Hot stuff: thousands take the heat at Great Dorset Chilli Festival

Iron-stomached contestants grimaced their way through a number of eye-watering rounds in the hot chilli eating contest, as the festival took place around them in St Giles Park, Wimborne, during the weekend.

At more than one million scovilles – at least 125 times hotter than a spicy Jalapeno pepper – the famed Dorset Naga chilli was certainly not for the faint-hearted, but it was one of the many chillies to feature at the event.

However, The Daily Echo’s Jim Durkin posed with something a little less likely to put him in A&E – the Serenade Chilli at a more palatable 50,000 scovilles.

Festival organiser Miles Halton, who said more than 5,000 attended the festival, added: “There was a big, big crowd all having a lot of fun for the chilli eating competition. It’s always a great atmosphere and spectators like watching other people’s pain.

“Most people were knocked out in round five, with the winner, Ben Brooks, going a further two rounds.”

Other attractions included an amateur chilli plant competition, a wide range of chilli product stands, a professional chilli sauce contest and live music by Dorset skiffle band Quinns Quinney.

Plenty of other locally-produced foods were on offer, as well as a number of Dorset beers and ciders.

Visitor Paul Rowland, aged 34, said: “I never appreciated just how many different products were made from chillies. There is pretty much everything chilli-related under the sun here.”

Meanwhile, stallholder Shawn Plumb, of Edible Ornamentals, said chillies were experiencing a huge rise in popularity at the moment.

“The increase in popularity has been astronomical,” he said. “We started in 2001 selling only chilli plants, but over the past five years everything has gone bonkers. Now we are growing more and more and supplying loads of different companies.”

Other attractions during the two-day event included cooking demonstrations, key speakers, a bouncy castle and tree climbing.