MTV Awkwardly Ripped Off 'Hot Ones', and Host Sean Evans Noticed

On Monday morning, actor and director Kevin Smith tweeted a link to his latest YouTube video, which was "an unnecessary knockoff show we invented" after being curved by Hot Ones. Smith said that he and his longtime co-star Jason Mewes asked about appearing on the First We Feast series, but they were turned down.

But instead of getting salty about it, Smith and Mewes filmed their own version of the show called "Not Ones"—produced by "First We Least"—which opens with a literal wink to the camera and a thumbs up. "There's a show online where they have famous people on and they eat increasingly hot food, and they talk about whatever they're working on," Smith explains, before Mewes starts sampling the hot sauces that he's lined up in the center of the table.

The two are promoting the Jay & Silent Bob Reboot and their Reboot Roadshow, but mostly they spent ten-ish minutes repeating the "Hot Ones" setup. While Mewes sampled a couple of different hot sauces, Smith asked him a series of questions about his life and career. (Smith also got the sauces in the wrong order, which meant that Mewes' unsuspecting salivary glands were hit with 1.5 million Scoville units with pretty much zero warning).

Their lowkey tribute was fine —and it was 1.5 million times better than Tusk—and it was also the second time in a week that Hot Ones was remade by somebody else. A few days ago, MTV posted its own knockoff called "Wild Sauce," which was sponsored by Wendy's, and yeah, Hot Ones noticed.

"How come when weirdos like MTV jack Hot Ones they do it all the way down to the shitty budget set?" host Sean Evans tweeted. He's not wrong: MTV's setup involves the same simple set, with a black background, black tablecloth, and multiple servings of hot sauce, obvs. (The biggest difference is that on "Wild Sauce," Charlie Clips and Conceited had to drink the sauce, which gross.)

MTV was appropriately roasted in the video's comments. "Ima have to call Hot Ones," one person wrote. "Y’all really just stole the idea from hot ones and thought no one would notice," another added. When reached for comment, an MTV spokesperson just pointed VICE to an almost year-old "Wild Sauce" segment with a completely different setup, which is supposed to prove… something.

The newest episode of Hot Ones—the real Hot Ones—features Ashton Kutcher, who said that he "legit lost his hearing" trying to power through this season's sauce selection. Now that's a spicy talk show.