The Daily Stream: Hot Ones Will Spice Up Your Life
(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they've been watching, why it's worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)
The Series: "Hot Ones"
Where You Can Stream It: YouTube on the "First We Feast" Channel
The Pitch: Do you like spicy food? More importantly, do you like watching celebrities suffering while eating spicy food? If you haven't joined the cult yet, here's the deal. "Hot Ones" is a YouTube show created by Christopher Schonberger for "First We Feast." Host Sean Evans interviews celebrities as they eat hotter and hotter spicy chicken, vegetarian, or vegan wings. The first sauce is pretty mild, leading most to feel like they've got this conquered. As the heat ramps up, however, you watch them sweat, get red eyes, and sometimes cry like a baby.
Evans does remind them not to rub their eyes, but it happens. Sure, there is water and milk (or some form of plant milk), but it's never enough. There are 10 hot sauces, and a specialist move called "The Last Dab," which is where you add a little more of the hottest sauce onto your final wing — to torture yourself just that much more! If the celebrity can finish all 10 wings, they can promote their latest projects. I mean, Evans is nice, and he lets you talk about it even if you fail, but then you're in the Hall of Shame, and no one wants that!
There are 17 seasons of "Hot Ones" so far, so you can go down a spicy rabbit hole here. It started off with lesser known celebrities, but everyone has been on there now — from Gordon Ramsay (who was a really good sport, despite chugging Pepto Bismol afterward), to Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell (who are MVPs of hot sauce).
Why It's Essential Viewing
This show might sound strange on paper, but you won't be able to stop watching once you start. Your fandoms may change once you know who has the guts (oh, those poor guts) to handle their hot sauce. Padma Lakshmi was so poised while eating the hottest of wings. I mean, she has to eat some crazy stuff on "Top Chef," but she didn't crack once. It was an impressive feat. Terry Crews starts to hallucinate after a while. The Paul Rudd episode is *chef's kiss* good (and if you've seen the "Hey, look at us!" meme, this is where it's from).
We've got Tom Holland, Idris Elba, Michael B. Jordan, Guy Fieri (the cooking stars are the best to watch), Billie Eilish ... everyone wants to be on the show (including me), and it's become the go-to place to promote your project.
I have to give huge props here to Sean Evans, who is an amazing interviewer. Not only does he have some really fun questions, he also manages to keep the interview on track while his subjects are weeping, seeing things, and cursing up a storm. He's a master — and that comes from someone who interviews people as part of my job!
Your Super Bowl Sunday Fun Fact
Even cooler if you're a spicy food fan? Each season there are new hot sauces, so you can listen to which ones messed up your favorite celebrity and buy them for yourself. They range from around 2,200 Scoville units (around a Sriracha level) to an insane 2,000,000+.
By the way, I learned some spicy food fun facts from a Wondrium video. The hottest chili peppers are Smoking' Ed's Carolina Reaper. Your mouth reacts to the chemicals (the polymodal nociceptors in capsaicin, which is the chemical that makes you feel the "heat") in hot peppers as if you're being burned, but you almost never actually are. Your body will sweat and your eyes will tear. Your heartbeat will increase because it tricks your brain into thinking you've actually been burned. Heat isn't actually a taste like something sweet or salty. It's not coming from your taste buds, but instead, the chemical activates neural receptors in your brain. Not that it matters because it's hot! The chemicals dissolve in oil, not water, so don't bother with it. It won't help.
That's your fun fact for Super Bowl Sunday. Please do not tell the friends whose mouths you burn today that you learned any of this from me.