How 'Hot Ones' Hot Sauce Became a Cultural Force

The YouTube show "Hot Ones," created by Sean Evans and Chris Schonberger, features Evans interviewing celebrities as they eat a series of progressively spicier chicken wings. The show's tagline is "The show with hot questions, and even hotter wings," and it has been praised for its in-depth questions. Guests who are unable to finish all ten wings are added to the "Hall of Shame." Heatonist's partnership with "Hot Ones" began in 2015 when the show's team asked the company to curate the hot sauces for the wing lineup. Since then, Heatonist has not only selected sauces from small-batch makers but has also collaborated with "Hot Ones" to create exclusive sauces like "The Last Dab" and "Los Calientes." Before his hot sauce empire, Heatonist founder Noah Chaimberg worked in digital marketing and even ran a healthy breakfast counter in an MMA gym. He started Heatonist in 2013, initially selling a curated collection of hot sauces from a pushcart at various markets in Brooklyn. The "Hot Ones" lineup has expanded beyond the YouTube series. A short-lived spinoff, "Hot Ones: The Game Show," aired on TruTV, pitting teams against each other in a trivia and spicy wing challenge for a cash prize. Another spinoff, "Hot Ones Versus," was launched on YouTube in early 2024. The collaboration has proven to be a massive success for Heatonist. The company has grown from its Brooklyn tasting room to include an outpost in Manhattan's Chelsea Market and has become a major online retailer for hot sauce. As of 2024, many of the "Hot Ones" branded sauces are now available in major grocery stores across the U.S., including Kroger, Publix, and Whole Foods. Over its many seasons, "Hot Ones" has hosted a wide range of celebrity guests, including Jennifer Lawrence, Idris Elba, and Pedro Pascal. While some guests, like Lorde, have handled the heat with ease, others have had famously extreme reactions to the spiciness, particularly to the infamous "Da Bomb" hot sauce.