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"Why did I agree to this?" He complains to Kirsty as they wait outside the door to the room.
"It's for the kids, Jim!" She smiles at him.
"Yeah, for the kids, man!" Joe agrees from next to Jim.
Impulse, Zedaph, and Tango all head into the room as they begin their first segment.
The scent of hot sauce was vaguely present, only there if you were paying attention for it.
Soon after, Kirsty leaves, off to do...Whatever she's been doing, he was still unsure.
Finally (Or maybe, unfortunately?), it came to be their first part of the Hot Ones challenge.
As ZIT left the room, Jim, Joe, and Anthony (Bless his heart) lined up at the table.
Joe ended up having the first hot one, but Jimmy had to eat the punishment wing, as the five judges had thought he had the hot one.
It was clear he had the lowest spice tolerance of the group, as that level-4 spice wing nearly took him out!
But alas, it was for charity! So, he continued.
After another few segments, with Jim, Joe, and Anthony taking turns with the ZIT crew.
Once it had been about 20 minutes and they had finished the main competition segment, they all decided to slowly climb the spice chain, starting with level one, then level two, etc.
They were just getting to the level nine hot sauce, the hottest he'd yet tasted... in the climb, but he'd already had the level 10 earlier.
"Number nine, the Sicilian Scorpion! The last one was 135,000 Scoville, this one is 816,000 Scoville! Big jump." Skizz stated, as everybody popped the wings in their mouths.
"This one's bad, not this one, the one before.. I've not even finished it," Jimmy spoke, as he finally swallowed the level 8 sauced wing.
"Oh.. I feel bad!" Skizz said, clearly not feeling bad.
"You should be!" Jimmy retorted, the wing still in his mouth.
"Jimmy's making it!?" Impulse sounded shocked.
"Jimmy! Wooo!" A few of them cheered as he clearly struggled.
He groaned as he finally swallowed. It burned his taste buds, by far the worst. At least the spiciest hot sauce had been thin, and he could easily rid his mouth of the taste, but this one? It was quite thick, coating the inside of his mouth as he did his best not to melt into a pile of agony.
"Oh! Oh god, oh that's the worst one!" He exclaimed, scrunching his face.
"I'd say it's not as spicy as the 8, honestly," Joe said.
"I think I'm dying. Skizz gets nothing from my will because of this." Jimmy joked as he tried to fan his mouth.
"Hey, worth it!" Skizz grinned as he casually patted Jim on the back.
"Damn Tim, you alright? Your face is beet-red!" Martyn laughed, joking from over at the judge's panel.
"Oh lord, that's horrendous!" He said, shaking his head. His voice was a bit quiet, but not abnormally so.
"Alright, the next one is..-" Skizz paused from reading the cue card, as he noticed a slightly spaced-out look on Jim's face.
"Hey! Pay attention! It's for charity!" He jokingly quipped.
"Mm? Oh, right, sorry." He looked back at Skizz.
"Right, this one is 2,693,000 Scoville!" Skizz exclaimed as he set the next plate of sauce-covered wings on the table.
"Hold on," Skizz told the people as they all went for the wing, and he turned back to Jim.
"Are you alright, dude?" He asked the blonde, quietly so that the microphones wouldn't pick up his voice.
After a few heavy breaths from Jimmy, clearly deliberating his answer, he blankly stared at the table in front of him, and he slowly shook his head. "mhm...uhm..no..?" He mumbled
"Jim? Here, get some water." Skizz offered, pouring some water into one of the clear plastic cups, before holding it out for him.
Slowly, Jim brought his hand up to the water, his hand slightly shaking.
With the same shakiness as when he grabbed the water, he slowly brought it up to his mouth, barely drinking a few droplets of water, before nearly dropping the cup.
Instantly, Skizz reached forward, taking the cup from him. "Hey, are you okay? Can you talk to me?" He spoke calmly, as he set the water on the table, his other hand on Jimmy's back.
His head swayed as he placed both of his hands on the table, struggling to even hold up his own body weight.
"We need first aid!" Skizz yelled, "And cut the cameras!" He added, as he slowly rubbed Jimmy's back to help comfort him.
"Hey, you're gonna be alright, don't worry. Help is coming." Jim was assured by Skizz. His head felt like a Jenga tower, ready to fall over at any time.
That was the last thing he heard before falling backward, the nausea finally getting to him.
"Oh god!" Skizz yelped as he slid his arms under Jimmy's own arms, catching him from faceplanting into the counter.
" . . . ?" Jimmy heard a voice speak... Were they speaking to him?
He felt like crap.
His head pounded.
His throat ached.
And his everything hurt.
" . . -immy?" A voice spoke again... He couldn't tell if it was the same as the first.
"gnhhh..." He groaned, attempting to open his eyes.
Once he saw the bright lights, he promptly closed them again.
"Jim? Sweetheart?" He heard a voice speak... The voice was beautiful and soft.
As well as that, he felt a soft hand gently hold his chin, as he leaned his head into the warm hand.
Begrudgingly, he opened his eyes again, squinting for a few seconds as his eyes adjusted.
He was in a basic hospital room, wearing a basic hospital gown, in a basic hospital bed.
Next to the bed was Kirsty, his very much not basic girlfriend.
She looked down at him with her sweet smile, keeping her hand on his cheek. He couldn't get enough of the contact.
"What happened?" He murmured to her.
"You passed out during the hot ones challenge, we don't yet know why... The doctors think it was an allergy or something, but they don't know yet." Kirsty spoke.
"...oh.."
"When did we arrive at the hospital?" He asked her.
"Just a few hours ago. It's about 7 pm now." She explained.
"...Alright," He paused.
"Hey, don't worry. I'm sure you'll be fine, I'm here for you, Jim." Kirsty smiled down at him.
"Thanks.." He smiled back up at her as he leaned into the hand she had on his cheek.
He'd end up needing to stay in the hospital until the next evening. After plenty of tests (too many, if you'd ask Jim.), the doctors eventually deduced that he'd likely passed out due to low iron.
They set up contact with his doctors back home in the UK, spoke with his travel insurance company, and flew home early.
He felt bad for ending the trip early for Kirsty, but promised to make it up another time.