids and then some. as earlier poster said it does not go away kindly either.

[fzxdoc]

I like the idea of crushing the chip up and using it as a seasoning. Thing is, people in videos talk about how nasty the chip tastes. Those of us who like spicy foods like to taste the pepper itself before tasting the heat that comes on. Apparently there's no pepper flavor in the One Chip Challenge. One guy said it tasted like hot asphalt on a July day. Not very appealing.

Anyway, I've decided to pass on giving the Challenge a try. My son in law has one too and we were going to try a small bite of ours together, but now I'm thinking that not even that is worth it if the taste is so bad and the heat is so overwhelming.

Kathryn

[Andrrr]

"Eyes swelled shut, snot running out of people's noses, drooling, puking...good times."

That got me. Reminds me of other bad decisions I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing. 👍