Nick DiGiovanni - 10 Levels Of Spicy Food

Episode Date: September 22, 2026

I can’t believe how crazy the last level was!

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Or go with the flow and choose ginseng delight. Our new double espresso with ginseng extract. Whatever lies ahead, don't change your morning. Let your morning change you. Discover coffee plus on espresso.com. Today, I'm cooking 10 levels of spicy food for the world's most dangerous eater. And by the end, he'll have to survive pepper X, the spiciest pepper on earth that's 600 times hotter than a jalapeno.

But we're starting at level one with a bell pepper, which scores a perfect zero on the Scoville scale, the official scale for measuring heat, to make an Indian street snack called Firepon. Are you nervous? Why would I be? I mean, all the spices food all over the world. I am not scared of anything.

A leaf? This isn't just a leaf. It does start with a leaf, but it's then layered with a variety of sweet fillings, and in this case, some chopped bell pepper before eventually being topped with shredded coconut and a few drops of peppermint oil. I'm going to light this on fire,

and then into your mouth it goes. Oh my gosh. Oh. The fire should have been a little bit bigger, but it was good. I can take the bell pepper, sweet, watery, crunchy. My mouth feels clean and fresh. That's your palate cleanser. That's my welcome to what this video is going to be like.

Because you still have to eat a 1 million scovil white ghost pepper, a 2 million scovil Carolina Reaper, and, of course, our 3 million Scoville Pepper X. I'm ready for level two. Before moving on, I do have one gift for you. Milk? I'm sure we've all played some video game where there's a health bar that slowly goes down as you play.

I want you to think of this milk as your health bar. If you finish this jug of milk before you finish level 10, you lose. I won't. For level two, we're moving up to the Shoshito pepper, which scores 100 on the Scoville scale to make some spicy sushi, specifically a dragon roll, the only sushi named after something that breathes fire. A fun fact about Shishito peppers is that in Japan,

eating them is basically a game, because roughly one in every 10 is secretly hot, and not even scientists can tell just by looking at them. So somewhere in this role, there might be a small surprise waiting for Chef Rush, but really, this level has one job, and that's giving him his very first hint of spice, easing him in nice and slow before things get serious. I actually hope he enjoys this one,

because it only gets worse from here. I'll tell you this, best dragon roll I've ever seen. Well, let's see how it tastes. Mmm. Milk? Yeah. I'm getting a small tingle on the tip of my tongue, but that's about it.

I love the texture. Creamy on the outside, crunching the inside, it's a beautiful presentation. I gotta try the sauce. I put a little saracha, a little spicy mayo in there. Cool, tangy, sweet. Still not hurting you. Nope.

You're gonna need try a lot harder than that. Health bar's still at 100%. Bring on the next one. For level three, we're using the jalapeno, which scores 5,000 on the Scoville scale to make what's called a Danger Dog. These come from Tijuana, Mexico, sold late at night outside stadiums and concerts,

and normally the jalapenos only go on top. But mine have also gone inside, ground straight into some homemade sausage. Now, I know you're probably wondering how I'm gonna take down Chef Rush with a jalapeno, and that's the thing. I'm not. My only job right now is to wake up his taste buds

with something familiar. a pepper we all know and love. Because pretty soon, he'll be eating things 100, 300, even 500 times hotter than this. So the smartest move is letting him get nice and comfortable. Level 3 isn't the takedown. It's the first step. What I love so much about a jalapeno is that everybody here

knows what a jalapeno feels and tastes like. So when I say that a jalapeno is 5,000 on the heat scale, just think about the fact that later in this video there's going to be a pepper that's about 3 million. You can't scare this guy. It's called a danger dog. It doesn't look dangerous. We're only on level 3.

And don't worry. Milk's right here. Go ahead. That's a good dog. First thing I taste is the bacon, smoky, salty, fatty, and then comes a jalapeno. All that burn is on the front of my tongue. When it goes away, before I take the next bite. It's just eating the whole raw jalapeno.

He's starting to feel it. I'll take a little sip of milk. You want milk? It's starting to get hot in here, isn't it? You are now down to 93% of your milk. Is your mouth hot? Not much. The jump from level. Level 3 to level 4 is steep.

Bring it on. For level 4, we're using the purple cayenne, which scores 50,000 on the Scovel scale, or as hot as 10 jalapenos, to make Italy's famous Devil's Pizza. In Italy, it's called Pizza Diabloa, and it's already one of the spiciest things on any menu over there, but mine's getting an upgrade, and this time there's a strategy behind it. You see, Chef Rush knows the heat is coming, he just doesn't know where, and I'm hiding it in all the places he'd never expect, with red cayans in the dough, purple cayens steeping in the tomato sauce, and even a base layer my Osmo Magic sauce, which gets its heat from Calabrian Chili's, making it the perfect match for this Italian classic.

Combined that with chili oil and a drizzle of hot honey to finish it off, and this might just be the deadliest pizza ever made. Mamma Mia, it looks amazing. I've never seen a red pizza before. I'm hungry. Dig in. Wow, that's crispy. That crust.

You hear that? This pepper hits me fast. It's very sharp and acidic. Now it's not just on the tip of my tongue. The spice is moving to my lips. That is what the purple cayenne does. And remember, we're only on level four. You're eating more.

It's worth it. It's spicy, but the pizza is actually good. That crunch, the char, the crust, delicious. It tastes better with milk. Remember that's taken away your health. It's worth it. That's sneaking up on me. It's a little.

Every level that we go up, the pepper multiplies by a lot, so it's not just going to go up slowly. It's going to go up fast. That doesn't worry you? No. Next level. For level five, we're using the Thai bird's eye chili, which scores 100,000 on the Scoville scale,

or as hot as 20 jalapenos to make crying tiger beef. And that name is no joke. This dish comes from Thailand, where legend says the dipping sauce is so spicy that one bite would make even a tiger. The top predator of the jungle break down and cry. Although, knowing Chef Rush, he'd probably tell you he's the top predator of the jungle. And four levels in, I'm honestly starting to believe him because he's barely even touched his milk. But I'll be shocked if he gets through this round without a sip, because in addition to the sauce, I'm butter-based the steak itself with even more bird's-eye chilies.

So I guess level five comes down to one simple question. Who's tougher? A tiger or chef Rush? Let's eat. Chopsticks? I'm trying just the beef, no dipping sauce. Fatty well marble, it's delicious. Mountain sauce.

Ooh, this one has me a little bit nervous. First off, the sauce is incredible. I taste the lime, but that bird's eye chili, it's like a needle. It's like getting electrocuted all in front of my mouth. The only part that I save you is the fatiness from the way I do. Whoa. Yes.

Chef Ross, you are falling apart. Woo! I feel it. I'm starting to finally kind of get at you though. It's chipping. You have more. more than half of that health bar left, so you're doing okay there. But again, things are going to get exponentially spicier.

Halfway through, how do you feel right now? I feel great, but I'm also curious. Is curious another word maybe for nervous? Wait, wait. I just said curious. I want to see what's left. Level six? Level six. For level six, we're using the Scotch Bonnet pepper,

which scores 250,000 on the Scoville scale, or as hot as 50 jalapenos, to make Korea's spiciest fried chicken. In Korea, this dish is called Bulldog, which translates to fire chicken, and it's so famously spicy that people film themselves just trying to survive it. But I'm making the most extreme version of that chicken called Nuclear Fire Chicken, and I'm using Scotchbonnets because their heat is sneaky. You see, after the first bite, you feel almost nothing, but 30 seconds later, it hits you all at once.

So my plan is to make the chicken so crispy and delicious that Chef Rush won't be able to stop eating, and by the time the heat finally catches up with him, he'll already be three bites deep, at which point, I'll have one more surprise waiting. From here on out, no more rules. It's time to go nuclear. That's deadly. It's worse than deadly. It's nuclear.

I know this one because it's from Korea. I go to Korea all the time. This one I'm gonna enjoy. I'd recommend you wear gloves for this one. When things start to get this spicy, you don't want to touch them with your fingers or your fingers are gonna hurt for days. Whenever you're ready,

Oh! How we feeling? Hot. I also have a nice cooling dipping sauce here. Wait. That's not cooling. It's not cooling. Yeah, I lied. This is also 250,000 Scovel scale.

But you said you can handle anything. You're good. But first 10 seconds, I don't feel much spice. And when it hits you, it's a very fruity pepper. Whoa. The pepper almost tastes like apricot. It's very weird, but delicious and spicy. Wow.

Yes! His milk is dropping fast. I'm so confused. My palate is confused because I can taste the sweetness from it, but also the spicy is attacking every part of my mouth. And you're down to 61% of your milk. By level 10, I'm not. taking him down. Absolutely not. For level seven, we're using the chocolate habanero, which scores

500,000 on the Scoville scale, or as hot as 100 jalapenos to make Singapore's most famous dish, chili crab. I'm making this one with a giant king crab, because the world's toughest eater deserves a worthy opponent, but don't let the crab fool you. Every Singaporean knows this dish was never really about the crab. In reality, it's all about that sweet and sticky sauce, which makes the chocolate habanero perfect because it blends right in with its sweet and smoky flavor, but burns with the power of 100 jalapenos. To top it all off,

this dish is traditionally served with golden fried buns made for dunking. Except this time, when Chef Rush reaches for some bread to save himself, he'll only be making it worse. You made it to level 7. How do you feel? I feel good. My whole mouth, my tongue, is all kind of pins and needles right now. Looks like you've got just over 50% of your health left, which means we need to keep stepping it up as we make it towards level 10,

which, let's be honest, there's no way you're making it through. I will. Have you had chili crab? I have. The dish itself is stunning. It has to be one of the most striking crab presentations I've ever seen. Before you eat anything, gloves again. He cannot at this point touch any of this stuff with his bare hands.

First of all, let's start by trying this. I've never seen before. This is a... Chocolate havinero. Chocolate haboreno. Wow. It has like an earthy, smoky, raisin flavor to it. That has me sweating.

You're super warm. Little lime on here. This one got me a little nervous. First time I heard that word from him before, by the way, ever. Ooh, whoa. This dish is like a tug of war. You got the sweetest from the king crab, but then that salt pulls you right back over to super spicy.

What's interesting is, the burn is in the back of my mouth now. Whoa. This one is actually lingering. It's not going away like the other ones. It's like, I'm here. Hello. I'm moving in. Yeah.

Yes. Yes, we're getting there. He's falling apart. You now have half of your milk. You successfully fail. finish level seven, how are you feeling right now? That's only seven? That was only seven, yeah.

Wait, why? You scared? I didn't say that. You said it like you were scared. Did I say that? For level eight, we're using the white ghost pepper. The first pepper today to score one million on the Scoville scale, or as hot as 200 jalapenos to make the United Kingdom's most dangerous curry. Most people don't know that Britain is famous for curry.

In fact, their national dish is chicken teakamasa, but as it turns out, they're also famous for outrageously spicy curries, which is where the white ghost pepper comes in. This pepper is so strong that the Indian army has used it to make actual grenades, but I'm using it to make what might just be the spiciest butter chicken of all time. In some restaurants, these curries get so hot that the chefs have to wear real gas masks in the kitchen to protect themselves from the fumes, which is where it gets the name gas mask curry. I'm pairing this dish with something called bullet non, which is baked with spicy green chilies.

The scariest thing about this level is that I only have to cook it, but Chef Rush actually has to eat it. Can you just talk to us about how you're feeling? My mouth is on fire. I can't believe he's letting me do this. Dig in. And that's not on, each little bullet on there, each little piece of chili, it's gonna hit ya. This is actually my butter chicken recipe.

I made this many times, but I've never made it with white ghost peppers. And I probably never will again. Oh. It's strong. You'll hit you a towel. Woo! I'm not gonna say this in front of Nick.

This is really hard. Not tell him. Don't say a word. Oh, jeez. Towel? What? Your arms are starting to sweat. It's hot here.

You look like you are ready to throw in the towel. You know what's crazy about this is, the first flavors I get is the butter chicken. It's buttery, it's creamy, it's a little smoky. About 30 seconds later, the spice is really hard. A very floral, fruity flavor. Now it's climbing up the back of my throat. And remind me, what's that thing you always say to me? I'm not scared of anything.

You want to just take a big chomp of that white ghost pepper? What? You're not scared of it? I'm not! Why do you think I garnished it like that? It's garnished. It's not edible. Just a little taste.

Yeah, there you go. That was a little bad. He's really starting to feel it. It's not a lot left. Just a lot. You realize that the last level is the Guinness World record spiciest pepper in the world. I got plenty of Guinness World Records too.

Who cares? For level nine, we're using the Carolina Reaper, which scores 1.6 million on the Scoville scale, or as hot as 320 jalapenos, to make an Indonesian dish called Sembal Stingray. And yes, it all starts with a real stingray, an animal that carries a venom-tipped stinger on its tail, but by the time I'm done with it,

That stinger won't even be the most dangerous part of this fish. Because the heat in this dish comes from Sambal, Indonesia's famous chili paste. But mine might be the first one in history made out of Carolina Reapers. And in case you didn't know, the Reaper held the Guinness World Record as the spiciest pepper on earth for over 10 years. I've cooked a lot of spicy food in my life, but I've never made something I refuse to even taste until right now.

I promised we'd find Chef Rush's limit. And if this stingray doesn't finish the job, what's waiting for him at level 10 will. How does that pepper look to you? It's an intimidating pepper. If you bite into it, something's going to happen to you. It has a bunch of little thorny bumps all across the skin. It's not smooth.

It doesn't look appealing. It just looks scary. There are countless videos on the internet of people trying to eat these peppers. And normally, it doesn't go so well for them. Interesting. Nick, this is nice. You'd have to give me a present. Whoa.

Look at that. Still, super smoky. It may be pretty, but don't let it fool you, chef. This level here and the one after it are the only reason I have a medic sitting over there to make sure you're okay. Hey, sir, you can go. I'm good. We don't need you here. Nick, you know it's offensive when you even bring them here.

Off camera, can we talk for a second? Yeah, of course. I want to make sure you understand how serious this pepper is. I understand. You can actually stay. Don't go anywhere. You need to stay for Nick. Why is that?

Keep talking. Now I'm going to enjoy seeing you eat this. Whoa. I've never seen you this speechless before. I'm going to try to focus on the fish first. It's buttery, flaky. It's kind of like a scallop. But that heat is crazy.

Grazie. Oh. The pepper almost has. little cinnamon flavor to it. How bad is it, chef? Probably like a five for somebody else, a 10. It's only a five? Yeah.

Let me give them, milk. Careful, chef, be careful, your health. You need to save some for the last pepper. I'm telling you, chef. You are crying now. So I think what made this so extra bad was their peppers weren't cooked. When they're raw like that, they're just, boom,

you're shaking. This is my body responding to the Carolina Reaper. It hits really hard. You are drenched in sweat. Keep on drinking. Let's take a quick look at the health bar. Not much milk left. Lots of milk.

One of the things we do in the military, you know what we always say? You're going to attack me? You can't say that. I'm just letting them know. That seemed like a threat on camera. Will you admit that I've done better than you thought I would? Yeah. This is actually harder than I thought it was going to be.

The spice levels. The food was absolutely amazing, even though everything was extremely spicy. Was this the worst round yet? This is the worst one yet. So I'm actually interested in level 10. What do you think I'm going to make with it? Knowing you, I don't know. It could be a dessert.

Well, here's a little secret. Level 10 isn't a dish at all. It's one single pepper. Pepper. The current Guinness World Record holder for the hottest pepper on the planet. At 2.69 million on the Scoville scale. The same is eating 538 jalapenos in one bite.

They're nearly impossible to get and so dangerous that I'm not even the one bringing it in. Pepper X. Does that make you feel any kind of way? I don't like it. the X on pepper X. Doesn't that sound extra menacing? I'm gonna play a few clips here

of people having this pepper in the past. What Joe is feeling right now is utter pain. I think... Oh. The skin of my face feels tighter. It's dangerous. So dangerous that the medic might be your only hope. You ready for level 10?

I'm ready. Bring it on in. Thank you. Now I'm getting a little nervous. Wait a second. There's no dish? I can make it into a dish if you want. Now it's a dish.

Doesn't look so intimidating by it, sir. Smell back. Oh, what was that? Oh! It hurt your brain. There's only one place in the world you can get these. It's from this one guy who grows them, who holds the Guinness World Record for this pepper. They look different every year.

So if you're looking this up right now and saying, that's not a pepper axe, these are pepper axes. We got them directly from Smoke and Ed himself. He's the one that grows them. This is this year's crop of pepper eggs. This is a serious, serious pepper. I held one of these between this thumb and this pointer finger. Both tips of my fingers went completely numb. You could eat 538 jalapinos, and those all together would be the spice of one of these.

And you want me to eat it. What do you say at the start of the video again? I am not scared of anything. Yeah, that's right. That was it. I didn't say that. It wasn't me. I need you to sign this waiver.

A waiver for. Just in case anything happens to you, you or your loved ones can't come after me. You gave me hot dogs, you gave me pizza, butter chicken, and now you give me just the pepper eggs. Done. I wish I had a heart rate monitor on you right now. I feel like it's probably beating off the chart. No. Just moments ago, you were crying.

It was just heat in this place. You don't have much left. Enough. Any last words? What? Go ahead. In three, two, one. Enjoy.

Oh, gosh. My heart is... beating out of my chest right now. I get the fire steamer or something? Oh no. Oh no. You good? I gotta see you finish it.

You can finish the milk. Where some see heroes and others see egos. Bloomberg sees the era of billionaire athletes. A fad to some, the future of money to others. We see crypto's trillion dollar swings. The end of jobs, or the end of jobs, or the end of jobs.

of human struggle. We see the endless funds fueling the AI hype. While others follow the noise, we follow the money. Learn more at Bloomberg.com. Gosh. I'm done. I'm not really sure who won here. I need something else. What's that?

Ice cream, what? Can me something? What Chef Rush doesn't know is that I was waiting for this moment. Earlier today, I made homemade ice cream and snuck in a few drops of Mad Dog plutonium, a 9 million scobel extract hot sauce, as well as hot fudge infused with a mix of all the spiciest peppers on the planet to make an ice cream Sunday with a combined scovil level of over 20 million, making this innocent little Sunday the spiciest thing in the entire video.

This is the real level 10. Ice cream. Ow. Can you put spice in ice cream? I may have put spicy. It's bad. Are you good? It's bad.

Look. Don't look good? Give me some milk. Give me some milk. All the milk? All the milk. Okay. Better?

Medic. Uh, can I get a few units? Maybe a hotel. Advertising on Spotify with audio and display ads helps brands turn attention into results. Download the 2026 performance playbook and discover why Spotify belongs in your media plan.