The Art of The Chicken Shop Date
Image Courtesy: Chicken Shop Date via Instagram
Attention celebrities all around the world! Tell your assistants to make room in your press tours for a date with Amelia Dimoldenburg. Scrap the classic late-night interview shows like Kimmel, Fallon, or Myers to gain promo towards your projects or even to garner general interest in yourself. You can simply land yourself a date with Dimoldenberg on her YouTube show, “Chicken Shop Date.” With her magnetic and hilarious personality bringing out the best in her guests, you must make room in your schedule. There are no limits on the guests. Singers, actors, comedians, athletes are all welcome. And there is no limit on where the conversation will go.
Its success has been proven through the channel’s recent ten-year anniversary and 2.29 million subscribers. The concept itself is quite brilliant. A date is essentially the most intimate and unexpected interview that anyone could experience. It's the ultimate way to make an interesting and even mortifying first impression. So Dimoldenberg elevates that situation by putting an A-list celebrity across a tiny plastic table in a fast-food chicken restaurant.
No matter the guest, the audience is bound to fall in love with them and their dynamic with Dimoldenberg. Her comments are always a witty rollercoaster. One moment, she will say something incredibly flirty and awkward, and the next, she will be completely uninterested in the guest. The responses to her remarks are varied, including sparks flying, equally playful banter, and awkward laughs. Nonetheless, they are appreciated by the viewers.
The show doesn’t embellish much, emphasizing its authentic environment and origins. Each interview is initially about 40 minutes, which may seem surprising since the actual edit is about seven minutes on average. The questions cut straight to the point, and after a particularly awkward or flirty moment, it will cleverly cut to a B-roll of the restaurant's workers and food. It doesn’t give much time for the viewer to ponder on the question and answer, making it seem as though they are on the date. Dimoldenberg described the process as just rapid-firing questions at the talent. This quick conversational energy is what makes the show so entertaining.
She attributes the success of the show to her complete creative control over the channel. Initially, she interviewed U.K. rap artists in London. She pitched the show to BBC and Vice but was shot down. Those who were interested wanted to own the copyright to the show. Now, she is grateful that she declined those offers. By owning the show, she is able to choose the guests and how often she produces. It's also another factor that makes the channel so successful. The fact that interviews only get uploaded about two times a month keeps it exciting and exclusive.
As shown through recent videos, Dimoldenberg has no problem getting big celebrities. Jennifer Lawrence, Phoebe Bridgers, Shania Twain, and Ed Sheeran are some of the names who have shared a meal with her. Even the fabulous Cher, who is one of the last people you would expect in a fast-food chicken shop, joined in on the fun. Clips from Chicken Shop have gone viral in the past year, the most notable being from her date with Louis Theroux, a documentarian. His rap “my money don’t jiggle jiggle, it folds” blew up on TikTok.
Image Courtesy: Chicken Shop Date via Instagram
While Dimoldenberg plays a character that seems like a fish out of water when it comes to dates, her confidence is shown through her quick insults. Actor Paul Mescal was one of her recent victims, with Dimoldenberg poking fun at his short filmography and putting an emphasis on his loss at the Oscars.
Image Courtesy: Chicken Shop Date via Youtube
Her most recent guest was Formula 1 driver Lando Norris. He is typically not one to shy away from sarcastic and flirty comments. Yet, in the interview, he is seen to be much more shy than normal and even struggles to make eye contact with Dimoldenberg. In the beginning, he confesses that he didn’t follow her back on Instagram because he was “just playing hard to get,” but is following her now. She claps back with, “I didn’t even notice” and, in turn, throws him off. In the end, she compromises by saying they shouldn’t follow each other and should keep their relationship a secret. Norris responds with a simple “I’m down” and a smirk.
She never fails to make even the most confident celebrities flustered, making both her and the guest even more endearing.
She then questions Norris about his race car saying, “I hear it's quite hot in there.” To which he responds with, “Uh, yeah it’s very hot. Yeah, sweaty and-”. Dimoldenberg then cuts him off with an “Even hotter if I was in there.” He charmingly chuckles and smiles without responding. In the media that Norris does for Formula 1, he usually does not back down from innuendo, making his reaction all the more endearing.
It also wouldn’t be a Chicken Shop Date without a jab at the guest’s career. In Norris’ six seasons of racing, he has yet to place first. So when she asks him what the fastest he’s ever driven is, he says about 230 miles per hour. In response, she says, “Oh, that’s disappointing. I thought you’d go faster than that.” Norris replies with a weak, “I’m working on it.”
And it seems he did, in fact, go faster. Not long after the episode aired, Norris got his first podium of the year by placing third in the Australian Grand Prix. Even in the comments of F1’s announcement, the pair were flirting. So basically, if you go on a date with Amelia, you instantly have good luck. It’s science!
Dimoldenberg puts a refreshing twist on an old gimmick: hosts hitting on their guests. She represents how many internet-obsessed people would act on a date with an attractive A-list celebrity. Each interview shows how embracing your awkwardness can be powerful. Every episode never fails to be a wild ride, leaving the audience on the edge of their seat for the next one.
Strike Out,
Kim Nguyen
Boca Raton
Kim Nguyen is a Content Writer for Strike Magazine Boca. When not overthinking, this fangirl is either consuming romance media, Vietnamese coffee, or Beyoncé's discography. You can reach her by email at kimvunguyen14@gmail.comor on Instagram @kimnguyen1_.
