Wings, fried chicken and British delicacies: How an appetite for originality transformed celebrity interviews

By Yahya Salem, CNN

(CNN) — Woody Harrelson, the acclaimed actor known for his mellow and jovial energy, was breaking down, barely able to string together coherent sentences because his mouth was on fire from the ludicrously spicy hot sauce that coated his fried cauliflower. Of course, the pain is what you order by coming on Hot Ones, the beloved hot wings YouTube show.

Once it was over, Harrelson still coughing, admitted to host Sean Evans, “You nearly killed me, dude … and I say that with all due respect, because I know you nearly kill people on the daily.”

Harrelson said that he never thought he’d do the show because he used to think he didn’t have what it took to get to the end of the poultry gauntlet. “And now, here we are,” he said, victorious.

That sentiment, while proclaimed in jest, captures a current appetite among many celebrities and fans alike to break away from conventional interviews in favor of more authentic and flavorful content.

And what else like breaking bread – or chicken wings or, you know, yeast extract – has the ability to break that artifice, foster trust and entice celebrities to lower their guards for a playful exchange to which audiences can relate.

“The hardest part of the interview is penetrating all of that artifice to get something real,” Evans told CNN in a recent interview.

Ollie Kendal, one-half of the food content creator duo, JOLLY, put it even more succinctly in a separate conversation with CNN: “It’s the language everyone speaks: Food…Everyone’s got to eat.”

And trust that people eat up the chance to see Gordon Ramsey serenade Evans with his trademark colorful language while chugging bubblegum-pink stomach soother on what has become Hot Ones’ most watched episode, or John Cena stoically brave the potent musk of British Black pudding (blood sausage) with JOLLY as he declares it a sign of sophistication.

Hot Ones, JOLLY and Amelia Dimoldenberg’s Chicken Shop Date – with billions of combined total views and tens of millions of subscribers – are some of the most visible examples of the genre’s popularity.

Many descendants have followed, including traditional media companies that are still trying to find new spins on the concept. (See: The NYT’s launch of “The Pizza Interview,” which asks press-touring celebrities to toss some dough while trying not to get their likely borrowed outfits covered in sauce.)

In what is arguably the boom of the feed-the-famous frenzy, a natural question has emerged: Is it reaching the point of being bloated or is there more to feast on?

Spicing up the press tour

Food’s place within entertainment has never been a gimmick. In fact, it’s an interviewing tradition that dates back decades and has taken many forms.

Jessa Moore, a media specialist with experience in food and tech, points out that culinary hosts like Martha Stewart and Ina Garten have featured celebrities on their shows since the nineties and early aughts. Even I Love to Eat, the first network TV cooking show to air in the US back in 1946, featured famous designer and actress, Elsie de Wolfe.

Morning shows, too, have for decades welcomed celebrities into their set kitchens for early-morning meal-making.

“Food is entertainment, it’s something you bond over,” Moore told CNN, “Food is culture. People want to interact with each other, and food provides the glue for that.”

In the mid-2010s, the format saw a new iteration of the approach emerge with a gourmet of YouTube shows featuring hungry celebrities – a disruption to what Evans called a “boring,” “PR-driven flight pattern.”

“Hot Ones” mixed up the media blitz. Ten years after its first episode, it is now a desired destination for megastars such as Jennifer Lawrance, Idris Elba, Lady Gaga and Shaquille O’Neal, whose reactions to the exponential Scoville levels have been immortalized in internet lore.

“What these food-driven formats reveal is that adding a slice of real life to the interview process (a meal, a drink, or any shared activity) invites authenticity, connection and unexpected honesty,” Lindsay Colker, founder of Elevate Communications, a Los Angeles-based public relations and consulting boutique, told CNN. “And that’s where the magic and the viral moments tend to happen.”

Colker highlighted the format’s ability to blur the lines between “press appearance and personality showcase,” which is aided by hosts who are “often culture-shapers in their own right – disarming, conversational and curious.”

“They know how to draw out personality instead of polished talking points,” she said.

But she emphasized that food-themed interviews – and the wave of new media at large – are complementary and not a replacement to traditional celebrity coverage.

What’s remarkable about these YouTube food-themed interviews is the fact that the ingredients to their success aren’t concealed in secret family heirloom or fabled recipes; no 11 herbs and spices kept away from the other online creators. It’s a straightforward blend of originality, ingenuity and accessibility.

JOLLY had already invested years in creating food content prior to featuring celebrities in their videos. Josh Carrott, the other half of JOLLY, and Kendal said that getting celebrities to share food and culture away from the “sterile, sanitized junket world,” is not a fading gimmick they’re squeezing for views.

“Food is like the great connector,” Carrott said. “I think over the years, our content has evolved into sharing culture through food.”

‘Like’ and subscribe

Evans likens the growth of food-themed interviews to that of podcasts, which were once relatively obscure but are now omnipresent.

“The landscape is going to shift,” said Evans, “But, overall, if you like interview shows, you have certainly tons of options, and I think at a higher quality now than 10 years ago.”

Evans celebrates the growth of the niche from “barren, empty shelves” to a marketplace filled with great offerings, but he also acknowledges the concerns that it might be too much, conceding that audience fatigue is plausible in the midst of what he described as the “boom times” of the genre.

Moore said that no matter how famous a host or a guest is, or how elaborate and slick a production is, an unauthentic product will not resonate with audiences.

Colker echoed the sentiment.

“These types of appearances only fatigue clients when they start to feel repetitive or disconnected from their story,” Colker said. “The sweet spot is where creativity meets comfort and when it feels natural, not performative.”

JOLLY’s approach to content creation has always centered the fans as its North Star, which they try to follow through endless trial and error, as well as excruciating analysis of audience metrics. This includes an examination of the kinds of brands and celebrities JOLLY looks to associate with, the best platforms to reach their audience and even the lengths of videos.

“The focus for us has been: Can we make good content that people want to see?” Kendal said, “We’re not really interested in doing content for content’s sake.”

Whether food-themed interviews have reached their inflection point, let alone oversaturation, is yet to be determined. For now, the proof is in the pudding as more online creators and legacy media outlets continue to add to the loaded pantry of this genre.

In 2024, Vogue revived an infrequent online cooking segment under a new title, Now Serving. YouTuber Quenlin Blackwell’s rebranded her FEEDING STARVING INFLUENCERS series to now feature celebrities. And across the pond, broadcaster Nick Grimshaw and Michelin star chef Angela Hartnett launched Dish, where celebrities enjoy conversations over one of Hartnett’s acclaimed creations.

At the same time, other creators and outlets have seemingly started abandoned the concept. Harper’s BAZAAR’s online series, Food Diaries, was abruptly discontinued in 2023 after a six-year run, and internet personality, Joey Camasta, concluded his raunchy take on the concept after only one season of Could I Get in Your Pantry?

CNN reached out to Hearst and Camasta for comment.

But as long as the media climate provides the perfect temperature for these shows to grow and expand, and until audiences are satiated to the point of nausea, creators will seemingly continue to cook up fresh ideas.

Carrott and Kendal are already manifesting their dream episodes: southern biscuits and gravy versus English tea and biscuits with Matthew McConaughey, and going through the Waffle House menu with Prince Harry.

“That’s kind of a perfect example of what we want to achieve,” said Carrott. “Sharing culture and authentic passion over a meal with someone.”

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