A man died after collapsing during a pie-eating competition after uttering three very bizarre last words.
Bruce Holland, 64, was one of eight people who took part in the Queensland pub’s contest during the State of Origin rugby league match in 2013.
Bruce tragically passed out while eating a chilli pie and was rushed to Townsville Hospital but died at around 10:30pm in July 2013.
Before he died his final last words at the Bushland Beach Tavern at Townsville in 2013 were "Jeez, this chilli pie is hot", as per the Townsville Bulletin.
Arthur McMahon, the representative of the Lillywhite Hotel Group, which owns the tavern, said Bruce was a local and a regular at the pub for more than three years.
He added: "It was a very sad day today, as he was a very well-respected person down there," Arthur said. "Whenever he was there, he always had lots of company and friends."
Arthur said the pub had been excited about the competition before Bruce’s tragedy. "It was half-time during the game, and we had the big screen out the back, and everyone was having a very enjoyable time," he said.
Arthur said the 64-year-old only managed a few mouthfuls before he started to choke. "He started to gasp and sat down with a glass of water and then passed out," Arthur said. "There were seven other people in the competition and the meat was not overly hot," he added.
"It's one of those tragedies that just happens – it was very difficult for us to know whether it was something that could have been avoided."
Arthur was a local of the nearby suburb of Beach Holm.
A few years earlier a similar tragedy played out on a radio show. Twenty-eight-year-old Jennifer Strange entered a challenge on KDND-FM 107.9's Morning Rave show to win a Nintendo Wii for her three children.
The 'Hold Your Pee for a Wii' segment of the show involved contestants drinking as much water as possible without using the bathroom with a Wii as the prize.
Jennifer was one of 18 people taking part from 6.45am, drinking from a 240ml water bottle every 15 minutes in a room in KDND's studios in Sacramento, California - the quantity of water increased as the active participants advanced.
"My head hurts. They keep telling me that it's the water... that it will tell my head to hurt and it'll make me puke," She could be heard on-air telling one of the show's hosts, to which they joked "Who told you that, the intern?"
The DJs later joked that the mother of three's bloated stomach "looked pregnant," adding, "This is so funny." Jennifer would reportedly consume 7.6 litres of water, finishing in second place, before calling a co-worker, informing them she was in serious pain and would not be attending work that morning. Her mum would find her dead inside her own home an hour later.
The Morning Rave show was immediately cancelled in the wake of Jennifer's death, and its station was made to pay $16.5million to her family in the wrongful death case. No criminal charges were made in connection with the incident.
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