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Chicken consumers crippled by Talon Challenge

David Rudderham

Connector Staff

If you are what you eat, then the Talon Challenge turned grown men into full-blown chickens Wednesday night in McGauvran Hall.

UMass Lowell’s Campus Activities Programming Association (CAPA) designed an eating challenge tough enough to make grown men cry.

Students flocked to the lobby of McGauvran Hall Wednesday night to witness the toughest challenge for the toughest eaters on campus as they competed against each other and the limits of their stomachs.

For the competitors, the rules were simple: they had five minutes to eat their chicken wings, they had to stand for two minutes without anything to drink after doing so and they could not touch their eyes or face under any circumstances.

The boneless chicken wings, also known as “talons” served by Hawk’s Nest, were coated in hot sauce made with ghost peppers.

CAPA Marketing Chair Stephanie Cleary said, “Apparently these wings have ghost peppers in them, which are some of the hottest in the world.”

According to the Los Angeles Times, the ghost pepper, otherwise known as the “Bhut Jolokia,” is ranked the third hottest pepper in the world at up to 1.5 million Scoville units. By comparison, the Jalapeño is measured at 6,000 Scoville units, which prompted CAPA to require all entrants to sign a legal waiver to participate in the Talon Challenge.

The spiciness of the wings was brutal, indiscriminant and unforgiving. Many Talon Challenge participants made early exits to the restrooms or purposefully disqualified themselves by drinking their milk before they were allowed to.

One competitor expressed a great deal of difficulty eating his talons and said he felt them “coming back up.”

These factors were enough for some students who signed up to not participate at all, as many were absent at the roll call for each round.

“Are you kidding? I would have to go to the hospital,” said bystander Nicole Callum when asked why she did not take part in the competition.

The winners of each round received t-shirts and gift cards as compensation for their self-inflicted torture. Those who did not win, however, earned themselves a spot on the Wall of Shame.