I think the hot wings do a couple things, give them a sort of trajectory for the interview, make interviewee more vulnerable, and gimmick for brand recognition. The interviewer is also just really good at his job and asks interesting questions, so it could probably work without that stuff but certainly wouldn't have the notoriety it currently does.
Eating hot wings is a pretty standard food challenge in the states. Many local wings places were doing it long before this YouTube show. (Like "if you can eat this plate of ghost pepper wings you get them for free and your picture on the wall") I don't know much about the brand but they definitely were always planning on doing food related things based on the name "first we feast" and this idea makes sense. The interviews are otherwise normal and like I said have this guy who's a good interviewer. If you're curious, find a celebrity you like and watch that episode. Or you can just forget the whole thing because I assure you there are much weirder premises for interview shows.
totally understand the premise of eating hot wings, I have a friend who is super into them and enters contents and impresses large men with her heat-eating ability
it's just baffling to me as a context for Getting To Know Someone, which I'm beginning to understand is how some of you are seeing it
idk how else to explain that it's weird to me that watching someone suffer a food makes them relatable/likable, which leaves me with the idea that it's me that's weird here
everybody else gets it, and I get that, but it is very weird to me
edit: also, I'm not looking for weird interview shows to make celebrities relatable. they will never be relatable to me, fuck celebrities ❤️
The juxtaposition of the challenge and the interview was the novelty that I think gave hot ones its initial appeal though, to be trite the suffering is the point