Doctor Eats World's Hottest Curry

Consultant radiologist Ian Rothwell has survived the world's hottest curry, though he admits he started hallucinating halfway through the meal.

The dish at the Bindi Indian restaurant in Grantham, Lincolnshire, contains around 20 Naga Infinity chillis - one of the fiercest on the planet.

They are more than 200 times hotter than a jalapeno and can reduce even avid curry fans to tears, causing mouth blisters and burns.

The Widower curry clocks in at a mouth-numbing six million on the Scoville scale of heat that measures the piquancy of peppers.

"I like hot curries but this was off the scale," Rothwell told the Daily Mirror.

"It took me about an hour to eat and I had to stop half way through and go out for a walk and some fresh air."

Rothwell, who signed a disclaimer before tucking in to the £20 dish, added: "My wife Christine and the owner were quite worried and said I was hallucinating, but I managed to go back inside and finish it."

The 55-year old decided to tackle the Widower after his daughter Alice's boyfriend told him that his friends had failed to eat the hot curry.

The doctor's secret weapon was a bottle of Cobra beer to help wash down the scorching curry sauce.

Muhammed Karim, managing director and executive chef at the restaurant, offered a glass of milk to help with the heat of the dish. But Rothwell stuck with beer to finish off the last mouthful.

The chef revealed that many have tried the dish with varying results that include crying, sweating, shaking and vomiting. On one occasion, he even called an ambulance for one distressed punter.

Hot Curry Hall of Fame

• Satan's Ashes curry powder consists of the Dorset Naga chilli (880,000 on the Scoville scale) and the Naga Morich (953,721 on the Scoville scale)

• Bhut Jolokia at 1,001,304 Scoville units is thought to be the world's hottest chilli pepper. It is 20 times hotter than a Tabasco pepper and three times hotter than a Scotch Bonnet. In India, Bhut Jolokia is smeared on fences to repel elephants.

• The Bollywood Burner by Vivek Singh, of The Cinnamon Club in London. The lamb-based curry includes the Naga pepper and its seeds. On the Scoville scale, it has a figure of 855,000 - over 100 times hotter than a jalapeno.