The great showdown between 2006 Chili Eating King, Gabe "Dr Pepper" Monroe and reigning Chili Eating Queen Yulin Zhao ended in a controversial* draw on Sunday with the two pepper-eating machines swallowing an astounding 75 peppers in 5 minutes. Six other brave contestants nobly tried to keep up, with Spike in second place as he methodically ate his way through a fiery 33 peppers and Josh in third as he consumed 20 peppers.

But it was really just a battle between the two favorites, who went chili for chili down to the final count, with spectators holding their breath as they battled to eat just one more chili.

A large crowd of Canada Day attendees cheered on the contestants as they pushed their bodies to the limit for the chance to win vouchers from Asian Star and Elisa’s Italian. Each contestant also received a limited-edition t-shirt from Gobi Gear.

Witness the chili carnage for yourself below.

You can take a look at a gallery of photos from the event here.

The Official Results
The Chili Eating King Gabriel Monroe: 75
The Chili Eating Queen Yulin Zhao: 75
Spike: 33
Josh: 20
Han le: 16
Colin: 15
Melody: 8
Anita: 4

Look out for more True Run Events this coming weekend with the tbjkids Kids Summer Games taking place tomorrow and the tbjkids Family Fun Fest the following Friday.

Links and Sources
The Beijinger Gallery: Canada Day 2008
Youtube: Video of the 2008 Immersion Guides Chili Pepper Eating Contest
The Beijinger: Immersion Guides Chili Pepper Eating Contest: Have you got what it takes?
The Beijinger Gallery: Canada Day 2006
The Beijinger Gallery: Canada Day 2007

* There were claims that Yulin Zhao was not in fact ingesting whole chillies but rather taking bites from them and discarding the rest.