Gordon Ramsay's Bizarre Hot Ones Tactics Are Ones To Remember
If you've been on the internet in the past several years, chances are you're familiar with "Hot Ones," the signature show on the YouTube channel "First We Feast."
The show's concept is simple yet surprisingly original. Host Sean Evans interviews celebrities while the two of them eat increasingly spicy hot wings, and fans learn which famous people can hold their spice and which can't. (Honestly, it's kind of amazing no one thought of this idea before.)
It helps that Evans is a great interviewer, too. Hearing a surprised "wow, that's a really good question" from a guest at least once per episode is the rule more than the exception, as he doesn't tend to settle for low-hanging fruit. All sorts of celebs have made an appearance on the show, from athletes to movie stars to celebrity chefs. One of the most notable interviews in the latter category was Gordon Ramsay.
Ramsay got creative about dealing with the heat
Plenty of "Hot Ones" guest stars have had difficulty when things built into the higher register of Scoville Units (the heat index on which the show's hot sauce spiciness levels are predicated). But to date, only one has devolved into a swearing, gibbering mess: chef Gordon Ramsay. It wasn't just the verbal reaction to the heat that made Ramsay's "Hot Ones" episode so memorable, though. No one has gotten weirder with their methods for dealing with spice difficulties.
Ramsay started out like every contestant does, with the on-hand glass of water. But it soon became clear that wasn't cutting it. So, he broke out a bag of tricks he'd brought from home. The chef next started drinking an entire glass of Pepto Bismol — although, to be fair, this was after tasting Da Bomb, which is universally acknowledged as the worst sauce on the show.
Then, he started rubbing a lime on his tongue, a move unprecedented enough to prompt a "this is amazing; does that work?" from Evans. Ramsay also pulled out some donuts on the theory that sweetness could counteract the heat nightmare (and wound up throwing one at the cackling host). After literally choking on more water, he did a mouth rinse with straight lemon juice before hosing down the last wing with both lime and lemon.
Plenty of celebs have struggled on Hot Ones
To his credit, even as he was in excruciating pain, Gordon Ramsay seemed to have fun with the whole experience, cracking jokes the entire time. But Ramsay is also far from the only guest to really struggle on the show; many have issues when the heat dials up.
Tom Holland's "Hot Ones" episode featured the actor screaming for a doctor. Taraji P. Henson couldn't even finish the hot wings and had to bring in a stunt double. Shaquille O'Neal had to apologize to Kansas during his "Hot Ones" interview. Kevin Hart practically started hallucinating after experiencing the wings' spice levels. And Idris Elba's "Hot Ones" reactions became a meme.
A few celebs have done perfectly well on "Hot Ones" — Trevor Noah comes to mind. But for most guests on the show, surviving the "Hot Ones" ordeal is a trial by mouth-blistering fire.