A 62-year-old retired accountant from Nevada gulped down 247 hot peppers in eight minutes to win the $2000 prize money at the Jalapeno Eating World Championship at the State Fair of Texas. The contest, which took place on Sunday, was sponsored by the International Federation of Competitive Eating.

Richard LeFevre, the proud winner of the contest said that his passion for eating and competing led his way to the victory.

"I love to eat, and I love to compete, so the two go pretty well together," said LeFevre, who is also the world's eighth-ranked eater according to the federation.

Unveiling his success secret, LeFevre said he mixed three or four peppers in his mouth with a swig of milk, making swallowing easier and faster.

The contest's second ranker; Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas said she had never eaten a jalapeno before the contest. Ranked third in the world by the federation, Thomas downed 239 peppers to win $1,000 in prize money.

Another contender of the award, Christopher Huang, of Arlington, entered the competition even though he doesn't normally eat spicy foods.

"I eat mild salsa," Huang said. "But there's nothing like putting yourself through a lot of pain for no reason."

However, Dr. Daniel DeMarco, a gastroenterologist and director of endoscopy at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, called the contest merely a "stupid" act since the amount of jalapenos consumed in an eating contest could result in vomiting and esophageal tears.

It's like "any sort of abuse of your body, it doesn't make any sense," DeMarco said.