THE sun was out over the weekend but thousands of people were feeling heat of a different kind.

The annual Fiery Foods Festival returned to Brighton with a host of stalls and attractions in Victoria Gardens.

Visitors were able to buy and try a host of different types of chillis, sauces, spices and oils from stall-holders who had come from around the country for the event.

The highlight at the end of each day was the festival’s infamous chilli eating contest in which contestants ate hotter and hotter chillis.

Traders this year included Sam Bollen from Hastings, who runs Mr and Mrs B’s Seriously Buzzing Hot Sauce with his wife Jasmin.

He said: “This is our second year and it has been a busy weekend.

“The footfall has been very good and we’ve had a lot of interest from people wanting to know more about our home-made, high quality products.”

Annie and Steven Rimington from Roundhill, Brighton, were at the festival for the second time.

Mrs Rimington said: “I love chillis but I don’t like them too hot.

“I want to be able to taste the food and taste the chilli.”

Ed Barker from Hove was at the festival for the first time.

He said: “I love hot and spicy food so I thought I would come down and see what it was all about.

“It’s been a lot of fun and I’ve tried quite a few samples.

“I’m not sure if I’m up for entering the chilli eating competition though. I think it would be too much.

“I’ll definitely be watching though.”

Event organiser Alan Greene said he was pleased with how the weekend had gone.

He said: “This is third year Fiery Foods has held the event and there has been a good turn out.

“The first year was a bit disappointing because we were competing with a rugby world cup match at the Albion stadium, a Japanese festival and a reggae festival.

“This time it has been a lot better with less competition around.

“The chilli eating competition is always popular and this year, quite unusually, we had five people left at the end.”

l Turn to pages 16 and 17 for more pictures from the Fiery Foods Festival.