The YouTube sensation “Hot Ones” is no ordinary talk show. I don’t know if my obsession for buffalo wings makes me biased but “Hot Ones” is extremely successful and addicting to watch. Let’s dive into some reasons why.
The Idea of Eating and Talking
It’s safe to say that “mukbangs” are widely popular for YouTube creators. A mukbang is when you sit, talk and eat in front of your camera. It sounds weird but for some reason, Trisha Paytas eating McDonald’s in her pink Rolls Royce while ranting about famous influencers is pure entertainment. Someone give that girl an Oscar.
Sean Evans creates an environment where we see some of our favorite celebrities sitting down, talking and eating; just like us. By being in this environment, most celebrities often feel less pressure as opposed to sitting in the spotlight on stage. “Hot Ones” allows the celebrities to let loose and enjoy some amazing wings. About halfway through the interview, we see some of our favorite celebrities like we never have before, cracking jokes, laughing, and hilariously freaking out about each new level of hot sauce. I would so rather watch Lil Nas X cry and chug milk while trying to plug his new song than him being interviewed in a chair on stage in front of a live studio audience.
The Levels of Hot Sauce
Hot sauce is different for everyone. Some people can chug a bottle of sriracha like it’s water. Some people can’t even taste spice without tearing and making a scene. While others are able to handle and enjoy a certain amount. Everyone has different preferences for hot sauce, so on “Hot Ones” you never know how your favorite celebrity will genuinely react. It can be surprising and disappointing, but it will never be boring. It’s pure genius to pick a food during an interview that can cause such an insane reaction when you never see it coming.
Hot sauce can cause a reaction that is so dramatic it includes yelling, chugging milk, crying, etc. and it’s absolutely hilarious seeing celebrities we look up to completely lose their cool and push themselves to finish the last dab while taking deep breaths and tearing. Hot sauce creates a genius and hilarious reaction and we start to see our star’s personalities come out most. The best part is when celebrities go in with their head held high and confident that these sauces won’t even phase them, and then they’re asking for four cups of milk on the 5th round while being amazed that Sean Evans does this so often and makes it look so easy.
Sean Evans Intensive Research and Interview Skills
Sean Evans is the talk show host of all talk show hosts. Evans asks the guests questions about their past, upcoming projects, social media posts, plays games, etc and this keeps it interesting. He’s not asking the general and boring questions, he asks such specific questions that celebrities can go into extensive detail about things they didn’t think anyone else knew about. We see our favorite celebrities get excited when asked about pranks behind the scenes that they often reveal a little too much and can’t stop talking.
Evans is so well educated and prepared on each celebrity that in almost every episode each guest says, “wow you really did your research” while he lists their hometown, college and rise to fame like it’s common knowledge. He always asks his questions slowly and clearly and allows each guest to allow as much time as they want to answer them. Some episodes could be ten minutes while others thirty minutes and this reel of unedited footage can get anywhere between five to eighty million views.
Sean also ALWAYS makes sure to finish the interview no matter how insane a celebrity could be reacting and that creates some of his best content.
First We Feast also sells their own brand of hot sauce that they use for the final rounds of the show and plugs each hot sauce in each round. Besides this being a great marketing tactic, it allows the audience to go get and try these crazy sauces themselves so they can see how hot they really are. Well done First We Feast.