Since 2022, I’ve been a host for our annual fundraiser, Rock-A-Thon. Every year, I am joined by my friends Sabrina and Jay - or as we call ourselves, the Hot Sauce Hotties. You may be wondering, “What kind of a name is that? How did you guys get that name?” I’m so glad you asked. Let me take you back to my sophomore year, a time when I was still fresh into the world of WLTL. I had no idea what Rock-A-Thon was, but before I knew it, the broadcasting marathon was around the corner. When asked if I wanted to do a show, I said yes, of course. It sounded fun, so why not? I didn’t want to do it alone, so I asked Sabrina and Jay if they wanted to join me for a four hour program at 6 in the morning. Unsurprisingly, they both agreed.
We created a group chat and spent hours texting back and forth, wondering what we’d do on our show. Eventually, we agreed on the “trivia show” format - we’d ask each other trivia questions from different shows, video games, and books, and every time somebody got a question right, they’d gain a certain amount of points, which would equal a certain amount of money donated to the station. If somebody got a question wrong, they’d have to spin the “Wheel of Punishment,” which featured punishments that varied from eating a garlic clove to the One Chip Challenge.
February 22nd, the day of our show. Everything was mellow at first, since we started in the on-air studio. But once we went to the hallway, it slowly dissolved into a fun chaos. Jay, who had brought the garlic clove as a surprise punishment for Sabrina and I, was the only person who got the garlic punishment - twice. My face was painted like a dripping Bob Ross masterpiece, before it was ruined by not one, but two slaps of chocolate whipped cream to the face. It took my a whole off-air break and a half to clean it all. Finally, during one of the trivia rounds, I had gotten a question wrong. My punishment? A shot of hot sauce.
I had never tried hot sauce before that moment, but I knew it smelled hot. I took the shot glass and started filling it with hot sauce. As I pulled down my mask to drink, Jay explained to the listeners about how I was going to take the shot. It was now or never. I boldly stated, “Fire in the hole,” before drinking the shot. It was fine for a split second, but it quickly hit my taste buds.
Agony. My face contorted into a painful expression, my throat burning. “Oh no,” I repeated, with all the might I had to speak. “I don’t like that. I don’t like that at all! That burns!” My eyes were starting to water up, my chest hurt, and all I needed was something to get the hot sensation away. Unfortunately for the three of us, the only drink we brought was water, which would not help at all. I had to take mouthful after mouthful of whipped cream just to get it away.
We did the show again the next year, adding more challenges like cookie decorating and “guess the condiment” (Never try wasabi mayo, reader. Trust me.). Of course, we kept the hot sauce shot as a punishment. We’ll definitely keep it for the next Rock-A-Thon, but since Sabrina and I are graduating, we hope that Jay will keep the tradition alive. But there you have it. I drank hot sauce on a live marathon. It was a unique experience, but I’ll definitely do it again, now that I have a better tolerance to hot foods. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to have a nice, tall glass of Frank’s Red Hot.
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