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It’s a format as clever as it is stupid. A celebrity sits at a table; in front of them lies a tray of 10 hot wings, each spicier than the last. As they eat their way through the platter, they answer normal interview questions. By the end, they’re sweating, crying, chugging milk – barely able to form sentences. This is the grand humanising spectacle of Hot Ones.

Initially launched on YouTube in 2015, the hot sauce-slathered interview series hosted by Sean Evans has been nothing short of a revelation for the talk show format. While its early episodes often spotlighted obscure C-listers, with the odd big name such as Machine Gun Kelly or DJ Khaled thrown in, the format rapidly found an audience. Within a few years, Hot Ones had become the first promotional port of call for any A-lister on a press tour: everyone from Ariana Grande to Jennifer Lawrence to Will Smith has been filmed taking on the so-called Wings of Death. On the surface, Hot Ones seemed like abject internet-era gimmickry, but in a sense, it was a throwback – well-researched, quietly probing interviews, conducted one-on-one and at relative length. In its strange, sweaty way, it was rehabilitating the format that mainstream US talk shows had spent a decade slowly cheapening. There’s a reason that Netflix is reportedly in talks to release a live version of the series. But pride, like a too-spicy hot wing, usually precedes a pretty nasty fall.

Over the past couple of years, Hot Ones has, sadly, lost some of its heat. It’s not so much a full shark-jumping as a gradual slide into corporatisation. There are bigger guests, sure, but more predictable ones – and the truly memorable interviews are fewer and further between. There’s been an influx too of promotional stunts: earlier this week, Hot Ones released a clip of the CGI Marvel character Venom attempting the challenge. Recent weeks have also seen Donald Duck and Beetlejuice (not just Michael Keaton, but his character) take on the wings challenge. These are amusing ideas in principle, but one that reduces the series to its crudest gimmick, abandoning the canny human interviewing that was, underneath it all, the real reason for the show’s success. Watching Eric Andre chug hot sauce straight from the bottle and spontaneously smash crockery over his head was an experience of surreal comic beauty. There is nothing funny or spectacular about watching a CGI Venom eat CGI wings and pour CGI milk over his CGI head.

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It may be that Hot Ones is simply running out of road. The eating of hot wings is not a premise that can possibly sustain a Johnny Carson-like longevity, no matter how incisive the questions are. After you’ve watched a few dozen celebrities sweat and dither at the business end of the Scoville scale, you’ve probably seen it all. Rapidly shrinking, too, is the pool of celebrities to pluck from – at a certain point in the not-too-distant future, Evans will have interviewed more or less every A-lister who’s ever likely to agree to appear on the series. (Assuming, for instance, people like Michael Caine or Helen Mirren are a polite “no”.) Already several celebrities have appeared on it twice; the appeal of seeing someone repeat the 10-wing challenge is limited, to say the least.

But there are still pleasures to be found in Hot Ones. In April, talk-show maverick and ex-Simpsons writer Conan O’Brien orchestrated what may be the series’ best and most anarchic episode, a sly and subversive interview that devolved into absurd, grotesque physical comedy. (The episode’s parting image is that of O’Brien, ranting, filthy and with milk spilling from his mouth.)

Many fans suggested that the series should have called it quits there and then: this, surely, cannot be topped. But no. Hot Ones is too big to stop, too heavy to even slow down. The story of its rise is the story of modern entertainment: take something that’s inventive, and fun, and a little offbeat, and start piling money around it. Sooner or later, all you can see is the pile.

‘Hot Ones’ is available to stream on YouTube

MARRIED At First Sight fans are desperate to know an unaired secret that emerged during a blazing row between Stephen Nolson and Hannah Norburn.

The newlyweds came to blows during their honeymoon after Hannah snubbed a request to go out for dinner with her new husband.

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But things then reached fever pitch when Hannah threatened to expose a secret about Stephen’s family in front of the cameras.

Stephen had told his wife the confession off air and was furious when she threatened to expose all mid-argument in the Dominican Republic.

“Don’t you dare go down that route!” Stephen shouted, as they rowed outside their hotel.

He then admitted to the cameras that the secret was about his family.

Fans are now desperately questioning exactly what Stephen had told Hannah so soon after meeting her for the first time on their wedding day.

Writing on X, one begged: “What did he tell Hannah after knowing her for a day that would ruin his relationship with his family?”

Another added: “I NEED to know Stephen’s family gossip.”

And a third remarked: “S*** what did he tell her????”

Hannah and Stephen’s honeymoon to the Caribbean initially got off to a good start as they sunbathed together on the beach.

However, when Stephen later stripped to rubber duck-patterned swimming trucks for an activity, the mood changed.

Hannah was tasked with drawing Stephen but she made several digs about him not being muscular enough or her type.

Stephen let the comments go but confronted her later that night.

Outside their hotel, he told Hannah that he was growing tired of her calling all the shots.

Stephen said: “It has been small things but tonight, when we were going to dinner, the slightest thing and you decided you weren’t hungry.”

Hannah shot back: “I had an opinion!”

Stephen told her: “You make a decision. It’s your way or no way. All I’ve been doing is try to make you comfortable.”

Annoyed, Hannah yelled: “I’m out of my f***ing comfort zone!”

Stephen then accused his wife of ‘turning it into The Hannah Show’ before the off-air secret was brought up.

“You said something off camera and now you’re saying something on camera,” Hannah angrily told him. “You’ve just said want to talk about all the s*** we talked off camera.”

Furious, Stephen warned: “Don’t you dare go down that route!”

Speaking off camera, he admitted: “I told Hannah something about my family in complete confidence off camera and she was going to use it as ammunition.”

Hannah, meanwhile, told the camera crew: “I felt completely and utterly attacked.

“My reaction was to fight back. Imagine someone sitting in front of, ‘You’re this, you’re that’. You’re f***ing rude.”

Stephen decided to spend the night away from Hannah for the second time following their row.

After each spending the next day alone, they reunited for dinner on the beach and agreed to give things another go.

Stephen told Hannah: “If I’m being brutally honest, I’ve been thinking about whether I want it. This marriage. I think for me, I genuinely mean it. I want it to work.

“I think it’s just understanding each other more. I think it’s just baby steps to be honest.”

But although Hannah agreed, she warned Stephen he would now be seeing ;a different side’ to her, as ‘her guard was now up’.

• MAFS continues 9pm, E4, Thursday October 10

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Season 33 of Dancing with the Stars has shimmied its way onto screens, welcoming a new cast of celebrity contestants ready to put their skills to the test for a chance to win the coveted Mirrorball trophy.

The popular dance competition series – the American version of the UK’s Strictly Come Dancing – has welcomed back Julianne Hough and Alfonso Ribiero as co-hosts.

Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli, and Hough’s older brother, Derek Hough, have returned to judge the competition.

Among the star-studded lineup competing this season are former NBA player Dwight Howard, Bachelor franchise stars Joey Graziadei and Jenn Tran, Olympians Ilona Maher and Stephen Nedoroscik, and Family Matters and Die Hard actor Reggie VelJohnson.

Find out below which celebrity’s dance moves didn’t make the cut. This article will be updated weekly.

DWTS airs Tuesdays on ABC at 8pm, with episodes available to stream on Hulu the next day.

Week Two: Oscars Night, Double Elimination

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Anna Delvey

Controversial addition convicted fraudster Anna Delvey was one of two eliminations on the show’s first round of cuts.

For her final performance, she and her professional partner Ezra Sousa danced the Quickstep to “Suddenly I See” from the 2006 comedy Devil Wears Prada.

Following her elimination, Delvey was asked by host Hough what she would be taking away from her time on the show.

“Nothing,” the Russian-born con artist bluntly replied.

Tori Spelling

Beverly Hills, 90210 star Tori Spelling was also eliminated. She and her dance partner Pasha Pashov performed the Rumba to “This Is Me” from The Greatest Showman for their final routine.

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Reacting to her elimination, Spelling told ExtraTV that she was “sad.”

“I feel like I just started my journey, and I was changing so much and really finding myself through this,” the actor said. “I have an amazing [dancing] partner and now friend in life. I’ll be sad. We all got close, really fast. And you hear that happens, but you’re all thrown into this very unique situation in a short amount of time. So I’ll miss my dance family, and I’ll miss dancing with my partner every day.”

Week Four: Hair Metal Night, Double Elimination

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Eric Roberts

After four weeks of receiving some of the lowest scores this season, actor Eric Roberts was given the boot in the second round of double eliminations. Partnered with Britt Stewart, the actor and older brother of Hollywood star Julia Roberts danced the Paso Doble to Warrant’s “Cherry Pie” for his final performance.

Speaking to TV Insider post-elimination, Roberts shared that he’s going to miss Stewart, the crew and the show. “There’s a crew of over 200 people here, and they make you feel like family,” he said. “You fall in love with the show, your partner, everyone here is so kind and so aware.”

Reginald VelJohnson

The oldest cast member this season, Reginald VelJohnson, was also eliminated alongside Roberts.

During his final dance, the Family Matters alum gave a stiff performance of the Cha Cha to “I Wanna Rock” by the Twisted Sisters with his partner Emma Slater.