On the left is a Hungarian hot pepper. In the middle are pepperoncini peppers.
On the right are also pepperoncini peppers. Three plants, all planted next to each other in a row. (Just like you see here)

The pepperoncini plant that was in the middle looks vastly different than the one next to it. The peppers are much larger and lighter in colour and it looks like a cross between the two pepper varieties.

But!! From what I understand, cross pollination isn’t supposed to have any effect on the current generation of peppers that are growing, but would rather have an effect on the next generation of peppers if I were to keep the seeds from the pepper.

Is that right? Or does it depend on the type of vegetable? Just curious to find out what happened to the middle peppers?