The challenger often takes precautionary measures like setting out a large quantity of milk to drink after consuming the pepper, which helps relieve and cope with the burning sensation in the mouth and throat.
After a short while, an extreme burning sensation and profuse sweating are experienced by the challenger, caused by the pepper's capsaicin and related capsaicinoids.
The challenge has resulted in a small number of reported cases of problems or health scares.
In one such instance, in September 2016, five 11- to 14-year-old school students from West Milton, Ohio, were hospitalized after 40 of them ate ghost peppers as part of a challenge and suffered apparently allergic reactions.
[2] There is also an account of a 47-year-old California man who was sent to an emergency department after consuming a hamburger topped with ghost pepper puree in an eating contest; doctors found that he had ruptured his esophagus (Boerhaave syndrome) from excessive vomiting, and that his left lung had collapsed from the pressure of stomach fluid and food material entering his abdominal cavity through the tear in his throat.