Will Smith Broke Down During His Hot Ones Interview But Fans Aren't Supporting His Attempted Comeback

Summary

• Will Smith's appearance on Hot Ones was not a reveal of secrets, but a painful and emotional journey for the actor.
• Even with ice cream breaks, Will struggled through the spicy wings, attributing his tears and struggles to the hot sauce levels.
• Despite crying and sweating, Will expressed a sense of accomplishment at the end, though viewers were not all sympathetic to his suffering.

Will Smith is not the kind of actor to hide behind pretense, and he has gotten very real with fans, especially after the incident with Chris Rock. So when Will sat down with Sean Evans on Hot Ones, fans might have been hoping for some juicy reveals.

Perhaps disappointingly, Will's time on Hot Ones wasn't full of confessions or secrets revealed. Instead, it was a painful 20-plus minutes of watching Will get sweaty, tear up, choke, and even cry. Here's what happened when Will Smith went on Hot Ones, why he thought he looked stupid during the interview, and what viewers thought of the whole thing... hint... they weren't buying his attempt at a Hollywood comeback following his Oscars slap.

Will Smith Couldn't Take The Spice On Hot Ones While Promoting Bad Boys: Ride Or Die

Most celebrities seem to time their Hot Ones interviews for the promotion of their upcoming projects, and Will Smith was no different. Ahead of the release of Bad Boys: Ride or Die, Will opted to sit down with Sean Evans and answer some complex questions while hot sauce melted his brain.

Unlike other famous folks, Will seemed to really struggle while eating his hot ones, even from the very first, lowest-Scoville wing. Will teared up with his first dab of hot sauce, but he was easily able to answer Sean's question about why Bad Boys was still going strong after 30 years.

Will said he was "committing" with his second hot sauce, but he had to blink back tears. He also told Sean he was "no punk." At that point, Will apologized to Sean for getting distracted by his watering eyes. Will enjoyed the third wing — or at least he said he did — though his eyes were still watery. No tears had yet spilled, but Will appeared to be struggling.

Will said he was feeling cocky around the fourth wing, but after he tasted the hot sauce — a barbecue combination — his eyebrows seemed to say something different. With his eyebrows knitted, Will said the sauce was "interesting" but that he felt good.

By the fifth wing, Sean had to caution Will against rubbing his eyes with his used napkin.

Will said, as he tore into his sixth hot one, that he was losing his ability to talk to people. While chewing, Will said, "I'm feeling really inarticulate." That was around the 71,000 Scoville level, which Will later chastised Sean for knowing but not giving him a heads up about. Will also joked that he thought he was trying hot sauce number six, but that instead, it was a 9.5.

A few interesting quotes came from the interview, including Will's reflection on the taste of the hot sauces underneath the heat.

"The taste is good, it's just messed up by the hot."

Interestingly, Will's sixth wing was also accompanied by an intriguing question: Sean asked what the hardest hit was that Will had ever taken on set. Will recalled that his hardest hit was when he filmed Ali with Michael Bentt; Bentt punched him in the head as Will leaned down, which compressed his head into his spine and left him feeling an electrical sensation all through his body.

As commenters reflected, odds are that Will's team probably warned Sean Evans not to ask about the Chris Rock slap — one of Will's biggest-ever scandals — and he didn't. But asking Will about his own hardest hit seemed like an interesting juxtoposition, especially as Will melted down on the set.

Will Smith Admitted He Felt Stupid For Melting Down On Hot Ones

By the time he bit into his seventh hot wing, Will felt like he was losing it. Not only did everything hurt and burn, but he also felt like he wasn't doing a good job of keeping a poker face.

"I feel like I look stupid. Do I look stupid, 'cause I'm trying to keep movie star face. 'Cause movie star face is important."

Sean reassured him that he still looked plenty like a movie star, but under the studio lights, Will did appear to be getting redder and sweating. He also sniffled before getting ready for Sean's next question. His focus on his appearance made sense, especially given the real reason Will Smith started acting. After all, Smith has said he thought movie stars didn't get cheated on, though ironically, that didn't turn out to be the case.

With the eighth wing, Will seemed like he choked while eating, and finally took a sip of milk, saying "that was the one." He coughed, sputtered, wiped his eyes and nose, and had to ask Sean to repeat himself after he was asked a question.

At that point, an edited-in yell from Idris Elba played in the background, while Sean joked about Will hitting Idris-level reactions to the wings. Near the end of the interview, Will explained that Idris was the only reason he agreed to do Hot Ones, because if Idris did it, then it was legit.

Idris had a similar experience as Will on Hot Ones, even getting "angry" at one point because, he said, that's the best way to tackle fear. But unlike Will, Idris did not appear to cry while eating his wings.

Will's hand was also shaking as he lifted his glass of milk, and while playing a 'guess the Will Smith movie based on a tagline' kept wiping his nose and eyes.

Will Got A Reprieve On Hot Ones, But Viewers Weren't On His Side

Sean did throw Will a figurative bone before the ninth hot one, and had someone offstage deliver each of them a bowl of ice cream. Will slathered ice cream on his lips before continuing, but he dove into wing number nine with gusto. After tearing into it, he could no longer open his eyes, and couldn't focus on Sean's next question.

YouTube commenters had a field day with Will's suffering, with one highly-upvoted comment joking that Will had said, "This sauce slaps harder than me." Another proposed the idea that Smith's PR team was "swimming against the tide" by pushing him to sit down with Evans.

Will Smith has been working on attempting a career comeback, and it's possible that the Hot Ones appearance was part of the PR plan. But based on Will's experience, it wasn't an easy way to get back into the public's good graces.

With tears in his eyes, and sniffling, Will struggled through the question of why he was so good at Monopoly. He then ate the tenth wing with his eyes closed, and tears ran down his face as he listed his four best movies.

Will named Pursuit of Happyness, the first Men in Black, I Am Legend, and King Richard while actively crying what he called "spicy tears."

By the end of the interview, tears still on his face, Will appeared swollen and in pain. But he confirmed he was glad he had come to Hot Ones, saying, "I feel accomplished... uh... someone's gonna have to drive me home."