Sean Evans reveals which 'Hot Ones' guest he forced to take a break during filming

During a panel at The Paley Center for Media on Tuesday evening (June 18), "Hot Ones" host Sean Evans and the production team discussed the challenges and concerns faced during the filming of the popular YouTube series. Sean Evans revealed that he had to intervene and stop a guest from finishing the challenge, highlighting the intensity of the show's spicy gauntlet.

Evans disclosed that he was particularly concerned for comedian Pete Davidson during his appearance. “There was a sweat that almost looked like Patrick Ewing at the free throw line, [it looked] like an inch of sitting water. He was really going through it, like a hot flash into a cold shiver,” Evans explained. At the tenth and final wing, known as the Last Dab, Evans decided to step in. “I remember just grabbing it off of his side of the table and just being like, ‘I’m not allowing you to finish this,’” he said.

Producer and creator Chris Schonberger recounted another memorable moment involving Idris Elba. After completing his episode, Elba accidentally touched his eye, causing discomfort for himself and concern for his team. “At the end of that shoot, [Elba] then touched his eye before filming [on set] which made his team rather upset,” Schonberger said.

Supervising producer Dominique Burroughs mentioned a similar incident with Will Smith. “Something happened with cross-contamination in his eyes and it was just so painful to watch, I know it was painful for him, but it was painful for us, because I didn’t know what to do. His eyes started to get puffy and red,” Burroughs shared.

The panel also featured past "Hot Ones" guest Seth Meyers, who humorously admitted to making the same mistake. “I touched my eye. You guys told me not to,” Meyers said, prompting a quip from Schonberger, “We have that on tape.” Meyers added, “The reason you ignore the fact that you’ve been told not to touch your eye is you think to yourself, ‘Well, it can’t get any worse,’ and then you do it, and it gets worse.”

Reflecting on other guests who faced difficulties, Schonberger noted that he was most concerned for Coolio. “It’s the one where he went crazy with the sauce at the end, and it was at the early office we were talking about, where there was no real green room. There was just a glassed-in room that was used by the staff. He passed out on a couch for about two hours,” Schonberger recounted.