The Darlington community kicked off St Patrick’s Day with a Fiery Leprechaun challenge on March 26. Participants took on ten different sauces with increasing heat levels.

“I don’t know why I did it exactly, but it seemed like it would be fun because I didn’t do it last year. I wasn’t going to do it this year because we had a soccer game, but because of the weather, it got canceled, and I could partake in this fun activity at the school, ” Sophomore Ade Desalu said.

The Challenge was very fun to watch. It was great to see everyone push through all the sauces but also squirm when it was time to wait for the very long burn times. 

“Living in Nigeria prepared me for this challenge because we eat spicy foods 90% of the time,” Desalu said.

Not everyone comes from a background of eating spicy foods, and sometimes, that background wasn’t enough to protect you from the hottest sauce in the challenge. 

“Eight was definitely the hottest sauce, and I tapped out at eight because I saw my life flash before my eyes, so I had to stop,” Desalu said.

Everyone seemed to have the same reaction to sauce number 8 

“The hardest sauce is level eight, and the build-up for level eight was bad, but I didn’t think I would reach that far. My goal was seven, but I took my first bite once I reached eight. The heat instantly hit my lips, and my tongue, and I knew with the burn time coming up right after, I would want to tap out, but I knew eight was the hardest, and it got better after that, so I decided to stay in, and I regretted it,” Senior Phoebe Wilson said. 

Things like this always bring Darlington’s “community” closer with fun activities for day and dorm students. 

“It was my first year doing the challenge, and every year, I would watch it, and since it was senior year, I decided to do it,” Wilson said.