Too hot to handle: Diners flee Cannock restaurant during preparation of one of world's hottest dishes

But when comedian Omid Djalili visited a Staffordshire restaurant he and other diners were forced to flee the venue.

He took on one of the world's hottest dishes, the Crocodile Inferno at the Dilshad in Cannock for his TV series which takes on a man versus food style challenge.

But during the preparation of the dish, the pungent fumes led to customers evacuating the restaurant.

The Dilshad, in Cannock Road, Chadsmoor, was featured in the show known as Hot and Dangerous, last night.

In a video for the show on You Tube, the chef was shown donning a gas mask to cook up the curry.

"The funniest moment in the series is when they poured some liquid capcicum into a hot bowl which then permitted this gas," the comedian said.

"Everyone in the restaurant ran away.

"There was one bloke and when I asked him and said don't you feel it? he said: 'my lips are a bit tingly.'"

Dilshad owner Tony Uddin said Omid was in a 'lot of pain' when he took on the dish and said it was 'great tv'.

The curry is said to be twice as hot as police tear gas and staff at the restaurant are told to try and persuade customers not to try the dish which can cause hallucinations.

It contains the Ghost chilli pepper, The Trinidad scorpion Butch T. chilli pepper and the notorious Carolina Reaper which is the world's hottest chilli.

Married couple Wez and Caroline Cartwright, from Swadlincote, Derbyshire, became the first people to complete the challenge after spending weeks in training eating hot curries at home to build up resistance to the heat.

Their achievements earned them a special T-shirt and a place in the restaurant's hall of fame.