The League Of Fire Belts

When we first came up with the idea of putting two renowned chilli-eating machines Johnny Scovile from USA and UK Chilli Queen in an inaugural World Title Chilli-Eating Belt Match in July 2019, at the Guildford Cheese & Chilli Festival, we had no idea how this new and first-of its-kind concept was going to take off and capture the fascination and hearts of the worldwide chilli community and help bring people from all parts of the chilli world together talking, forging bonds and friendships, as well as non-chilli-heads who have really gotten into this. We believed this World Title Belt Match could be an amazing innovation within the chilli community worldwide, and boy, were we right. Johnny Scoville vs. UK Chilli Queen in The Ultimate Chilli-Eating Showdown became a historic day for the League of Fire!

Our World Title Belt Matches follow the Guildford Cognoscenti Rules and will always be a duel. We would describe these World Title Belt Matches much the same as boxing matches. You have to go one-on-one through multiple rounds and then finish with a knockout round which is a race finale. They are extremely brutal and different from regular chilli-eating contests in that you are allowed to have a go at the World Belt only if you have won at least three regular chilli-eating contests previously and you will usually start where the regular contests end so for example, you may be given a plate of Scorpions or Reapers to start at round 1. All rounds will contain multiples upwards of 4 of each superhot as opposed to the usual contests where you are normally given one per round and maybe two or three in some rounds. There will be a tie-breaker speed round to decide the winner if both parties are still competing after 10 rounds.

You end up in the region of 50 plus superhots consumed in each World Title Belt Match. The League of Fire World Title Belt is the pinnacle of being a chilli-head and is a coveted affair. We regard our World Title Belt Holder as World Champion.

Following the huge success of our World Belt – The Bird, we decided in 2021 to introduce 3 Regional Belts: The Americas Belt (Red Bird), The European Belt (Blue Bird), and the Oceania Belt (Green Bird). We did this so that we could be more inclusive and have more people involved who were desperate to eat chillies competitively and be recognised for it around the world.

The Regional Belt Title Matches do not have to follow the Guildford Cognoscenti Rules. They will never be a duel and there can be up to 10 contestants who are not required to have won a chilli-eating contest previously. These are brutal & extreme contests with multiple peppers in each round and a tie-breaker speed round should the need arise. The number of peppers consumed in these will be in the region of 20-30, mostly all of which will be superhots. They are less hardcore than our World Title duels.

In all of our Belt Matches, we have 2 disciplines. 1 is endurance and 2 is speed after endurance. All of our matches are held at well-known and popular festivals and we have many constraints such as stage time, audience engagement, etc., to consider and so we need to stick to a format that works for everybody. We do also have pod challenges that are just endurance for when time is not an issue.

Our Belt Match Posters are considered iconic and valued greatly. People featured in them regard it as an honour. These posters are created for every single World Title Belt Match and for all Regional Title Belt Matches where we know the contestants in advance. All World Title Belt Match Posters will also have a unique title linked somehow to either the contestants involved or place of battle. The Regional Belt Match Posters will always have the Festival at which they are taking place in the title.

The Vacating of the Belts Records

The World Belt was vacated by the UK Chilli Queen in January 2020 after 4 wins in order to keep the momentum going in another part of the world when chillies were in season. The Bird travelled from the UK to New Zealand where Justin Rummel won it in a battle with Chilli Fillie.

The World Belt was vacated by Justin Rummel now in Australia in September 2021 after 1 win due to being unable to travel to defend and the Bird travelled back to the UK where it was once again won by the UK Chilli Queen in a duel with Cameron Grennan.

The Americas Belt was vacated by Mike Jack in June 2022 after 1 win due to being unable to travel to defend the title. The Red Bird travelled from Canada to USA where Jayson Hairrell won it. Mike Jack subsequently reclaimed the Americas title but vacated the belt once again after becoming World Champion on 27th May 2023 in New Zealand.