11 Celebrities Who Couldn't Handle The Heat On Hot Ones
Celebrities are always on a mission to tackle whatever challenge is thrown their way in the most entertaining way possible. The urge to embark on captivating endeavors courses through their veins like blood, which is why fame was bestowed on them to begin with. When the spotlight clicks on, they're ready to put on a show. As much as we love watching our favorite Hollywood heavy hitters dazzle us with feats of glamor, we also love watching them engage in humbling activities. And, when it comes to humbling experiences, few rival an appearance on "Hot Ones."
The YouTube show consists of celebs sitting down with host Sean Evans to answer a slew of questions about their lives while making their way through 10 chicken wings tossed in increasingly spicy sauces. Most start off with heaps of confidence — they're celebrities, after all — but begin to slowly crumble as the wings set their palates ablaze. The show gradually becomes more entertaining as the guests endure more pain. Some of them are in such agony they tap out early, while others make it to the finish line as they choke down milk and bread to subdue the inferno in their mouths. Either way, it's fun to watch the celebs struggle. If you're interested in seeing who had it the worst, check out this list of the biggest "Hot Ones" fails of all time.
1. DJ Khaled
DJ Khaled certainly knows how to draw a crowd. The rapper performs in front of tens of thousands of screaming fans every year, so it's no secret he likes to put on a show. For the Season 1 finale of "Hot Ones," the musician sat down with Sean Evans to answer his questions while braving the spicy wings. "This is gonna be an emotional rollercoaster," Evans said to Khaled, to which the celeb responded, "I'm with you my brother." Little did Sean or the audience know, this was one rollercoaster that would prove way too exhilarating.
Not long into the interview, Khaled asked to swap wing platters with Evans, saying, "Something ain't right." It's clear the heat was starting to overwhelm the musician even though they were only a couple of wings in. At one point Khaled said, "I promise you if I stop, it doesn't mean I gave up." Evans gave a chuckle and replied, "Yes it does. By definition."
Well, one wing later it was all over. Khaled waved the white flag high and bailed out. Talking to someone off-camera, he said that the experience would mess him up for the rest of the day if he continued. He stuck around to answer the rest of Evans' questions, but quitting so early definitely gave the remainder of the episode an awkward energy.
2. Taraji P. Henson
Fans who watched this episode basically received a spoiler alert from the mouth of Taraji P. Henson herself. Sean Evans explained to her pretty quickly that he "long waited for somebody to tap out before DJ Khaled," and she immediately responded by saying, "I'm gonna tap out. I'm telling you. No surprise here." So, anyone rooting for her pretty much knew how the remainder of the show would unfold. And the actress wasn't lying when she made that statement.
To say that Henson's personality was over the top is an understatement. The whole time she seemed to exist in a somewhat manic state, rambling on about certain topics and suddenly blurting out random things. But Evans persisted with the questions. At one point she was given a cocktail — Crown Royale on the rocks — and had her makeup team swoop in for touch-ups. Once that whole song and dance ended, she took the tiniest nibble of the next wing, and it did her in. "I'm not playin' with you. I don't play these games. We're done," she told Evans. And, on that note, she added her name to the list of "Hot Ones" failures. Her security guard ended up finishing off the wings with the host, so it wasn't a total waste of food.
3. Mike Epps
Comedian and actor Mike Epps entered into the "Hot Ones" gauntlet in Season 2 of the show to see if he had what it took to overcome the heat. He told Sean Evans before they even dove into the platter of wings, "My name's chicken wing." So, you'd think that a guy with that nickname would be able to make it to the end. But, as viewers eventually found out, just because you have a certain nickname doesn't always mean you truly embody it.
After a couple of wings, Epps asked the host, "Are these supposed to be hot?" He might have initially thought the show was staged and the wings weren't actually the scorchers guests acted like they were. But, it was early on, and the Scoville scale was still at a minimum at this point. The next few wings went down rather easily, but then it came time for Epps to try the sixth wing covered in a sauce called Pain 100%. This was the straw that broke the camel's back. "Man, that's hot," Epps said immediately after his bite, followed up by, "Those wings are too hot man, I can't even talk." A few sips of water later, he went the quitter route. Hey, at least he made it more than halfway.
4. Shaquille O'Neal
Few people on this planet are as big and intimidating as basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal. The guy is over 7 feet tall and dense with muscle. Just looking at him can put the fear of God in you, which makes him such an intimidating force on the basketball court, But, does that menacing size mean he can crush a platter of spicy wings? You'd expect the guy to be able to handle just about anything, but as his episode of "Hot Ones" proved, even someone as daunting as Shaq can fall victim to a measly chicken wing.
Shaq started off with the confidence of someone who's never lost anything in their life. He snatched up each wing and tore into it like a caveman. He continued in this confident state until he reached the wing covered in Da Bomb hot sauce. This is the sauce that tends to crush the guests, and the NBA player was no different. After Evans told him the sauce came from Kansas, Shaq said, "Kansas don't know how to do no hot wings." After his first bite, his eyes shot open and he grabbed the gallon of milk under the table. Multiple sips and howls of agony later, the sports star put an end to the pain and tapped out.
5. Rob Corddry
In the 17th episode of Season 2 of "Hot Ones," Sean Evans welcomed Rob Corddry, a comedian, actor, and "fellow bald icon." Before the wing-eating extravaganza begins, Evans explains to Corddry that he should fare pretty well through the first half, but the second half might prove difficult. Corddry got a whiff of some of the sauces' aromas and described the smell as "violent." Clearly, he was a bit nervous about the journey ahead of him, as he should've been.
The first wing was doused in Sriracha, which Corddry took down easily. But, things only increased in temperature from there. As he progressed, you could tell that the spice was starting to get to him. After consuming the Pain 100% wing, Corddry started hitting the milk hard, which is never a good sign. But, he decided to power on. However, the very next wing was Da Bomb, and this was where his willpower fell off the rails completely. He stood up and exclaimed, "That's terrible," while pointing to the half-eaten wing. He sat back down and just as viewers thought he'd muster up the courage to eat the next wing, he told Evans, "I'm done. I can't do it."
6. Machine Gun Kelly
When musician Machine Gun Kelly sat down with Sean Evans to try his luck on "Hot Ones," he admitted right away to the host that he doesn't handle spicy food well and had never eaten a hot chicken wing. Basically, he was telling everyone it was about to be a real struggle. But, he's a celebrity who loves the spotlight, so he buckled in for the ride, however far it would take him.
The first few wings were no big deal, as they should've been. Sauces like Cholula and Texas Pete's went down smoothly, and that built some confidence in the singer. But, the tides quickly turned once Pain 100% entered into the game. The musician definitely felt the heat, but he didn't quit. A couple of wings later he was introduced to Dave's Insanity Sauce, and this stuff really kicked Machine Gun Kelly in the palate. He stood up and started guzzling water and beer, but he kept his white flag unwaved.
Evans and his guest made it to the final wing, where it's tradition to put an extra dab of hot sauce on it to wrap the show up properly. After taking a bite, the musician paced frantically around the table, shouting expletives due to the pain he was enduring. Machine Gun Kelly made it through the gauntlet, but boy did he have a rough time toward the end.
7. Gordon Ramsay
Anyone who knows even a little about the culinary landscape knows who Gordon Ramsay is. It's impossible not to watch footage of him absolutely berating the cooks in a kitchen and not feel at least a little intrigued as to what events went down that led to the outbursts of anger. The chef has a slew of award-winning restaurants, books, and hit television shows, and his popularity in America skyrocketed when he brought his no-nonsense attitude to the screen. But, how would such an intense persona fare when faced with super spicy wings?
Ramsay certainly knows his way around food, which might lead someone to believe he can handle extremely spicy cuisine. The first few wings went by smoothly, with Evans and Ramsay chatting it up about restaurant life. Then, Ramsay took a huge bite of a wing covered in a Carolina Reaper-infused sauce from a company called Torchbearer Sauces, and that's when he began his descent into the land of pain. "I feel like that's burning a new ring on my f***ing a**," he told Evans.
Ramsay ate Da Bomb next and immediately pulled out a bottle of Pepto Bismol and poured himself a heaping glass. He also had a few donuts handy to absorb the heat. The chef wasn't having a wonderful time, but he muscled through to the end and completed the gauntlet. However, not before soaking the final wing in a combination of lemon and lime juice to curb the spice.
8. Jennifer Lawrence
Just because you're an Academy Award-winning actor doesn't mean you're above sitting down to a plate of hot wings to entertain an audience with your reactions, as Hollywood star Jennifer Lawrence proved on an episode of "Hot Ones." She seemed a bit nervous, telling host Sean Evans she didn't think she had a super high tolerance for pain, but she was in for the ride either way. She made her way through the wings like a boss, but once Da Bomb presented itself, it got extra spicy for both the actor and the audience.
As Lawrence chewed her first bite of the Da Bomb-drenched wing, she shot a wide-eyed glance up at Evans and said, "Oh my God!" She knew she was in for a struggle, but she didn't give up. "Oh my God, I'm panicking," she exclaimed at one point. Her eyes were streaming with tears as she gasped for air, but in the end, she made it all the way through. But, that wasn't the end of the saucy torment. During an interview with Andy Cohen on the show "Watch What Happens Live," the actor admitted she got physically sick not long after she left the "Hot Ones" studio. "I passionately threw up after — violently," she said, also adding, "My stomach gave me like 8 minutes to get upstairs [to my hotel room] and then woah."
9. Coolio
If you plan on taking down wings so hot your palate will scream out for a fire extinguisher, you need to make sure you keep some cool wits about you. So, who better to invite into the "Hot Ones" studio than rapper Coolio? Coolio stepped into the literal hot seat in the middle of Season 2 to see if he was tough enough to make it through all 10 sauce-soaked wings. Would the guy who wrote and performed "Gangsta's Paradise" be able to harness his inner gangster and show the wings who was boss?
The musician gracefully cruised his way through the wings, tearing all the meat off of each bone and slam-dunking them onto his plate as if to say, "I'm in charge here." Even after eating the wing drenched in Pain 100%, a sauce that proved quite painful for many guests, Coolio slammed down the bone and said to Evans, "Let me know when we get to the hot ones." Well, that hot one came in the form of the final wing. Instead of adding just a minuscule dab of the last sauce to the final wing, the rapper flipped the bottle over and poured out nearly half of it on the meat. Suddenly Coolio said, "That sh** is hot," stood up, and went in desperate search of napkins and water. He was in so much pain a member of his crew had to finish speaking for him.
10. Bobby Lee
Anyone familiar with comedian Bobby Lee knows he's an outrageously loose cannon. You really never know what wild antics he'll suddenly spring on people around him. That makes him the perfect guest for a show like "Hot Ones," which is why he sat down across from host Sean Evans in Season 2 to see if he had what it took to successfully gobble up all 10 pain-inducing chicken wings. As you can imagine, things got pretty ridiculous toward the end.
When asked how he handles spicy food, Lee replied to Evans, "I get diarrhea a lot." This was a statement Evans probably never wanted to hear, seeing as his guest was about to ingest a whole boatload of heat. As the wings increased in spiciness, Lee was clearly in pain, but he didn't give up. He even swapped platters with Evans when he had two wings left because he didn't believe that Evans' wings were as spicy as his. They were, of course.
Lee struggled all the way to the end, but he managed to choke down the final wing with the extra dab of sauce. However, it came at a grave price. Lee reached down and touched the back of his pants with panic in his eyes. Evans looked horrified as Lee admitted he might have very well had a backdoor accident in his pants. "This is not happening," said Evans, to which the comedian responded, "Yea, dude."
11. Chrissy Teigen
As hot as the wings on "Hot Ones" get, you figure a few glasses of milk and maybe some bread will eventually quell the burn that runs rampant through the mouths and stomachs of the celebrity guests. You don't expect anyone to really face serious medical problems. Well, the truth is that these hot sauces really can do a number on your body if you're sensitive to spice, as Season 7 guest Chrissy Teigen discovered. When she sat down with Sean Evans, she knew she was in for a painful event, but she couldn't have foreseen it would land her in the emergency room.
Teigen approached the platter of wings with caution, and even though she definitely felt the burn, she made it all the way to the end with the help of a lot of ice water and an avocado. But, after she left the studio, she was in so much pain she sought medical attention. In an interview Teigen did with Jimmy Fallon not long after, she discussed the horrific experience. She said, "I had just done 'Hot Ones' and I had to go to the doctor after. It was bad, the seventh one really got me [...] [My tongue] was, like, bloody and stripped and I had acid reflux for a long time." Let this be a warning to any celebrity who thinks they have what it takes.