The first ever Manawatu heat of the NZ Chili Eating Champs, held at the Rose & Crown, Palmerston North, in 2016.

Only one person had the stomach to handle the world's hottest chili and take out the Manawatu heat of the New Zealand Chili Eating Championship.

The "heat" was held at the Rose and Crown Olde English Pub, in Palmerston North, on Thursday night, and was not for the weak of stomach.

The competition started with 12 contestants, but by the end only one could take the heat.

Warwick Smith Manawatu heat of the NZ Chili Eating Championships Rob Kent eats the final chili anyway. Competition organiser Pete Howley (centre) looks on.

The first round opened with a jalapeno and the menu only got hotter from there, with a mixture of raw chilis, curry and chili sauce shots.

Manawatu heat organiser Pete Hawley said a regular pepper from a supermarket was about 2000-3000 scoville - the scale for measuring the heat of chili peppers.

By round five competitors found themselves faced with back-to-back rounds of ghost peppers, registering 700,000 and one million scoville respectively

As the temperature got turned up, the contestants' early enthusiasm began to drain and turn to pained expressions.

Competitors were left with head in hands, taking deep breaths, wiping away sweat with napkins and fanning themselves with coasters - anything to help ease the flames.

Waiting for those who admitted defeat was a cool glass of milk.

Eventual winner Rob Kent, a crowd favourite throughout, was pushed right to the finish.

His vocal antics were a complete contrast to the stone faced runner-up Siriwan Langstraat.

"I nearly spewed three times," Kent said upon winning.

Neither Kent nor Langstraat had entered a contest before, but they quickly showed their class.

The final pair saw off their opposition to come face-to-face with the Carolina Reaper - the hottest chili in the world at 2.2 million scoville.

Staring the small pepper down, Langstraat conceded defeat.

"I've had it before, I simply can't eat that," she said.

Kent celebrated taking the title by eating the pepper and followed it up by sculling back a pint of milk.

"I wouldn't give it to my worst enemy," he said of the pepper.

"I thought she was going to take it, she was sitting there quietly, then she took the milk and it was you beauty."

Despite some close moments and a numb mouth, Kent pushed through the pain.

"I'm not a quitter... I only did it for the bragging rights.

"The first one was actually the worst, that initial whoompa."

As the winner, Kent won entry to the national final in Auckland in June, and of course - more chili sauce.