WINGING IT
Inside crazy world of Chicken Shop Date’s Amelia Dimoldenberg as show bamboozles stars – & why she may have to stop
One celeb interview was so flirtatious that fans were convinced they were dating in real life
SHE is the cult comedian who has devoted her entire career to finding a boyfriend.
And it seems Amelia Dimoldenberg, who somehow manages to make chicken nuggets and chips look sexy, has finally found love.
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Amelia, 31, transformed her own search for a man into the hilarious YouTube chat show Chicken Shop Date, in which she grills unsuspecting stars while flirting outrageously.
Her deadpan delivery has bamboozled more than 90 big-name celebs, including Cher, Sabrina Carpenter, Ryan Reynolds, Billie Eilish, Ed Sheeran, Paul Mescal, Hugh Jackman and Jennifer Lawrence.
On the show, which has more than 180million views and counting, Amelia delights in watching stars squirm as she asks them awkward questions about their love lives while tucking into her favourite fast food.
And finally, it seems she has found love herself, as she has recently started dating Olivia Rodrigo’s ex-boyfriend, Adam Faze.
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The pair are thought to have met through mutual friends and divide their time between London, where Amelia lives, while her beau’s base is in New York.
They were spotted together at a Bafta party on Wednesday.
US film producer Adam, 27, is the brains behind a string of successful short shows for TikTok and Instagram, including the popular series Boy Room, which investigates some of the more bizarre, messy bedrooms of blokes around America.
Amelia launched Chicken Shop Date as a column for her local youth club magazine as, at the time, she had never been out with anyone.
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‘Unglamorous locations’
Interviewing famous faces that she and her friends fancied as a way of setting herself up with them was, she reckoned, a way of “killing two birds, one stone”.
Amelia was always confident her spoof flirty banter would be a hit, revealing: “Maybe I’ve always been delusional, but I’ve always thought I could achieve a lot with it.”
Chicken Shop Date star Amelia Dimoldenberg gets to know Meghan's family in Channel 4 doc Meet the Markles
But when she wanted to take the concept from print to video during her first year as a student at Central Saint Martins College of Art in London, tutors advised her not to.
Fast-forward a decade and she has proved her critics wrong.
The show has been nominated for dozens of awards, she has worked with Charlotte Tilbury on a make-up campaign and is due to set Hollywood alight as a red carpet host at the Oscars.
When Amelia returned to her prestigious college to collect an honorary degree last summer, she told students: “I went into my own graduation feeling somewhat of a failure as I hadn’t received the approval of my tutors.
“Looking back, the judgment is irrelevant.
“What is important was my belief in the idea and the perseverance to continue with it.
“So, often there is not a set route to success but, trust me, that is something to embrace rather than to fear.
“There is always another door to open when one is shut.
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“When I was sitting at my graduation, I could have never predicted the journey my life has taken.”
What started with an underground internet following has now gone mainstream.
Amelia has a lucrative range of Chicken Shop merchandise and has even forged an unlikely friendship with actress Nicole Kidman after they kept crossing paths at events.
We need to keep it authentic, so for me it was important that we did it in a local chicken shop
Amelia
She was chosen to launch Comic Relief in a hilarious sketch with Joanna Lumley last month, and wowed in Charlotte Tilbury’s Christmas campaign alongside Kylie Minogue and Kate Moss.
And Amelia has become well-established as a familiar face on the red carpet, having already hosted cheeky interviews from the Baftas, the Brits, MTV VMAs, GQ Awards and star- studded film premieres, including Barbie and Dune: Part Two.
She impressed as a social media correspondent at the Oscars last year, landing her the gig again at next month’s event.
When she was first picked for the role in 2024, she gushed: “I’m so excited.
“I really, really cannot believe it and can’t wait to get to Los Angeles and do some amazing interviews.
“To be doing this for the Oscars itself is really, where do you go?
“It’s all downhill from here!”
Even though she is a red carpet regular now, Amelia still takes her A-list chat show guests to the most unglamorous locations.
She has been forced to explain to baffled American audiences and guests why she conducts her interviews on cheap plastic seats in brightly lit south London eateries — when they are more used to plush sofas in five-star hotels.
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“You would go to [a chicken shop] for a cheap bite to eat or after a night out.
“But you would never take someone there seriously on a date, which is why it’s the best place to go on a date,” she said on US TV show Late Night With Seth Meyers.
“We need to keep it authentic, so for me it was important that we did it in a local chicken shop.”
Now hailed as a fashion icon, Amelia has come a very long way since her awkward teenage years.
The star, who was born in London to librarian Linda and Paul, a Westminster City Council member, went to St Marylebone School for girls.
She said: “I loved my childhood.
“Sometimes I wish I could go back to it — not a care in the world!
“Actually, that’s a lie.
“I cared about a lot of things, mainly making friends, as I wasn’t that popular when I first started secondary school.
“I had glasses and braces — not the best combination for a 13-year-old.”
Amelia, who celebrated Chicken Shop Date’s tenth anniversary last year, made her first foray into mainstream telly in 2018, when she travelled around America for a Channel 4 show, Meet The Markles.
In it, she got to know the Duchess of Sussex’s family in a bid to get on the guest list for the royal wedding.
Ultimately, she didn’t manage to land that elusive invite.
But one of her most watched interviews, with Spider-Man actor Andrew Garfield last year, was so flirtatious that fans were convinced they were dating in real life.
My ambitions are much larger than Chicken Shop Date, and I need to ensure that it’s not going to go on forever
Amelia
Others speculated that the seemingly sizzling chemistry was little more than an elaborate PR stunt.
The pair first met at GQ’s Men Of The Year Awards in 2022, where they locked eyes and toasted their future date, then again at the Golden Globes in 2023.
Andrew, 41, finally shared a portion of nuggets with Amelia on Chicken Shop Date last October, and she joked: “Don’t, like, bring out a ring or get down on one knee.
“I’m not in the mood today.”
Amazing moment
He told her: “I’m purposefully giving up, because then something unexpected will happen out of nowhere.
“This is called flirting, Amelia, this is called flirting!”
Amelia is still trying to persuade the rapper Drake to join her for a date and hopes he will agree to be her final guest.
The pair have apparently exchanged messages on Instagram, with her telling the Canadian star: “I’ll treat you to a portion of chicken nuggets, it will be the best date of your life.
“It has to be in the UK.
“You have to do the real deal.”
While her dream dinner date has yet to happen, Amelia has revealed: “I thought, from the very beginning, we could definitely get Drake, 100 per cent.
“I think it would be an amazing moment to end on.
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“My ambitions are much larger than Chicken Shop Date, and I need to ensure that it’s not going to go on forever.
“The shop must close down at some point.”
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Comic's best banter
AMELIA’S 40-minute dates are edited into hilarious eight-minute clips.
Here are some of the best moments.
Cher: Amelia gave the singer the giggles when she asked: “Do you believe in conspiracies? Do you believe in aliens? Do you believe in life after love?”
Ryan Reynolds: Amelia asked the Deadpool star: “You were People’s Sexiest Man Alive in 2010, how does it feel to have let yourself go?” He replied: “This is weirdly the best date I’ve ever had.”
Ed Sheeran: Handing over a “gift”, Amelia said: “I got you some new bed sheets because I know you were complaining about them smelling like another woman, so I sprayed my perfume. Now the bedsheets smell like me.”
Jennifer Lawrence: Amelia asked of the star’s two brothers: “They single? I’m not interested, I was wondering in case they were, I could be your sister.”
Billie Eilish: Blushed when Amelia spritzed her perfume onto her cleavage and asked: “Is this turning you on right now that I’m wearing your perfume?” Billie looked at her boobs and replied: “They’re nice.”
Andrew Garfield: Amelia asked if they could date in real life, and he smouldered back: “I believe, maybe we could have, without all of this. I feel like this should just be a practice. I think we should do it again, actually, and better.”
Paul Mescal: As the Gladiator star tried to get serious, she said: “Sad and sexy, isn’t a burden – it’s a privilege.”
Louis Theroux: He was persuaded to rap: “My money don’t jiggle jiggle it folds. I like to see you wiggle wiggle for sure. It makes me want to dribble dribble you know.”
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