I Spent All Day Watching Hot Ones On Youtube

I spent all day watching Hot Ones of Youtube. I realize this probably says more about me than the show, but it’s what happened.

I have been known to get sucked into the Youtube wormhole, especially when I’m putting something off. It starts the same way each time. Well, that can be done later, oh I know, I just see what’s on Youtube. Next thing you know you’ve been watching videos for seven hours and it’s dark outside now.

I spend far too much time watching videos on the Internet as it is. I’m pretty sure I’ve lost days watching people do dumb things. Then, you find something super compelling and your life is no longer yours.

There’s a series on Youtube, that I’ve recently been obsessed with called Hot Ones.

I can hear the tag line still, “Welcome to Hot Ones. The show with Hot Wings and even hotter questions.”

The premise is incredibly simple. The host, Sean Evans, asks a celebrity, everyone from rappers to comedians to chefs, and they eat one chicken wing per question. Each wing gets progressively hotter to the point, usually somewhere around the middle of the interview, the guest is red faced and sweating profusely. One of the best things about the show is when a particularly boastful guest (i.e. Michael Rappaport, filled with false pride from the relatively mundane first sauces. Is coughing and spitting and crying from the capsaicin induced damage the hot sauce inflicts.

I have lost hours to this culinary questionnaire. Sean Evans is an effective interviewer. He does his research on the guest and he always asks interesting questions. Most of the guests have been asked the same questions over and over again, and you can tell the guests appreciate him changing it up. The relatively unique setting puts the guests at ease and you can get a unique look at the guests as they suffer through the questions.

I personally like seeing how they handle the challenge of eating progressively hotter wings. Some, like Key and Peele, did not do well at all. Rachael Ray powered through like a champ. She’s didn’t even eat the chicken wings, just took the sauces straight up. It was pretty awesome. She didn’t even flinch until the last one.

There’s something so intriguing watching other people in pain. It’s not something I would want to do, but you see the agony slowly build as the interview goes on and it’s hilarious.

It partly acts like a shorter podcast, and sometimes like a formal interview. It’s interesting and I spent hours watching people eat hot wings. It was like being at Buffalo Wild Wings but with famous people.

It’s also funny seeing famous people lose their cool. Literally.

You should watch. I promise it’s far more compelling than my meager skills can describe here.

Some of the best episodes:

Gordon Ramsey

Bill Burr

Marques Brownlee

Hannibal Burress

Bob Saget

Bert Krieischer

Key and Peele

Action Bronson

Michael Rapaport

Terry Crews

Wanda Sykes

Jeff Goldblum

Desus and Mero