There were few NBA players who could stop Shaquille O’Neal during his brilliant career. There also appears to be no pepper in the world that can stop him, either.
O’Neal accepted the “one-chip challenge” Thursday night during a Facebook Live video session of TNT’s “Inside the NBA.” He bet fellow Hall of Famer Charles Barkley $20 that he wouldn’t “make a face” while digesting the insanely hot tortilla chip. There was some dispute about whether or not a cough counted as making a face, but Shaq clearly declared himself the winner.
The Pacqui One-Chip Challenge started as a contest to see who could stomach Paqui’s Carolina Reaper chip, which the company bills as the hottest in the world. The gambit is pretty simple: Eat the chip and post proof of your conquest on Instagram or Twitter to be entered in a prize drawing.
It’s become a viral sensation, including a hilarious all-staff video from Desus & Mero. Then the “Inside the NBA” crew got involved Thursday night.
“Y’all must not know what fraternity I’m in,” O’Neal said as he was chewing on the Reaper chip. “Omega Psi Phi till we die. This is nothing to me.”
O’Neal also offered to donate $50,000 to Barkley’s charity of choice if he took just one bite of one of the chips, but Barkley refused. Kenny Smith also did not eat one of the chips, but he did handle one and just the dust on his fingers turned his mouth numb and made him choke on-air several minutes later.