Seeing Double
The first installment of the epic chicken interview crossover puts Amelia Dimoldenberg in the hot seat ahead of her own Chicken Shop Date with Hot Ones host Sean Evans
Chicken Shop Date host Amelia Dimoldenberg joining Sean Evans on Hot Ones might be the most epic Spiderman meme-level crossover since the reunion of all three actual Spidermen. The two chicken-based interview series hosts have provided the internet with an endless stream of off-guard celebrity content for years on their respective online shows — but they’ve never sat down with one another until now.
Dimoldenberg was up first, taking on Evans’ hot questions and even hotter wings in the first installment of their crossover. Unlike usual Hot Ones guests, the Chicken Shop Date host is used to being in charge, leading guests towards candid responses with strategic prompts disguised as lighthearted flirting. But here, on the other side of the table, she’s so out of her element that she forgets why she’s there. “Sorry,” she laughs, cutting off Evans’ first question. “I forgot that you were going to be asking me questions.”
The Hot Ones host’s inquiries offer an opportunity for both himself and Dimoldenberg to swap interview strategies with each other. He wonders about how the increased attention around her show — in which she interviews stars over nuggets and fries at chicken shops in England — has restructured her approach and what happens when paparazzi show up, or onlookers gather around the restaurant (not for her or the celebrity, but to pick up their own chicken).
“After I make them laugh once, then I think they become more warm and relaxed,” Dimoldenberg explains about how she coaxs her guests into letting their guard down. “At the same time, it can get off to a really, really good start, and I’m asking questions, they’re saying really funny things, they’re being really engaging — and then in the middle, it will just have this big lull, and then I’ll bring out a prop.” She cites her dates with Jack Harlow and Louis Theroux as being pivotal for the show.
Evans has a similar strategy, like the deep dives he’ll do on a guest’s Instagram account to have them explain an obscure post from when the app was used as a moment-to-moment update on the most random activities. The distraction of the hot wings helps, too. Dimoldenberg weathers the heat like a champion but admits that she usually avoids spicy foods. But when Evans joins her on Chicken Shop Date in the episode premiering Friday, Nov. 3, they’ll be back to plain chicken and chips.