It Burns Audiobook By Marc Fennell cover art

It Burns

The Scandal-Plagued Race to Breed the World’s Hottest Chilli, An Audible Original

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Winner of the Silver Narrative/Documentary Podcast Trophy at the 2020 New York Festivals Radio Awards
Nominated for the 2019 Rose D’Or award for Audio Entertainment

Please note: contains mature themes and graphic imagery.

Written and hosted by Marc Fennell, It Burns is the story of a 10-year scandal-plagued international competition that will take listeners from the Australian Coast to South Carolina (via an Indian Research Facility).

It’s a war filled with larger than life characters. There will be sledging, accusations of cheating, theft and performance enhancing drugs. And allegations that Australia was cheated out of a Guinness World Record. In the process of charting the scandal-plagued race to breed the world’s hottest chilli, the audio documentary lifts the lid on the subculture of ‘Chilli-heads’, hardcore chilli fans spread across the globe who compete in chilli eating and breeding competitions.

The internet is filled with videos of grown men being reduced to tears by a square millimetre of chilli. The docu-series asks: what motivates someone to breed and eat a demonic nugget that is so hot it no longer has flavour? At what point does this stop being cuisine and start being an endurance sport?

This humorous series shows that all this has never really been about chilli. It’s been about how people use pain to shape themselves, define themselves and make themselves feel alive.

©2019 Audible Australia Pty Ltd. (P)2019 Audible Australia Pty Ltd Biographies & Memoirs Cultural & Regional Witty Funny
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Critic reviews

"It’s so full of weird twists and turns that I binged the entire five episodes in one go during a road trip." (PedestrianTV)

"A mental image isn’t hard to conjure when your headphones swell with the frantic splutters and gags of chilli eaters in pain, or the guttural aftermath of Youtuber Ted Barrus’s infamous Carolina Reaper chilli “bong rip”. Heed Fennell’s warning in episode one: “You might want to think twice about eating while listening.” (Broadsheet)

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Fascinating Investigation • Unexpected Depth • Excellent Narration • Compelling Interviews • Educational Content

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This book starts with a warning about nature content and ends with a PSA for a suicide hotline. Not what I expected from a book about the wired and dark stories behind the search for the worlds hottest chilli. The interviews storytelling and production are excellent! But I expected the story to focus on the strange rather than the dark. The author goes deep into the darkness of hotpeppers exploring overeating, bullying, alcoholism, SM, and self-harm. He labors on his dark vision and tries to pull a message of hope out at the end that doesn’t quite make it. This a good thought provoking broadcast, that should be heard,by some, but it is NOT a fun romp in the wild world of Hot Peppers.
Reader be warned this audio may cause indigestion!

Interesting but not entertaining.

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Don't get me wrong, the content is good. The topic is intresting. The production value is great, but it is one of those Documentary through a journey in my life- kind of documentary.
Like: "This is a heavy book about the Black death that tore through europe during the middle ages, but first we will go back to my childhood".
If that's your thing, you're in for a ride.

Good, but not great

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it may seem like a silly story, but I found the migration aspect of the chili very interesting.

interesting review of history

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As a lover of all things hot, I found this to a very interesting and enlightening audio book. Very enjoyable!

Excellent

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I was surprised how interesting I found this book. The narration was great, too. Well done!

Loved it

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