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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 sharing and 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 Google, and is the second most ...
. 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 s ...
series on the First We Feast
YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and 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 Google, and is the second most ...
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 northwes ...
in 1992 when he applied for admission to the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus. He graduated in 1996. He has been a bandleader for several revues, as he has performed with Jette Torp and Finn Nørbygaard, 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 Beaut ...
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)'' ...
. 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 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 ...
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. S ...
, Bubber, Jacob Bundsgaard,
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,
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 Barcelo ...
, Jette Torp, Kristian Valen, 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 b ...
, where they played
Tango Jalousie ''Jalousie'' is a tango written by Danish composer Jacob Gade in 1925. Its full title is ''Jalousie "Tango Tzigane" '' (''Jealousy "Gypsy Tango"''). It soon became popular around the world and is today a classic in the modern songbook. Music Th ...
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 ...
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 ...
. 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
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 b ...
, 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 hotte ...
, 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 Ø ...
, and the orchestra subsequently played the
Tango Jalousie ''Jalousie'' is a tango written by Danish composer Jacob Gade in 1925. Its full title is ''Jalousie "Tango Tzigane" '' (''Jealousy "Gypsy Tango"''). It soon became popular around the world and is today a classic in the modern songbook. Music Th ...
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 Jette Torp 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