July 1, 2006 The Second Annual that's Beijing Chili Pepper Eating Contest garnered the undivided attention of a huge Canada Day crowd on Saturday, and after 5 minutes of non-stop chili eating carnage, our very own Gabriel Monroe walked away with the coveted crown of Chili King of Beijing. Monroe, representing the USA, choked down 85 peppers, besting a field of 11 contestants hailing from Canada, China, Korea and Thailand. Second place and the title of Beijing’s Pepper Prince went to strong Canadian challenger Jason Zhang, who took an early lead but fell behind to Monroe's late last-minute feeding frenzy and ended up with 60 peppers in his gut. In third place was Canadian David Jacobsen (50 peppers), the only contestant to willingly enter the contest for the second year in a row! Each contestant was awarded gift certificates to continue their spicy obsessions at Beijing's Malaysian food hotspot Little Penang and a fresh-off-the-presses that’s Beijing chili t-shirt courtesy of Plastered t-shirts.

Photos by Simon Lim

The final tally:
1. Gabriel Monroe, USA (85 peppers); 2. Jason Zhang, Canada (60 peppers); 3. David Jacobsen, Canada (50 peppers); 4. Julius, Korea (40 peppers); 5. Tong Xiaojuan, China (27 peppers); 6. Areeya Rienrobkit, Thailand (26 peppers); 7. Wang Haidan, China (21 peppers); 8. Luo Qiong, China (20 peppers); 9. Qin Liu, China (17 peppers); 10. Wang Aidong, China (11 peppers); 11. William Wei, China (8 peppers)