A LIMERICK cruise ship worker and entertainer had to be admitted to an A&E in the exotic Bahamas this week after he inadvertently rubbed his itchy eyes after eating a packet of chilli crisps.

Raheen native Cian McCormaic may have special skills in fire breathing, but this time the 30-year-old couldn’t handle the heat, resulting in his eyes “swelling up to triple the size”.

Cian—an actor, presenter and all-round entertainer—explained to the Limerick Leader that the unfortunate series of events started after he decided to have a snack after a hard day’s work.

“I had a nice almond chocolate bar and these spicy chili crisps. Happy out with myself munching away, I got an itch in my eye. Like any good itch it needs a good scratch. Scratched away not knowing I had some bits of chili on the back of my hand. Chilli plus eye equals not a fun adventure.”

The Leader is unable to determine the Scoville scale of the crisps, but it was certainly hot enough to have Cian rushed to hospital.

“Even though I was in pain I knew I had done something stupid. Thank god the doctor is professional and proceeded to wash my eye out a few times and noticed a piece was stuck in the eye. With the assistance of the nurse holding my eye open, the doctor proceeded to numb my eye and with what looked like a pin coming at me, and scraped this lone chili flake out. Fun times,” he explained.

Despite the discomfort, Cian has been able to the funny side to this episode, he said.

“I am a very positive down to earth guy who tries to have a laugh and find the fun all the time. But this was such a random and silly accident that if you didn’t laugh you’d cry. Thank God the doctor was nice after we fixed me up we just laughed at the whole thing.

“The best part is the pirate looking eye patch, very stylish. When people ask what happened I could have said such a cool manly-man story, but I think attack of the crisps is a life lesson.”

And though this crisp attack cost him just $1, “the outcome is priceless” he said.