When I say "commonly-available", I mean "big national brands that you can find in a supermarket anywhere in the country". With less common/local brands, yeah, some are actually quite hot.
Gordon Ramsay did some food shows in India. In one of them there is a hot pepper eating contest. He tests and bows out. A woman won by eating the most in a given time (maybe a minute), she beat the other contestants but not the record; so to up it, she rubbed the peppers into her eyes to win a bonus prize. WTF!! The audience seemed to “appreciate” it.
Apparently there is a gene for pain sensitivity, this Norwegian talk show[1] hosts [2] got their tested and their sidekick has a higher tolerance for pain. They tested this by putting their hands above some tea lights from 9:30 onwards.
