A Texas Boy Scout leader eats a plate of ghost peppers to raise money for his troop. Screenshot: Storyful

FREDERICKSBURG, Texas, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- An iron-stomached Boy Scout leader in Texas downed 23 ghost peppers in a bid to raise scholarship money for the troop.

Troop 137, based in Fredericksburg, posted a video to YouTube that opened with the troop's scoutmaster, Gayne Young, explaining that Assistant Scoutmaster Johnny was about to eat 23 ghost peppers.


Young says Johnny's attempt took place 20 hours earlier and the man was in bed with "really, really bad stomach pains" after being "sick at both ends."

"Do not try this at home," the scoutmaster says.

The footage cuts to the previous day, when Johnny began to casually eat the peppers.

The assistant scoutmaster becomes noticeably uncomfortable as he continues to eat the peppers.

He finishes the peppers and initially makes a show of rejecting a glass of milk -- and then the aforementioned sickness arrives.

The attempt was designed as part of an effort to raise scholarship money to buy uniforms for the scouts and send them on trips.