The Daily Telegraph journalist Richard Noone stepped up the plate and attempted to eat the world?s hottest chilli pie ? a pie so hot, you have to sign a disclaimer before being served.

SPICE lovers are being asked to sign a legal waiver before they take on a super spicy chilli beef burger served at a British takeaway shop after it put five people in hospital.

The XXX Hot Chilli Burger — believed to be one of the hottest dishes in the world — is sold at Burger Off in Hove, Sussex.

You have to be over 18 to purchase the burger, which measures 9.2 million on the Scoville heat scale (a jalapeño is 2,500 and the average chilli clocks just 500 heat units).

Burger Off owner Nick Gambardella now asks customers to sign a legal disclaimer that they won’t sue him if they fall ill from eating the burger, after five people were recently taken to hospital — one with a suspected perforated bowel and four others with suspected anaphylactic shock.

The disclaimer reads: “I, the undersigned, accept all responsibility for any effects incured (sic) due to the consumption (sic) of the above mentioned XXX Hot Chilli Burger and release Burger Off, its owner and staff from any liability.”

The spicy sauce is based on a Piri Piri chilli concentrate. Of the 3,000 people who have attempted to eat the dish, only 59 have managed to finish the burger.

Mr Gambardella, 55, said he was amazed that he was allowed to sell such a spicy dish and that people kept on coming back to give it a go.

“It has been a massive hit with the customers,” he told The Daily Mail.

“Why the customers eat it I don’t know, because I always say to them that it is incredibly hot and give them all the health warnings under the sun,” he said.

“I think these people are slightly mad to eat it but I’m sure there is a certain level of peer pressure. A lot of people just regard it as a challenge.”

Mr Gambardella said one of the customers admitted to hospital soon had his confidence knocked down after a few bites.

“One guy came in and he was just a little bit cocky and when he left he was admitted to hospital because prior to eating the burger he had a stomach ulcer and we believe it perforated his bowel. He wasn’t in a good way but he pulled through.”

People have stripped naked, begged for mercy, punched windows and vomited while eating the burger.

Many diners have suffered from anaphylactic shock, suffering severe swelling, rashes and difficulty breathing.

Staff at the local hospital even held a two-hour meeting about the chilli burger and how to treat its victims.

After being whisked away in an ambulance people are given an adrenalin drip to help them recover.

But Mr Gambardella has defended his right to serve the burger to paying customers.

“Obviously I always take my responsibilities as a food retailer seriously but if my customers want super spicy food, I am entitled to give them what they want,” he said.

People who have conquered the chilli burger have bragged about their epic achievement on social media.

“My brother had heard all these bold statements beforehand about how he went to Dubai and Delhi and demanded their hottest possible curry and it barely made him break a sweat,” wrote one Facebook user.

“He got two bites into The XXX and gave up. Then spent two days recovering.”

And another user wrote: “Sadly I can confirm that this Burger is no joke.”

Do you think you could take on the XXX Hot Chilli Burger? Continue the conversation on Twitter @newscomauhq