Omid Djalili has told how he was horrifically ill making a documentary about chillies.

The comedian and actor - who fronts new Quest show Hot And Dangerous, investigating the health benefits of the chilli and how it affects the body when you eat it - confessed he's always hated chillies.

Omid, whose parents are Iranian, revealed: "I hate chillies, I can't stand them, I always have. They ruin meals. I've never seen the point of chillies - to me chillies and wasps are two things in life I've never understood.

"But I also know that if they're on God's green earth there must be a point to them, so it was a discovery, and finding out what I'm missing.

"It's really a scientific show, but I think it's probably become an entertainment show, because my reactions are just ridiculous. I wasn't acting."

The comic travelled the country trying several "chilli challenges" including a curry called The Widower at a restaurant in Grantham. The curry, which is filled with 20 Naga Infinity chillies, tops six million units on the Scoville Scale and is so dangerous chefs wear goggles and a face mask to prepare it and customers must sign a disclaimer before eating it.

Omid revealed: "When I had The Widower, I had a little bit to start with and it went through my body in 30 seconds and when it came out it was tremendously painful.

"When I went back for the challenge and I had a few mouthfuls, it did not become a laxative - it had a constipatory affect on me, because the body said I'm going to hold onto this for about a week and wait for the chilli affect to dissipate.

"And it was like a colonic because things came out of me that had been in my body since 1973."

But the actor - whose films include Gladiator and Sex And The City 2 - revealed he discovered chillies can be good for you.

He explained: "To make it scientific they set me up with a heat rig to measure in infra-red where there is heat in the body and where there is pain. There's also a sweat-o-metre, a heart-rate monitor - and actually my heart rate went up from 70 to 140 in 30 seconds. Which is the equivalent of five minutes running on the treadmill, so the panic it induces really gets the heart rate up.

"And actually for a moment you can be eating a mouthful of really hot curry and burning so many calories, you're burning more then you're putting in."

But Omid thinks eating ridiculously hot food is currently a macho pasttime.

"I didn't see a single woman do it," he admitted. "It's all bald middle-aged, overweight men. I think when they've got nothing left in their lives a chilli challenge is the last thing that will make you feel manly. And good luck to 'em."

: : Hot And Dangerous with Omid Djalili airs on October 24 and 31 at 9pm on Quest.