When the movement Ask her more It made the reporters have to change the classic questions focused on fashion at the foot of the red carpet for other types of topics, many wondered what the new rules were then for those mini-interviews at the entrance of the events. While figures like the iconic Joan Rivers made the most ruthless irony the motto when interrogating celebrities (Mariah Carey remembers how the comedian, when alluding to her weight in an interview prior to the Oscars, was forced to perform at the ceremony with new fears as acting partners), we witness the return of the sense of humor. In Spain, Susi Caramelo has been responsible for ensuring that laughter accompanies the questions that celebrities have to answer at galas and premieres, and in the English-speaking world the power of laughter has been installed in presentations by the hand of a icon of the digital universe: the British Amelia Dimoldenberg.
Fooling around, frying, awkwardness and laughter: the Dimoldenberg recipe
10 years ago, the Londoner created Chicken Shop Date, a Show of YouTube that could be defined as a kind of First Dates, in which the presenter meets celebrities such as Jennifer Lawrence, Rosalía or the Jonas Brothers to try fried chicken in different locations in London while she interviews them. Tired of seeing that the questions that many media outlets ask celebrities are practically identical, she decided to interview celebrities as if they were on a date. The reason for the cribs of the fried chicken as an enclave of meetings? Someone recommended that he choose a place where he would never go on a date, and he thought a fried chicken restaurant would be the ideal place. The rest is history, fries and a lot of humor. People love to watch how celebrities deal with their bizarre attitude, seeing figures accustomed to handling blunt interviews answering their unusual questions, confronting their shameless flirtation, and keeping it together in the face of awkward silences, one of the biggest nightmares in front of the cameras, is as disturbing as it is attractive. Figures like Chelsea Handler, Ziwe and even David Broncano have made interviews stop being a walk in the clouds for the celebs when making the zascas part of the show, and Dimoldenberg has managed to achieve his own voice that has captivated celebrities and fans of his format alike, who demonstrate with their support that posturing and good-naturedness now give way to a new way of interviewing.
“Chicken Shop Date is the name of my YouTube channel, which I created during my first year studying fashion journalism at Central Saint Martins. My tutor hated it. I had my first date at a fried chicken restaurant when I was 17. The program began in 2011 as a column in an improvised youth magazine called The Cut. So, I asked a friend to take photos while I interviewed different 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 view the content. Over the next few years, the program became more popular,” Dimoldenberg wrote in Guardian.
Her show is so popular that Dimoldenberg is also a regular reporter on the red carpet at the most exclusive events, where she has made her sense of humor as common as big brands. Her two interviews with Andrew Garfield went viral as the complicity between them was so palpable and striking that social networks were in charge of analyzing each frame while the rest of the world wondered if the fooling around is part of a performance or if his interviews are really the romcom what do we need. Are we really watching famous people flirt? Is Dimoldenberg’s channel a window from which to see celebrities on a date, without filters or scripts involved? At the awards GQ (2022) it was Garfield himself who approached her to show his admiration (“Do you know who I am?” she asked him in surprise before telling him that she had been trying to go on a date with him for some time), and in the Golden Globesthe flirtation continued to the point of ending up talking about the compatibility of their zodiac signs.
The art of building your own path
As expected, brands have already noticed her (she has been an ambassador for Coach and Olay) and her Show YouTube has been tested by various television channels, but the British company has preferred to create its own production company, Dimz Inc, to ensure that it has absolute control of the content. Channel 4 was not interested in the program, BBC Three wanted to take over the rights to it and a third channel that did not want to clarify offered it £500 for the rights. He rejected both proposals and did not let Channel 4’s “no” affect him. “At Dimz Inc. we are allergic to generic content. We make original audiovisual content that subverts the usual narrative and delves into different themes from a different prism. Obsessed with pop culture, we keep our audience in mind, first and foremost, to create what they are looking for by exploring all facets of life within our catalogue,” it reads. the producer’s websitewhere we can see all of her work, from her iconic red carpet interviews to her cooking show, Amelia’s Cooking Show. In addition to having his production company, he even has a representation agency in the United States.
The journalist confesses that she is in the middle of WIP (Work In Progress) to be able to remain faithful to her character during interviews, because sometimes it is not easy for her to maintain her pose as an edge and cheeky character when deep down, she wants the interviewee to like her, a common problem among journalists and one that she is solving in front of the attentive look of the more than two million subscribers that his channel has.
He is writing some scripts with which he is learning the ropes of narrative while confessing to having done some self tape (a self-recording of casting at a distance with which the directors of casting they make a first selection) to play different comic roles. But until these new potential career paths for her come to fruition, her next big moment is very close to her: Amelia Dimoldenberg will be the social media ambassador and red carpet correspondent for the Oscars. As she explains the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences’ own digital magazine, A.frame, This position has been created for “those who have strong ties to the entertainment industry and social networks”, a role for which the British woman is undoubtedly perfect. “It is a dream come true. I’m so excited to be able to do something original and put my own stamp on the Oscars, create truly incredible moments and deliver mind-blowing interviews – an innovative way of doing pop culture journalism is coming! Or so I hope, at least… I’m trying not to put too much pressure on myself, but I want to do a really good job,” she explains to the outlet.
The queen of DIY work is creating her own career after having shaped both the channel and the content with which to build a career focused on fulfilling her dreams, transforming interview formats and, why not, flirting with the most desired celebrities in Hollywood . All, without losing her own voice and moving away from the figure of the talkative and complacent reporter of yesteryear who, today, has been relegated by irony and irreverence.
