Guinness World Records Crowns a New Hottest Pepper That’s Three Times Spicier Than the Last

Pepper X measures up to an average of 2,693,000 Scoville heat units

The world has a new hottest pepper, and it’s even more masochistic than the last.

On Monday, the YouTube series Hot Ones from First We Feast invited Smokin’ Ed Currie from Puckerbutt Pepper Company onto the show to crown his latest creation, Pepper X, as the world’s hottest pepper with a little help from Guinness World Records.

Host Sean Evans spoke with Currie, inquiring about a “war chest” of pepper seeds that the pepper producer has “locked away for a rainy day.”

Related: World’s 50 Best Bars Declares a 2023 Winner — What to Know About the Hottest Watering Hole

Currie admitted that his team had “stabilized [Pepper X] a while ago, and it’s been in the war chest for about a decade now, and we’ve just been waiting to take it out.”

Currie invented the world’s previous hottest pepper, the Carolina Reaper, and lamented that “no one’s been able to take us out,” so he “decided to bring it out into the world.”

Evans later surprised the pepper inventor with another special guest, Andy Glass, a representative from Guinness World Records.

“We have independently verified the Scoville heat units of Pepper X,” Glass explained. “We have confirmed an average rate of 2,693,000 Scoville heat units (SHU). That’s a new Guinness World Records’ title for the hottest pepper.”

Related: Condensed Milk with Avocados? All the Quirky Combinations Uber Eats Customers Are Asking for

As Glass spoke, Currie lifted his arm and rubbed his fingers across his skin, indicating to Evans that he was getting goosebumps. Then, Currie got emotional as he shared his thoughts in that moment.

“This is the culmination of a lot of work by a lot of people. People said it couldn’t be done. They called us liars, and we proved to them that Pepper X is actually the hottest pepper in the world, officially,” he said. “I can’t tell you how excited I am right now. I really just want to run laps around the building.”

The Carolina Reaper, Pepper X’s predecessor, sat at an average of 1,640,000 SHU. Later in the video, Currie explained that the Scoville scale is “logarithmic,” meaning it’s “more like three times hotter than a reaper.”

Related: All About the Hot Spots Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce Have Dined at for Date Nights

Currently, the Puckerbutt Pepper Company’s website states that “Pepper X seeds and plants are a patented variety, and it is not available for purchase or use by the general public.”

Instead, those who want to brave the challenge of the fiery fruit can do so in the form of hot sauce.

“We knew we had something special, so I only let a few of my closest family and friends know what was really going on. The Heatonist Team, the Hot Ones Team, and the High River Team all had Faith in me and supported me, even when there was doubt,” Currie said in a press statement.

So, the pepper purveyor teamed up with Hot Ones and Heatonist to put together the last dab Xperience hot sauce, inspired by the YouTube show.

Peppers aren’t the only thing that Hot Ones is trying to make even hotter.

In August, the popular YouTube show teamed up with Hot Pockets in pursuit of bringing fans the world’s “hottest pockets ever,” according to the freezer-aisle favorite’s website.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.