Murphys Creek Chilli and Craft Carnival 2024 | photos
The Murphys Creek Chilli Festival attracted thousands of attendees, including those brave enough to try their hand at tackling a fiery food challenge. The competition was hot, but one man’s tastebuds managed to tackle it all.
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At the tender age of 12, Daniel Rose discovered he had a penchant for eating spicy food. Now, he revels in entertaining crowds with his superhuman chilli tolerance at festivals across Queensland.
The Murphys Creek Chilli Festival was the hottest place to be on Sunday, with thousands of people attending to sample the hundreds of chilli based and adjacent products, or watch people like Mr Rose scoff down fiery foods in record time.
At the festival on September 22, Mr Rose took home the top gong for the Sweet Chilli Chomp Comp, and second place in the Chilli Dog Championship.
He said it was well worth the near two-hour drive to the Toowoomba region, and he comes every year.
Mr Rose, an insurance assessor by day, said he discovered his superpower after eating the “world’s hottest chilli” in San Diego when he was 12.
He said there was some burning, but he was soon fine.
“I obviously have a knack for eating stupidly hot things without pain,” he said.
“I just like the glory. Just the look on people’s faces when I can scoff down chillies.
“People go ‘what’re you doing, what’s wrong with you?’,” he laughed.
Mr Rose estimated there was a crowd of at least few hundred on Sunday watching him decimate plates of sausages slathered in enough hot sauce to make your eyes water from afar.
“I’m a glutton for punishment,” he said.
Mr Rose enjoys the different flavours of chilli sauces and relishes, which made the Chilli Festival the perfect place for him to be.
Murphys Creek Chilli Festival organiser Jason O’Connor said the festival was the “biggest and best chilli festival in the west”, with 65 vendors, with more than 500 sauces to sample.
He said there were so many beloved vendors that people were roaming the grounds with stocked bags, some even with shopping trolleys.
The festival on Sunday saw “the biggest crowds to ever attend the event,” he said.
This also meant they raised more money than ever before for Rural Aid.
He said a highlight of the festival was the eating competitions, with three chilli eating competitions for adults, and icy pole eating competitions for the kids.
The competition was fiery in the adult competitions, he said.
“We couldn’t knock out the winners, even giving them a Carolina Reaper,” Mr O’Connor said.
“They literally just stood there and said ‘can we have more’.”
While less spicy, the kids’ competitions were equally fun, he said.
“There were 24 kids under 12 lined up to eat a sugar-free icy pole.”
Mr O’Connor said the crowds enjoyed watching the kids battle the brain-freeze to see who could finish an icy pole fastest.
Between all the spicy sauce vendors were also stalls to serve as an oasis for the tastebuds, he said.
His hottest tip was that sweet things, like ice-cream and cold fruit juices, were the best to combat burning tastebuds.
Next year, the festival will celebrate its 10th anniversary, and it is set to be hotter than ever.
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