I saw a report about a chili peppers eating contest on TV recently. I think it took place in Chicago, but I'm not sure, may have been CA....
Anyway, they were showing one of the participants and how he prepared himself for the contest. He went to a market and one of the merchants handed him a small piece of a Habanero. According to the report, it is the hottest chili pepper in the world AND the guy had never heard of it, let alone tried it.
He took a small bite of the small piece he got and was gasping for air.
At another stand selling chilis, he bought a bag of Jalapenos, because it turned out it was a Jalapeno eating contest!! The people at the stand told him he was crazy when he said he'd participate.
The task was to eat as many in xx minutes (I forgot the exact time they had). Well, he managed to eat 9 pods in that time, the winner ate about 200 AND he wasn't even the worst of 'em all, the loser ate 2 pods!!!
So much for the public opinion on hot food and it's media coverage!