How else are we supposed to know how our favorite actors and musicians act on dates? After 12 years, Amelia Dimoldenberg is calling it quits on Chicken Shop Date, the YouTube video series where she interviews (and awkwardly flirts with) celebrities over fried chicken.
“I never thought I’d stop Chicken Shop Date,” Dimoldenberg wrote in a letter posted on September 3. “I thought maybe it would be part of me forever, and in some way it always will be, but I feel like it’s now time for me to move on from this adventure and onto a new one.”
The English comedian and presenter also said that before closing shop, she would release a few more episodes of the show, which started in 2014 and initially featured local grime artists as guests. Over the years, the show became a sought-after press stop for film and music releases, and grew Dimoldenberg’s YouTube following to 3.45 million as of this writing.
Things aren’t totally over for Dimoldenberg. She still has her Passenger Princess video series, in which Formula 1 drivers teach her how to drive, and a few upcoming projects that see her expanding her work outside hosting.
In February, she announced that she was developing a romantic comedy film for Amazon MGM Studios’ Orion Productions, with SKAM Austin and Girls writer Sarah Heyward on board to write the script. She also recently said that she was working on a young adult drama series she described as “my version of Skins.” While the BBC hasn’t greenlit the project, we believe that Dimoldenberg will see it through; she’s already got her foot in the door with cameos in The Devil Wears Prada 2 and Industry (in the latter, as a journalist named Vivian Poulet-Magasin, which literally translates to Vivian “chicken shop”).
Press cycles won’t be the same without Dimoldenberg’s beloved show. As we wait for the final episodes of Chicken Shop Date, we look at some of the best, most memorable episodes, listed by release date.
Daniel Kaluuya
Dimoldenberg’s star was destined to rise even in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic when her date with British actor Daniel Kaluuya went viral in early 2020. The Get Out star was her first big guest, and his appearance on the show introduced wider audiences to the simultaneously awkward and charismatic content creator. The episode also showed us how nice it could be to make Kaluuya laugh.
Louis Theroux
“My money don’t jiggle jiggle, it folds” came from this episode of Chicken Shop Date. Here, Dimoldenberg went toe-to-toe with American-British documentarian Louis Theroux, who showed her his rapping skills and American accent. “Do I give off single energy?” Dimoldenberg asks. Theroux, 53 at the time, replies, “No, I don’t even know what that would be.”
Cher
No episode of Chicken Shop Date gagged me as badly as the one with Cher, which was released in December 2023. Cher doesn’t do many interviews anymore, so to stop by the chicken shop must have been an honor for Dimoldenberg. As for how Cher felt about the date, “I’m actually not happy to be here, but I’m actually happy to join you.”
Billie Eilish
You can always count on Billie Eilish to flirt in an interview. In this episode, the “LUNCH” singer seems to turn the show on Dimoldenberg, asking her questions about what smells she hates, what kind of person she dreams of dating, and what turns her on. Eilish is such a good flirt, it makes Dimoldenberg’s flirting feel more genuine, even though she’s been on so many of these dates.
Andrew Garfield
The episode with Andrew Garfield, released in October 2024, has 13 million views for a good reason: there’s lore here. To fans, Garfield and Dimoldenberg seemed to share some chemistry on the red carpet, from the 2022 GQ Men of the Year Awards to the 2023 Golden Globes, where Garfield said, “I only ever want to see you.” In the video, he says, “This is fucked up, the fact that we could have actually gone on a [real] date at some point.”
Alex Consani
One of Chicken Shop Dates’ more recent gems is the episode with model and TikTokTikTokA social media platform for creating, sharing, and discovering short-form videos, featuring music, trends, challenges, and personalized content.Go to TikTok Glossary star Alex Consani, who starts the video blowing vape rings to impress Dimoldenberg. Consani is just as funny in the show as she is on social media, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen Dimoldenberg so close to breaking RBF. “I actually would love to be a dancer,” she tells her guest. Consani replies, “Ayy! Background?”
Frequently Asked Questions
Chicken Shop Date started in 2014 as an offshoot of Amelia Dimoldenberg’s column for London-based magazine The Cut (not to be confused with the New York magazine). The show’s early guests included local grime rappers, the first being Ghetts.
No, Dimoldenberg and Garfield are not dating. The two have both clarified that they are only friends.
Though Amelia Dimoldenberg has announced that she’s retiring the show, she has not given a date for the YouTube show’s final episode yet.
Amelia Dimoldenberg produces Chicken Shop Date through her own production company, Dimz Inc.
As of writing, the YouTube show currently has a total of 115 episodes, which includes a second episode with its first-ever guest Ghetts and one episode with the characters of the stop-motion animated film Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget. Her latest guest is Zara Larsson.
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