The 20 best “Hot Ones ”episodes, ranked

Here are our favorite celebrities who got lost in the sauce.

There’s no shortage of celebrity interview series on YouTube, but Hot Ones rises above the rest with a gimmick that never gets old: watching stars struggle to answer questions while sampling increasingly spicy chicken wings. Some guests fare better than others and beat the heat, while others succumb to the sauce.

With over 300 episodes since 2015, there’s plenty of content for fans to sink their teeth into. But we here at Entertainment Weekly took the liberty of ranking the 20 best Hot Ones episodes to date. Read on for our hot takes.

20. Millie Bobby Brown

As Eleven on Stranger Things, Millie Bobby Brown concentrates so hard that her nose starts to bleed. While no blood is drawn on the Hot Ones set, her nostrils tingle from the smell of the sauces alone before her costar Noah Schnapp joins her for the first bite. Things went downhill quickly for the young actress, who does her best to answer questions about the hit Netflix series before surrendering to the spice — and flipping off host Sean Evans.

19. Idris Elba

Idris Elba comes into Hot Ones with the confident swagger you’d expect from a handsome leading man. He even begins the interview by declaring “I fear no man,” but later learns to fear the sauce. After Da' Bomb, the actor starts coughing and panicking in a way he might never live down, and thanks to the internet, his reaction to the unexpected heat was immortalized as a meme.

18. Florence Pugh

Florence Pugh walks onto the Hot Ones set with more nervous respect for the upcoming heat than most guests. Her fears come true as she takes one bite after another, eventually causing her to sweat out of her eyebrows. In addition to anecdotes about chowing down on set, the Midsommar star also workshops some recipes to pair with the infamous hot sauces, making this episode entertaining and educational.

17. Viola Davis

At first, Viola Davis displays the same level-headed grace as many of her onscreen characters while eating hot wings and telling Evans about her impressive theater background. But as the spice level increases, the Oscar-winning actress explains the pain in hilariously graphic detail, even declaring that she could practically feel her lips burning off her face. “And I’ve got some lips!” she exclaims, adding the perfect amount of sweetness to all this heat.

16. Margot Robbie

Mirroring her arc in the Barbie movie, Margot Robbie contemplates death while eating hot wings, wondering if she might die before digging in for another bite. Throughout the interview, we learn a bit of Australian slang and hear about her (sometimes stomach-churning) commitment to eating food on camera for her roles. If you loved her as Harley Quinn, stick around until the end to see her Birds of Prey costars answer BFF questions after trying the dreaded 10th wing.

15. Lizzo

Before her legal woes dominated headlines, Lizzo was as famous for her personality as she was for her pop songs. Filmed before that controversy, this Hot Ones episode sees her animated energy shine. We hear about her underground rap career, how she parlayed it into worldwide fame, and the do’s and don’ts of debuting a hot new look on the red carpet. But the best part of the interview is how Evans delights the artist with his musical knowledge.

14. Jon Bernthal

Jon Bernthal may be famous for playing hardened badasses on The Walking Dead and The Punisher, but on Hot Ones, he’s a soft-spoken sweetie with deep thoughts about the toxic masculinity associated with those kinds of roles. Once you hear him exclaim “holy moly” while sampling spicy wings, you’ll realize he’s secretly the world’s biggest teddy bear.

13. Megan Thee Stallion

When you see how effortlessly cool rapper and all-around tastemaker Megan Thee Stallion is, you wonder what makes her tick. In her Hot Ones interview, she goes beyond her musical influences and gets real about her favorite animes and more. When she’s not giving us insight into her life and career, she’s fighting for dear life against the mounting spiciness. By the time this episode ends, the queen of “hot girl s—” is basically breathing fire.

12. Gwyneth Paltrow

A-list actress Gwyneth Paltrow is often derided as being out of touch, namely for her Goop brand's eccentric and expensive items (like a $75 vagina-scented candle). And on her Hot Ones episode, Paltrow is similarly (and hilariously) unrelatable as she’s humbled by spicy wings. She’s unusually serene while enduring the sauces, calmly nodding and musing that “the violation is intense.” Meanwhile, Evans rattles off the taglines to her movies like riddles, and watching her guess which film they coincide with is a fun trip down memory lane.

11. Halle Berry

Halle Berry often plays powerful women who stay cool under pressure. And now that we’ve seen her Hot Ones episode, we’re convinced the movie star has similar inner strength. After a modest start, she proceeds to motor through one scorching wing after another without a single sip of milk or water. She maintains this composure during thoughtful meditations about her legacy and light-hearted discussions about being the most name-dropped actress in hip-hop.

10. Lorde

Pop superstar Lorde had already made music history with hit records like Pure Heroine and Melodrama. But she also made Hot Ones history by eating all 10 wings without breaking a sweat. Da’ Bomb sauce gave her pause, but she otherwise seemed to thoroughly enjoy every last bite, even worrying out loud that she was a boring interview subject for chowing down with ease. However, the singer remains interesting throughout, unpacking everything from crafting a hit song to cooking state fair-style onion rings.

9. Key & Peele

It almost feels like cheating to include Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, who bounce off each other in one of the earlier (and better) Hot Ones episodes. Even without Evans’ prompting, the duo continues their hot streak of stellar comic timing that they perfected on Comedy Central’s Key & Peele. After weathering the wing challenge mostly unscathed, they end with an amusing riff about avoiding the entertainment industry at all costs, lest you fall victim to the wings yourself.

8. Dave Grohl

As the Nirvana drummer turned Foo Fighters founder, Dave Grohl has been a music legend for decades. Often regarded as the nicest guy in rock n’ roll, he lives up to that reputation by bringing his huge smile to the Hot Ones hot seat. The only thing warmer than his energy is this line-up of sauces, which the artist tackles with help from a little alcohol and some funny voices. Between anecdotes about pulling a muscle while playing a Police cover and pretending to be a UFO expert, Grohl keeps things absurdly fun and reliably wholesome.

7. Cardi B

Though a controversial figure, there’s no controversy regarding the hilarity of Cardi B’s Hot Ones episode. The rapper is uproariously authentic throughout, right down to worrying about whether the wings would give her diarrhea. As she struggles through each bite, she also drops hot takes, like believing aliens don’t exist, and not unpacking pain in her music because she doesn’t think others can relate to her struggles. Between her reliably over-the-top reactions and hilarious stories about radio censorship, this episode sizzles from the beginning to the end.

6. Aubrey Plaza

Aubrey Plaza is an ideal Hot Ones guest, given her chilly public persona and notoriously oddball interviews. Though the series is famous for breaking down celebrities’ barriers, Plaza admirably keeps her deadpan delivery up, matching Evans’ questions about pranks on the Parks and Rec set and horse racing in Delaware with her signature quirky wit. But even the internet’s favorite ice queen was no match for certain hot sauces — and resorted to snorting milk up her nose after sampling Da’ Bomb.

5. Paul Rudd

Hot Ones often generates popular memes, none more viral than Paul Rudd’s “Hey, look at us” moment of pure bromance with Evans. Between anecdotes about the actor’s Kansas City roots and hot takes about barbecue, the two flatter each other into oblivion, so much so that it almost feels like a deleted scene from I Love You, Man. What’s more, Rudd ate all of his spicy cauliflower without a single drink!

4. Jennifer Lawrence

Between winning an Oscar and starring in major franchises like The Hunger Games, Jennifer Lawrence never lost her down-to-earth appeal. She brings that same relatable energy to the Hot Ones hot seat, rattling off mortifying stories for our amusement (like swallowing her nose ring and coughing it up in front of her Don’t Look Up costar Leonardo DiCaprio). She also isn’t afraid to let her panic show as the spiciness increases, giving great answers even as the heat literally brings her to tears (and makes her vomit behind the scenes).

3. Gordon Ramsay

Gordon Ramsay built a career off of being brutally honest about food, which adds an extra layer of heat to his Hot Ones episode. Though he predictably critiques the wings — “They’re a bit f—ing overcooked. It's like eating a mouthful of f—ing sand!” — Ramsay also goes beyond his angry chef schtick for a captivating conversation with Evans about ruthless restaurant reviews and hunting puffins in Iceland. He even dishes out some remedies for when you’ve eaten something too spicy. (Who’s down to chug Pepto Bismol?)

2. Shaquille O’Neal

Shaquille O’Neal is a former NBA star whose popularity has only increased since retiring from the court. The 7-foot-1 athlete has a larger-than-life personality, as seen in his Hot Ones interview. Watching him request special “ice cube chapstick” to deal with the heat is hilarious, as are his insane stories about out-of-control shopping sprees. In addition to the spicy wings antics, this episode is memorable for the head-to-head free-throw contest between Shaq and Sean, all for the sake of charity (and our entertainment, of course).

1. Conan O’Brien

Conan O’Brien is a comedy legend, from his days as a Simpsons writer to his run as one of the best late-night hosts of all time. His recent Hot Ones interview was instantly iconic, seeing him stuff half-eaten wings in his pockets, get his pulse checked by a bumbling doctor (Conan writer Jose Arroyo), and even chug the sauces. But the most memorable bit is him acting like none of this is bothering him. Meanwhile, his skin turns redder than a Star Trek extra minutes after declaring, "I don't think there's a wing here that I can't eat like it's ice cream."

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.