INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Pupi Challenge: The Hotter Alternative To The Ice Bucket Challenge

By Anne Sewell
Published on: 08:00 PST, Apr 11, 2015

Everyone probably remembers the Ice Bucket Challenge that took over the Internet and the world last year in aid of ALS. Now there’s a brand new and rather more hot challenge out there. The Pupi Challenge involves nominating some friends to do the same and then eating a red hot pepper live on video.

The Ice Bucket Challenge became a viral craze in summer of 2014, beginning in the USA but spreading worldwide. Its whole reason for being was to raise money for the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Association, and it was started by a former Boston College baseball player Pete Frates, whose career was cut short by that very disease.

In that challenge, everyone had to throw a bucket of iced water over their heads and nominate friends to do the same or make a donation to the cause. While a lot of people did make the donations, far more decided to chuck ice over their heads instead with hilarious results.

The Inquisitr reported last year that Samuel L. Jackson participated in the Ice Bucket Challenge and nominated other celebs to sing in protest against police brutality.

In the Pupi Challenge, things get a lot hotter. In this case, everyone is asked to donate £1.50 (just over $2) to the fight against world hunger, another worthy cause indeed. They then have to nominate four pals to do the same thing, followed by taking a hearty bite out of a red hot pepper.

According to the Daily Record, the Pupi Challenge was started by Argentinian star Javier Zanetti, 41, who played for the Italian giant team Inter.

The reason it was called “Pupi” is because of the P.U.P.I. Foundation formed by Zanetti and his wife, Paula, an Argentine non-profit organization which provides aid to poor and disadvantaged children. The letters stand for “Por un piberío integrado” (for an integrated childhood in English), and El Pupi is also Zanetti’s nickname.

Now the challenge is spreading around Italy and becoming very popular. In the video above, we see two people participating in the challenge. The first Pupi Challenge participant on the video above is Zanetti himself, taking a hearty chunk out of the pepper and screaming as it burns his mouth.

Keeping it in the sports vein, Zanetti passed the Pupi Challenge on to Juventus keeper Gianluigi Buffon as well as Barcelona ace player Carles Puyol. We see Buffon as the second participant in the video above, taking Zanetti up on the challenge.

Buffon then nominated fellow Juventus player Andrea Pirlo, along with several Italian television stars.

According to the Mirror, the Pupi Challenge has really taken Italy by storm and could in the near future head to the U.K. Of course, if it’s anything like the Ice Bucket Challenge, it will no doubt start spreading its tentacles out worldwide, with all nationalities burning their mouths for a good cause.

[Image: Screengrab from YouTube video]

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