Also this summer, Dr. Rick was at the center of a Progressive campaign about seasonal travel. “Un-Becoming Your Parents in Paris” flirted with the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, drifting off the hype without having a direct link to the global sporting event. It included several firsts for the brand, such as a partnership with travel guru Rick Steves, out-of-home ads in major city airports, and a vending machine at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport stocked with free copies of the self-help book Dr. Rick Will See You Now.
An A-list lineup
First We Feast’s The Hot Ones has made its mark via Evans’ strong interviewing skills and a stellar celebrity lineup, with episodes that often go viral. It has racked up more than 3 billion views over its lifespan, and owner BuzzFeed is reportedly in talks with Netflix for custom-created specials on the streaming platform.
Among the A-listers recently eating ridiculously spicy chicken wings with Evans: Chris Hemsworth, Heidi Klum, Sabrina Carpenter, SZA, Ryan Reynolds, and Hugh Jackman. Thursday’s segment stars Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics.
The show, currently in its 25th incarnation, featured a Disney integration last season with an animated version of Donald Duck to celebrate the character’s 90th birthday. The famously hot-headed bird ate cauliflower wings in the video labeled “bonus episode,” and Mickey Mouse was on the sidelines for moral support.
And while guests are usually in the midst of promo tours for their personal projects—for example, Reynolds and Jackman were hyping Deadpool & Wolverine this past summer—the show has not typically been a vehicle for branded content. It’s still to be determined if Dr. Rick’s cameo could signal a future opening for such deals.
Fans of the online series include members of Progressive’s in-house creative team, who proposed the idea of a brand crossover, according to Balogun.
“The comedy in flipping the script on Sean is that Dr. Rick is our own sort of expert provocateur who asks probing questions,” Balogun said.
Filming day was a low-key love fest, she said, with Glass and Evans seeming “a little starstruck” by each other, while the crew dove into the mettle-testing food challenge. “After we wrapped shooting, many of the team on set had the opportunity to try ‘the last dab’ sauce, and I’ll say this, it’s not for the weak.”
