We've all dared to eat hot foods that resulted in burned taste buds, fateful post-digestion trips to the bathroom and eventually, extreme anguish.But a forklift truck driver and aspiring chef met a fate much worse recently when he died after eating a large portion of chili sauce. Andrew Lee, 33, had just passed a workplace medical exam when he challenged his friend to a chili-eating contest.
To prepare for the contest, Lee ate a plate of pasta laden with chili sauce created from extra-hot peppers specially grown by his father. Before going to bed, he complained of itchy skin to his girlfriend. The next morning he could not be awoken, having apparently succumbed to a cardiac arrest.
Lee's sister believes that the chili was the hottest her brother had ever made, but was still in shock. "Who would have thought he could have died from eating chili sauce?" she said. "We don't know of anything else that could have caused his death."
Better lay off the Tabasco later...