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There are a lot of people who take a twisted amount of pleasure in consuming extremely spicy foods, and it’s only natural that many of them have been drawn to the viral “One Chip Challenge.” However, that product might be harder to track down in the future now that it’s been linked to the death of a teenager who passed away shortly after eating it.
For the uninitiated, the One Chip Challenge got its start in 2016 when the tortilla chip brand Paqui harnessed the infamously fiery Carolina Reaper pepper to kick its signature offering up many, many notches.
Each coffin-shaped package contains a single chip, and the “challenge” aspect tasks the people who eat it to refrain from eating or drinking anything for as long as possible while dealing with the fairly brutal repercussions of consuming the product.
The One Chip Challenge first Had A Moment in 2017 thanks to the many viral clips it was able to generate. Anyone who watched Shaquille O’Neal take on the chip on Inside the NBA got to witness his soul leaving his body, while a news anchor who tried it during a live segment had to duck underneath her desk to vomit.
In 2022, a number of school districts banned students from participating in the One Chip Challenge, and earlier this month, tragedy struck in Worcester, Massachusetts when a teenager named Harris Wolobah died a few hours after consuming one of the chips at Doherty Memorial High School.
While there are still plenty of questions to be answered when it comes to the role the One Chip Challenge played in his death, the CBC reports Paqui has already opted to remove the product from shelves and will no longer be promoting it in the wake of the incident.
It’s pretty hard to blame them for erring on the side of caution.