When the “Ask Her More” movement forced reporters to replace traditional fashion questions at the foot of the red carpet with other topics, many wondered what the new rules were for these mini-interviews at the entrance to events. While the likes of the iconic Joan Rivers made the most merciless irony the norm when it came to questioning celebrities (Mariah Carey recalls how, when the comedian alluded to her weight in a pre-Oscars interview, she was forced to to appear at the ceremony with new means (fears as partners in action), we experience the return of humor. In Spain, Susi Caramelo is responsible for ensuring that laughter accompanies the questions that celebrities have to answer at galas and premieres, and in English-speaking countries the power of laughter has been incorporated into presentations by an icon of the digital universe: the British Amelia Dimoldenberg.
Amelia Dimoldenberg interviews Margot Robbie at the European premiere of “Barbie” in London in July 2023. Neil Mockford (FilmMagic)
Fooling around, roasting, awkwardness and laughter: the Dimoldenberg recipe
10 years ago, the Londoner founded “Chicken Shop Date”, a YouTube show that could be described as a kind of “First Dates”, in which the presenter meets celebrities such as Jennifer Lawrence, Rosalía or the Jonas Brothers in various enclaves of London to try fried chicken while interviewing her. Tired of seeing that the questions many media outlets ask celebrities are virtually identical, she decided to interview celebrities as if they were on a date. The reason fried chicken was born as a meeting enclave? Someone recommended that she choose a place where she would never go on a date, and she thought a fried chicken restaurant would be the perfect place. The rest is history, fries and a lot of humor. People love watching how celebrities deal with their bizarre attitudes, how characters used to doing blunt interviews answer their unusual questions, face their shameless flirting and, despite awkward silences, one of the biggest nightmares before the Camera, holding together, is as disturbing as it is attractive. The likes of Chelsea Handler, Ziwe and even David Broncano have made celebrity interviews no longer a walk in the clouds by making the Zascas part of the show, and Dimoldenberg has managed to develop a voice of his own, which has fascinated celebrities and fans alike of its format, who with their support show that attitude and good mood are now giving way to a new way of interviewing.
“Chicken Shop Date is the name of my YouTube channel that I created during my first year studying fashion journalism at Central Saint Martins. My teacher hated it. When I was 17, I had my first date at a fried chicken restaurant. The show began in 2011 as a column in an impromptu youth magazine called The Cut. So I asked a friend to take photos while I interviewed various London artists, and three years later I made the leap to video. I chose YouTube as my platform because I liked that you didn't have to pay or subscribe to watch the content. Over the next few years the program became increasingly popular,” Dimoldenberg wrote in The Guardian.
Her show is so popular that Dimoldenberg also regularly appears as a red carpet reporter at the most exclusive events, where she has made her sense of humor as commonplace as big brands. His two interviews with Andrew Garfield went viral because the complicity between them was so palpable and striking that social networks were responsible for analyzing every single frame, while the rest of the world was wondering whether the fooling around was part of a performance or not his interviews are really part of a performance The romantic comedy we need. Do we really watch famous people flirt? Is Dimoldenberg's channel a window from which to watch celebrities on a date without the need for filters or scripts? At the GQ Awards (2022), it was Garfield himself who came up to her to show his admiration (“Do you know who I am?” she asked in surprise, before telling him that she had been trying for some time had to go on a date with him), and at the Globes of Gold the flirtation continued until he finally talked about the compatibility of their star signs.
The art of going your own way
As expected, she has already been noticed by brands (she was an ambassador for Coach and Olay) and her YouTube show has been tested by various television networks, but the Brit has preferred to set up her own production company, Dimz Inc., to ensure that You have absolute control over the content. Channel 4 had no interest in the show, BBC Three wanted to take over the rights to it and a third broadcaster, not wanting clarification, offered it £500 for the rights. He rejected both proposals and was not influenced by Channel 4's “no”. “At Dimz Inc. we are allergic to generic content. We create original audiovisual content that subverts the usual narrative and looks at various topics from a different perspective. “As we are obsessed with pop culture, we have our audience in mind above all to create what they are looking for by exploring all facets of life in our catalog,” says the production company’s website, where we all see her work, from her iconic red carpet interviews for her cooking show, Amelia's Cooking Show. In addition to his production company, he even has a representative office in the United States.
The journalist confesses that she is in the middle of WIP (Work In Progress) to be able to stay true to her character in interviews, as sometimes it is not easy for her to maintain her pose as a sharp and cheeky character deep down. She wants the interviewee to like her. , a common problem among journalists and one that she solves under the watchful eyes of her channel's more than two million subscribers.
He writes a few scripts that help him learn the basics of storytelling, while also admitting that he self-taped (a remote casting self-recording that casting directors use to make initial selections) for various comedic roles to play. But until these new potential career paths come to fruition, her next big moment is just around the corner: Amelia Dimoldenberg will become a social media ambassador and red carpet correspondent for the Oscars. As the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences' digital magazine A.frame explains, this position was created for “those with strong connections to the entertainment industry and social networks,” a role for which Brits are perfectly suited. “It's a dream come true. I'm so excited to do something original and put my own stamp on the Oscars, creating truly incredible moments and delivering breathtaking interviews – an innovative way of doing pop culture journalism is on the rise! At least I hope so… I try not to put too much pressure on myself, but I want to do a really good job,” he tells the outlet.
The queen of DIY work is creating her own career after shaping both the channel and the content with which she wants to build a career focused on fulfilling her dreams, changing interview formats and, why not, the Focused on flirting with Hollywood's most desirable celebrities. And all this without losing her own voice and moving away from the figure of the talkative and smug reporter of yesterday, today degraded by irony and disrespect.