We Are The Champions

 This week I watched a show called "We Are The Champions" on Netflix. It's a show about various types of people with weird talents and it basically covers different competitions between these people in a documentary style.

This particular episode followed spicy pepper eaters, who flew in from all around the world to compete in a head-to-head pepper eating competition hosted in South Carolina. Most of the people who attended this event looked like mostly white, lower to middle class southern families. 

However, in terms of the competitors are concerned, there was an equal representation of men, women, orientations, and cultural backgrounds in this competition. There were a few key celebrities in the pepper eating community; one being a white man who is a self-described daredevil and spicy food enthusiast. He owns a Youtube channel and has a relatively high following. Another character is a transgender woman with an Asian wife who took all of the hate and discrimination she experienced throughout her life and redirected the pain into pepper eating. One other person is a British female chemistry teacher with an incredible tolerance for spicy food.

Most of the people interviewed besides the contestants themselves were the ones responsible for cross-breeding and creating incredibly hot peppers. I believe all of them were white and worked within the same company. I didn't really notice any stereotypes portrayed aside from one. The show said that Sid, the chemistry teacher, would have a tough time on the speed round of the competition because of her bad British teeth. But aside from that, every person was able to express themselves individually. I did notice, however, that the three women from different places, the UK, Australia, and the US all were proudly representing their respective countries.

The show did a great job being so inclusive. They gathered some of the best pepper-eaters throughout the world and had them compete against one other on a mostly fair playing field. At the end of the show they showed that the community was very close-knit and supportive of one another. There were lots of compliments and hugs shared at the end of the competition. I would very much recommend this show to others!