IT looked easy – eat a scotch egg laced with chilli all for a good cause.

But Royal Wootton Bassett’s mayor Steve Watt found it anything but.

He took on the Hell Hound Challenge but ended up with blisters on his tongue and struggling for five hours.

The scotch egg cooked up by Dan’s Deli in High Street landed on the Scoville scale at 16 million – a regular chilli is between 500 and 1,000.

Steve, who was offered gloves before taking on the challenge, said: “The core of the sun was probably better than the heat of the egg. At the end my tongue had blisters on it and my cheeks were red. That lasted for about four or five hours.”

He tried preparing by eating spicier foods in the weeks leading up to the challenge, but said: “I tried hotter peppers, but nothing was going to prepare me for the heat that came out.

“For the first three seconds I thought it wasn’t too bad but then it started to build and build, and my tongue started to overheat. We weren’t allowed any milk but we could drink water but that wasn’t helping.”

The challenge was to raise money for the Richard Jones Foundation, which supports young people by offering grants to seven to 25-year-old’s in Wootton Bassett.

The mayor took on this challenge alongside deputy mayor Nic Hughes, and fellow councillor Steve Bucknell.

Steve said: “I survived but it was definitely an experience.”