People chanting and guys in sweat bands wearing cut-off tank tops with beads of sweat trickling down their faces filled the room on Monday night. But these guys weren’t swinging bats or throwing footballs, and they weren’t sweating because they were exercising. They were the 21 contestants in Sweet Basil Thai Cuisine’s first Spicy Contest.
Jason Randall,@@https://plus.google.com/107168394157235241716/about@@ one of the organizers for the event, said that they wanted to create a competition for people who really love Thai food.
“The idea of the competition was to see if there was actually a person in Eugene who could handle spicy Thai food,” he said.
Of the contestants who signed up, 21 competed in a series of three rounds of Eugene’s spiciest Thai food.
In the first round, the contestants were given cashew chicken and larb chicken salad. The first ten people to finish their food and stand up moved on to the next round. The remaining contestants were eliminated. The second round consisted of an even spicier concoction with Thai chilies and peppers. The first five to complete the dish and stand up would move on to the third and final round.
To make the suspense even worse, the restaurant gave the contestants a small break before they took on the spiciest part of the competition.
Friends were rubbing contestant’s shoulders and others began chanting. Servers ran back and forth from the kitchen, filling each contestant’s pitcher of water. With only a few minutes of their break left, the five remaining contestants sat down at the table with nervous looks on their faces. The servers brought each competitor a bucket just in case the spice was too much to handle.
Tony Chulacharitta, co-owner and founder of Sweet Basil, and Robin Robertson,@@CQ’d@@ head chef at the restaurant, brought out the final dishes. Placed in front of each contestant was a stir-fry and tom kha soup, topped with ghost peppers.
“The last round is my favorite because I make it as spicy as I can,” Robertson said. “I save the ghost peppers for the last round on purpose.”
The contestants were not allowed to touch the food once it was placed in front of them. They were only allowed to smell it, but many did not, because it  smelled as spicy as it tasted.
The final round began, and the contestants started eating their food. Between each bite, they chugged their water. One contestant pushed his plate away without finishing.
With a valiant effort, University student Sunsern Lee won the competition.@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Sunsern+Lee@@
“The final round was the hardest because I was so full from the other rounds, and the ghost peppers burned my mouth and throat,” he said.
But the spiciness must have been worth it because Lee walked away $300 richer.
“I’m going to use this money to pay for the Halloween party that my roommates and I are having,” he said.
And even though the other competitors lost, they still had smiles on their faces because they ate free Thai food for the night. To top it off, their smiles brought happiness to Chulacharitta.
“I love the shouting fans and the audience that each contestant brings,” he said. “It’s nice to see them having fun, because then we have fun as the servers.”
He also said next year’s competition will be even better because Lee might come back to defend his title. But any potential competitors might want to start preparing now, so they can handle the heat of the kitchen and Lee’s fire to win again.