How Chicken Shop Date is Changing the Way we Interview Celebrities

Amelia Dimoldenberg has been catapulted into fame by her iconic series Chicken Shop Date. The series is a YouTube interview show that frames celebrity interviews as dates in chicken shops. Since its start, the series won the Streamy award for best Indie series, and in 2024, Amelia received an honorary fellowship from the University of the Arts London. Amelia has become a celebrity herself and was even TickTock’s host for their coverage of the Barbie movie premiere in 2023. Here we will explore how the show became so successful and how some unassuming chicken shops are changing the celebrity media landscape. 

Chicken Shop Date is born

The show began as a written column for Amelia’s local under-21s magazine. The column focused on interviewing friends of friends in the context of a date. Later, Amelia studied fashion journalism at Central St Martins. Amelia says she often felt like a failure because she didn't receive the approval of her tutors for the use of video in her coursework as they favored more traditional forms of media. Despite this criticism, Amelia decided to persevere with her use of video content. In 2014 Amelia decided to revisit the date-style interview and posted her first video featuring up-and-coming rapper Ghetts. In this video, she decided to interview at the chicken shop because it was "somewhere you wouldn't expect to be taken on a first date". Amelia says "I wanted to spoof what an interview is ,I wanted to spoof what a date is". The video received over one thousand views in the first two weeks, a huge achievement for a brand-new YouTube series. The first few Chicken Shop Dates interviewed grime musicians and rappers but when the show was garnering more attention and higher caliber guests the show became an internet sensation. Eventually, Amelia got celebrities like Billie Eilish, Jennifer Lawrence, and Ed Sheeran to attend the interviews and more begging to be invited which is where we are today. 

Why is it popular?

Chicken Shop Date subverts what a typical interview is. There is no introduction of the guest, no music, no script, no flashy set, and no formality. Amelia plays a character with a dry sense of humor and an affectionately awkward charm. The character was heavily inspired by Leslie Knope in Parks and Recreation and Zach Galifianakis’ deadpan persona in a similar talk show called Between Two Ferns. Amelia says that she loved Between Two Ferns so much because it was "like an anti-interview". Chicken Shop Date has the same appeal as the setting and attitude of Amelia go against everything we expect an interview to have. Amelia doesn’t heavily research her guests' achievements and ask them about them. She operates like she knows nothing about the guests and is uninterested in them. When interviewing Andrew Garfield she says "So you’ve been nominated for an Oscar? You’ve not won. So when are you gonna win an Oscar?". Amelia can intimidate her guests in a funny way that prompts them to give an honest, candid response about their failures as well as their successes. This has made the unrelatable relatable and encourages the audience to view the celebrities in a new light as normal people. By putting the celebrities in such an unexpected situation and unusual setting they respond naturally and we see insecurities and authenticity that we wouldn't see in a normal interview. Chicken Shop Date has filled a gap in media in a niche and unique way by catering to the demand for candid interviews.

Best moments

Since 2014 the guests of Chicken Shop Date have gotten bigger and bigger. Charli XCX, Rosalia, Matty Healy, Raye, Paul Mescal, and the Jonas Brothers have all appeared on the show with each episode garnering millions of views. The show has generated many viral moments like Amelia dancing for Sabrina Carpenter while she awkwardly watches and playing air guitar for Matty Healy. By far the most viral episode is the interview with Andrew Garfield. Although Amelia flirts with all of her guests - after all they are on a date - the flirting in the interview seems to be genuine. They both say that in past interactions "it's been vibey" and describe both meetups as ‘meet cutes’ with Andrew asking Amelia "If this wasn't here do you think we would actually go on a date? Do you think this is fucked up that we actually could have gone on a date at some point ?". After the video, the audience was left wondering if the vibes were real and hoping for the pair to meet up again. This interaction would not have happened if the interview hadn't placed Amelia and Andrew in the context of a date. It is this genuine awkwardness that arises that makes the show so charming. 

 Inspiration

Unsurprisingly, the success of Chicken Shop Date has inspired other candid interview shows. Hot Ones is a YouTube talk show created and hosted by Sean Evans which involves interviewing celebrities over a platter of increasingly spicy chicken. Although the questions are much more planned and Sean doesn’t have the disinterested attitude of Amelia it is hard to deny the similarities. Royal Court hosted by Brittany Broski sees Britany as the Fearless Leader of ‘Broski Nation’ and recruits celebrities to her council to perform a series of tasks. The bizarre medieval theme has a very similar effect to the chicken shop as it throws off the celebrities and results in more authentic responses. The Puppy Interview asks celebrities questions while a group of puppies bombards them. Again, the focus is putting these celebrities in an unexpected situation to get candid reactions and to make them more relatable to the audience. 

Impact 

Chicken Shop Date shows how drastically the media landscape can change. The transition from formal interviews to these candid situations with celebrities has been huge and has changed the way we view the celebrities themselves. Amelia has broken down the shiny veneer of celebrity and shown the real characters behind these public personas. Her making fun of these celebrities and acting disinterested brings them to our level so we can relate to them. The dates allow the audience to explore what it would be like to be friends with these people rather than worshipping them for their fame and achievements. It makes something as unrelatable as having an interview with Ed Sheeran seem relatable. As trends continue to change who knows what form of chat show will become popular? And who knows, maybe Amelia and Andrew will eventually go on a real date?

Whatch an episode featuring Billie Eilish below: