Claus Pilgaard (born 30 March 1965), also known as Chili Klaus or Klaus Wunderhits, is a Danish musician and entertainer. He is best known for his ''Chilismagning'' series on the internet and on television. For the series, he invites celebrities and other notable figures on several occasions to eat

chili peppers Chili peppers (also chile, chile pepper, chilli pepper, or chilli), from Nahuatl '' chīlli'' (), are varieties of the berry-fruit of plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for ...

with him. One video in particular, where television presenter Bubber participated in the video, received around 2 million views on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. Internationally, he is known for his collaborations with Sean Evans on his

Hot Ones ''Hot Ones'' is an American YouTube talk show, created by Christopher Schonberger and Sean Evans and produced by First We Feast and Complex Media. Its basic premise involves celebrities being interviewed by Evans over a platter of increasingly sp ...

series on the

First We Feast First We Feast is an online food-culture magazine and YouTube channel. The site co-produces the YouTube series ''Hot Ones'' with Complex Media, its parent company. Description First We Feast began in 2012 as a food culture blog edited by Chris S ...

channel. Pilgaard has received numerous awards for his videos.

Early life and career

Pilgaard is originally from the Tjørring suburb of

Herning Herning () is a Danish town in the Central Denmark Region of the Jutland peninsula. It is the main town and the administrative seat of Herning Municipality. Herning has a population of 50,565 (1 January 2022)Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and approximately northwest ...

in 1992 when he applied for admission to the

Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus The Royal Academy of Music (Danish: ''Det Jyske Musikkonservatorium'') in Aarhus and Aalborg, Denmark, is a conservatoire and state institution under the auspices of the Danish Ministry of Culture, charged with responsibility for the further edu ...

. He graduated in 1996. He has been a bandleader for several revues, as he has performed with

Jette Torp Jette Torp (born 16 December 1964) is a Danish singer and entertainer. Born in Frederiksberg, Copenhagen, the family moved to Ry near Skanderborg in Jutland when she was five years old. She studied music first at Århus University then at Roya ...

and

Finn Nørbygaard Finn Nørbygaard (born 8 March 1952, Esbjerg) is a Danish actor, entertainer, musician and psychotherapist. Nørbygaard was originally educated as a school teacher but had his breakthrough in a TV role as a bus conductor with Jacob Haugaard wherei ...

, on the show ''Musik & Fis''. In his career as "Klaus Wunderhits", he has performed at

Smukfest Smukfest (also known as the Skanderborg Festival) is an annual music festival, held during the second weekend of August in Denmark. Its location, in a beech forest in the vicinity of Skanderborg, has given rise to the slogan "Denmarks' Most Beau ...

with

Lasse Rimmer Lasse Rimmer Nielsen is a Danish stand-up comedian and television and radio host. He made his first appearance as a stand-up comedian in 1993 at Café Din's in Copenhagen and participated in '' DM i Stand-Up (Danish Championship in Stand-up)'' i ...

. Together with his former wife, he has played in the Variteté 007 show at the

Tivoli Friheden Tivoli Friheden is an amusement park located in Aarhus, Denmark. The park was visited by more than 365,000 visitors in 2009, and the figure is rising. The park is situated about 2 km to the south of the city centre. It has several themed ...

in Aarhus. Pilgaard still performs with his show Wunderhits.

Eating chili peppers

Pilgaard started to grow his own chili peppers in 2008. He initially cultivated tomatoes, but he thought they smelled too much, and as a result, he began to grow chili peppers. He uploaded his first chili pepper-related video on YouTube on 5 August 2013. In addition, his Facebook page "Chili Klaus" has over 310,000 likes. In terms of consumption, he eats them both raw without accessories and produces juices, soda, dip, fruit salad, snaps, tea and fries with fruits made with peppers. In addition, he has special episodes where he, together with a well-known person, eats some of the world's strongest peppers. Notable guests include

Christine Antorini Christine Edda Antorini (born 23 May 1965, in Jyllinge) is a Danish politician for the Social Democrats, formerly for the Socialist People's Party. From 2011 to 2015 she was the Minister of Education in the Cabinet of Helle Thorning-Schmidt. Sh ...

, Bubber,

Jacob Bundsgaard Jacob Bundsgaard Johansen (born 28 February 1976) is a Danish politician and is the current Mayor of Aarhus Municipality. He is a member of the Danish Social Democrats. He took over after the former mayor Nicolai Wammen, who resigned as mayor to ...

Hella Joof Hella Joof (born 1 November 1962) is a Danish actress and director. She was born to a Danish mother and an aristocratic Gambian father who belonged to the Joof dynasty. Joof directed '' En kort en lang'' (2001), ''Oh Happy Day'' (2004) and '' ...

, Jøden,

Preben Kristensen Preben Kristensen (born 14 March 1953) is a Danish actor. He first came to attention as one of the musical comedy trio Linie 3 in 1979. He was educated from the drama school of Aarhus Theatre in 1978 and has since the played at most major th ...

Allan Simonsen Allan Rodenkam Simonsen (born 15 December 1952) is a Danish former footballer and manager. He most prominently played as a striker for German Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach, winning the 1975 and 1979 UEFA Cups, as well as for Barcel ...

Kristian Valen Kristian Valen (born 13 October 1974) is a comedian, actor, singer and songwriter originally from Stavanger, Norway. Known for comedic impressions, Valen has also pursued a serious music career; his pop music album ''Listen When Alone'' was rele ...

, and the

Danish National Chamber Orchestra The Danish Chamber Orchestra ( da, Danmarks Underholdningsorkester) is a chamber orchestra in Denmark. It was the Danish National Chamber Orchestra from 1939 to 2014, when it was under the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR). Since 2015, it has bee ...

, where they played Tango Jalousie while they ate chili peppers. The video with Bubber has over 2 million views as of 2016. In August 2013, Pilgaard visited ''GO 'Aften Denmark'', where he, together with the host , tasted a chili pepper Pilgaard himself had grown. Apart from being clearly labeled as a chili pepper during the broadcast, he later stated that it took 10–15 hours before he got over it. After Gordon Kennedy's involvement in Klaus's videos, Kennedy made a parody of cooking with chili peppers, where Kennedy and Klaus taste sugar instead of chili peppers, but otherwise take place in the same way as Pilgaard's. The video was uploaded in November 2013. For 2013, Pilgaard went to the stage in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

to challenge the hosts Christian Fuhlendorff and to eat a very strong chili pepper. For an event in the summer of 2014, he challenged about 1,000 people to a hot pepper challenge at the

Rådhuspladsen City Hall Square ( da, Rådhuspladsen, ) is a public square in the centre of Copenhagen, Denmark, located in front of the Copenhagen City Hall. Its large size, central location, and affiliation with the city hall makes it a popular venue for a ...

. Both Pilgaard and Bubber were hosts, and they ate ghost peppers. At the end of October 2014, he uploaded a video where he, along with the

, ate

Carolina Reaper The Carolina Reaper is a cultivar of the ''Capsicum chinense'' plant. Developed by American breeder Ed Currie, the pepper is red and gnarled, with a bumpy texture and small pointed tail. In 2017, ''Guinness World Records'' declared it the hottes ...

, Trinidad moruga scorpion and ghost peppers at the

Koncerthuset DR Koncerthuset (; previously Copenhagen Concert Hall in English) by Jean Nouvel is a part of the new DR Byen (DR Town), that houses the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, DR. The concert hall and the DR Town are located in the northern part of Øre ...

, and the orchestra subsequently played the Tango Jalousie conducted by Pilgaard himself. The broadcast of the video occurred while discussing the closure of the orchestra. In December of the same year, he challenged the Brazilian television host to eat chili peppers with him, although Luca initially just wanted an interview for his travel program ''Vai Pra Onde?''. Together with the chili pepper, they drank a pepper-based beer named after Pilgaard called "Chili Klaus Ghost", which is produced by Midtfyns Bryghus. Luca stated "I think I will die" before the clip ended, and afterwards he had to go to Århus Kommunehospital. Luca was the first guest to have been sent to the hospital after eating peppers with Pilgaard.

Awards

At the 2014, Pilgaard received the award "Årets Det grinte vi meget af-pris" along with Bubber for his series, which became a viral hit. In June 2014, he won the "Mad på sociale medier" Award from mad+medier. The prize was given to him for his great passion for chili peppers, which he shares with people through YouTube.

Personal life

Pilgaard married musician and entertainer

on 29 December 2004. The couple divorced in 2015 after almost 11 years of marriage.Efter 11 års ægteskab: Chili Klaus skal skilles
'' BT''.

External sources

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pilgaard, Claus 1965 births Living people People from Herning Municipality People from Aarhus Danish pianists Danish YouTubers 21st-century pianists