‘Spill your guts or fill your guts’: Performative celebrity masochism and audience sadism in food challenge media

ABSTRACT

This article argues for the consideration of food challenge media as a mode in which the audience’s sadistic desire for the levelling of celebrities ‘through personal humiliation’ is captured and repurposed through the performative masochism of the celebrities themselves. Celebrity food challenge media, a term which I use to refer to programming such as a The Late Late Show with James Corden segment called ‘Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts’ and the YouTube show Hot Ones, exists as a space in which celebrities (who tend to typify ostentatious wealth) allow for controlled humiliation in order to diffuse legitimate anger and critique from the audience in an era of soaring inequality. This article posits that in exchange for light humiliation, such as the consumption of an ostensibly disgusting food or the pain of an incredibly spicy hot sauce, the celebrity retains the power, privilege, and income afforded to them by their celebrity status.

KEYWORDS:

• Food challenge media
• celebrity schadenfreude
• performative masochism
• tabloidisation
• gossip media

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Filmography

A League of Their Own, 2010-ongoing. CPL Productions and SKY.

Celebrity Big Brother, 2001–2018. Bazal, Endemol UK Productions, Remarkable Television and Initial.

Celebrities Read Mean Tweets #7, 2014. YouTube. Uploaded by Jimmy Kimmel Live! May 22^nd [online]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imW392e6XR0&ab_channel=JimmyKimmelLive.

Celebrities Read Mean Tweets #12, 2019. YouTube. Uploaded by Jimmy Kimmel Live! September 26 [online]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLTOiQ8gXp4&ab_channel=JimmyKimmelLive.

Fat Friends, 2000–2005. Rollem Productions and ITV.

Gavin & Stacy, 2007–2019. Baby Cow Productions and BBC.

Gordon Ramsay Savagely Critiques Hot Wings | Hot Ones, 2019. YouTube. Uploaded by First We Feast 24^th January [online]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9DyHthJ6LA&t=1084s&ab_channel=FirstWeFeast.

I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, 2002-ongoing. Granada and LWT.

James Corden Responds to Bill Maher’s Fat Shaming Take, 2019. YouTube, uploaded by The Late Late Show with James Corden, 13th September [online]. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ax1U04c4gaw&ab_channel=TheLateLateShowwithJamesCorden.

Jimmy Kimmel Live! 2003-ongoing. ABC.

Keeping Up with the Kardashians, 2007–2021. Ryan Seacrest Productions, Bunim/Murray Productions, NBC.

Kitchen Nightmares, 2007–2014. ITV Studios America and Fox.

Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts w/Kim Kardashian, 2017. YouTube, uploaded by The Late Late Show with James Corden, 16^th November [online]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8XP7A7kvzM&t=86s&ab_channel=TheLateLateShowwithJamesCorden.

Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts w/Kendall Jenner, 2016. YouTube, uploaded by The Late Late Show with James Corden, 17^th November [online]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQoGySDhdcE&ab_channel=TheLateLateShowwithJamesCorden.

The Late Late Show With James Corden, 2015-ongoing. Fulwell73 and CBS Studios.

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, 2014-ongoing. Broadway Video and Universal Television, NBC.

Comments

Aashna, 2017. Comment on ‘Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts w/Kim Kardashian.’ YouTube, uploaded by The Late Late Show with James Corden, 16^th November [online]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8XP7A7kvzM&t=86s&ab_channel=TheLateLateShowwithJamesCorden.

David, Edward, 2019. 2017. Comment on ‘Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts w/Kim Kardashian.’ YouTube, uploaded by The Late Late Show with James Corden, 16^th November [online]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8XP7A7kvzM&t=86s&ab_channel=TheLateLateShowwithJamesCorden

EK, 2019. Comment on ‘Gordon Ramsay Savagely Critiques Hot Wings | Hot Ones.’ YouTube. Uploaded by First We Feast, 24^th January [online]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9DyHthJ6LA&t=1084s&ab_channel=FirstWeFeast.

I’fay, Nay, 2019. Comment on ‘Gordon Ramsay Savagely Critiques Hot Wings | Hot Ones.’ YouTube. Uploaded by First We Feast, 24^th January [online]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9DyHthJ6LA&t=1084s&ab_channel=FirstWeFeast.

The brown life, 2017. Comment on ‘Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts w/Kim Kardashian.’ YouTube, uploaded by The Late Late Show with James Corden, 16^th November [online]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8XP7A7kvzM&t=86s&ab_channel=TheLateLateShowwithJamesCorden.

Riley M, 2019. 2017. Comment on ‘Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts w/Kim Kardashian.’ YouTube, uploaded by The Late Late Show with James Corden, 16^th November [online]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8XP7A7kvzM&t=86s&ab_channel=TheLateLateShowwithJamesCorden

Vasquez, Ashely, 2019. Comment on ‘Gordon Ramsay Savagely Critiques Hot Wings | Hot Ones.’ YouTube. Uploaded by First We Feast, 24^th January [online]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9DyHthJ6LA&t=1084s&ab_channel=FirstWeFeast.

Notes

1. Celebrity schadenfreude differs from something like ‘ironic viewing’ which, often through the format of reality television, informs the audience that while ‘the people on the screen may be

rich, or spoilt, or beautiful … but you, oh superior viewer, get to judge and mock them, and thus are above them’ (Douglas 2013, p. 150). Celebrity schadenfreude revels in a celebrities levelling, while ironic viewing provides a sense of superiority even if the star in question is not being levelled/humiliated.

2. ‘Controlled’ is important here as it showcases how the humiliation experienced by A-list celebrities differs significantly from the humiliation experienced by the participants on television shows such as The Jeremy Kyle Show (2005–2019),Dr Phil (2002-), or Jerry Springer (1991–2018) who have limited control over their humiliation and the sadistic impulse of the audience. The ability to control said humiliation is directly tied to the agency granted by cultural capital, financial capital, and visibility.

3. Tabloid culture or tabloidization here ‘is devoted to the celebration or dissection of celebrity collapse’ (Littler and Cross 2010, p. 413) as well as ‘dominated by the actions of well-known people, politicians, public officials, sports men and women, celebrities, soon to be celebrities and wannabe celebrities’ (Turner 2004, 75).

4. I reference Spears here as the ‘unyielding harassment’ she faced at the hands of the tabloids and public for her ‘personal and professional setbacks’ (W. Fisher 2011, p. 305) was particularly focused and cruel. The recent ‘Free Britney’ movement has worked to find justice for Spears and revise her legacy from a feminist perspective.

5. It is worth noting that as digital camera and phone technology advanced so did paparazzi culture, with celebrities now subjected to ‘citizen paparazzi’ (McNamara 2011, p. 520) alongside professionals.

6. Mark Fisher (2018) succinctly illustrates how accusations of negativity can be weaponised. Writing about Celebrity Big Brother (2001–2018) contestants Farrah Abraham and Jenna Jameson he notes that despite being ‘relentlessly aggressive and insulting’ they would often attack other contestants for ‘their negativity’, placing their detractors within what has become an unacceptable affective register whilst ‘shoring up [their] own egos’ (259).

7. It is important to note that many of these foods are in fact important culinary touchstones in other cultures and Corden’s positioning of them as disgusting has drawn accusations of racism from many to whom they are not only normative but beloved. A change.org petition for Corden to stop referring to Asian dishes as disgusting generated enough backlash for Corden to publicly state that the show would no longer ‘involve or use any of those foods’ (Kiefer 2021). Whether this change will be implemented remains to be seen as the segment was most recently aired on the 26^th of March 2021, four months before Corden addressed the issue.

8. I’m a Celeb is part of a broader trend towards the rehabilitation of celebrities who have fallen out of the public eye. Shows like Dancing with the Stars (2005-),Strictly Come Dancing (2004-),Celebrity Big Brother, among others allow celebrities to be pulled out of their comfort zones for our entertainment and allow what were once perhaps ‘Z-list’ or even micro-celebrities (Marwick) to become household names.

9. The Kardashians occupy a very particular site in popular culture and trade just as much on discourses of adoration as dismissal. Kim Kardashian, having risen from the ranks of the ‘D-List’ through tabloid speculation and scandal is a useful figure for my purposes but is not a ‘typical’ celebrity.

10. There has been a ‘decisive turn towards the ordinary’ in celebrity culture during the 21^st century. This ordinariness encourages audiences to identify with celebrities and to see celebrity itself as attainable. See Joshua Gamson’s 2011 article ‘The Unwatched Life is Not Worth Living’ for a succinct analysis of this shift.

11. Cool here meaning a ‘rebellious attitude’ (Pountain and Robins 2000, p. 23) which is increasingly associated with ‘street styles, music, aesthetics and attitudes’ (Ilan 2015, p. 17) and can be a manifestation of ‘subcultural capital’ (Thornton 1995).

12. Evans himself was essentially unknown ahead of Hot Ones, having worked as a freelance journalist and interviewer for Complex. He seemingly became used to the hot sauces as time went on due to the weekly nature of the show, noting in an ‘Ask Me Anything’ thread on the r/AMA subreddit that his ‘biology has more or less adjusted’ over time.

13. Significant wealth disparity is also an integral part of celebrity schadenfreude and Ramsay’s net worth was estimated to be over $70 million by Forbes in 2020.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Odin O’Sullivan

Odin O’Sullivan is a second year PhD candidate in UCD. He is currently working on his doctoral thesis entitled ‘Blood, Sweat, Respect:’ A Genealogy of Reactionary Hardbody Cinema and has published work in Feminist Media Studies and the European Journal of Cultural Studies.