Penélope Cruz Says She Had to “Beg” for Ice Cream During Her ‘Hot Ones’ Episode After Spice Overwhelmed Her

Penélope Cruz appeared on the YouTube cooking series “Hot Ones” in a new episode released July 2, telling host Sean Evans that she was “very nervous” at the start and later described having to ask for ice cream after the heat became overwhelming. “I’m doing this because I love your show,” Cruz told Evans, adding that she also enjoys “laughing at other people when they do it,” before the challenge escalated for her personally.

Cruz said she agreed to take on the gauntlet because her children encouraged her to do it, and she joked that she was “for sure ‘cooked’” early in the episode. As she moved through the lineup of sauces, she shifted from steady participation to a more urgent tone, at one point begging for ice cream to cool down. She also described cursing the decision to try the challenge by the end of the tasting.

During the conversation, Evans compared notes with Cruz about prior celebrity guests. He referenced Cruz’s close connection with actress Salma Hayek, describing Hayek as a “good friend,” and asked whether the two had shared any recent adventures together. Cruz said they remain close and characterized their relationship as “like an older sister” dynamic.

Cruz told Evans that the pair had dressed as clowns for Halloween, a plan she said quickly went wrong during a flight. She described being terrified of clowns and said she does not like them “no matter what,” then added the scenario was especially unsettling because, she said, the plane had multiple passengers in clown costumes. In Cruz’s account, the aircraft situation became serious enough that, she said, the pilot instructed passengers to use oxygen masks due to a reported cabin decompression.

Evans and Cruz also discussed Cruz’s entertainment experiences beyond “Hot Ones.” In the episode, Cruz talked about being on stage with Bad Bunny during what Billboard described as the Puerto Rico performer’s historic 2025 run of shows. The interview positions the moment as one of the notable experiences Cruz said she had in connection with major Latin music events.

Billboard’s episode preview also points to another topic covered in the interview: a birthday gift from Bono that it called “outrageous.” Billboard’s write-up frames that gift as part of the conversation Cruz had with Evans during the same “Hot Ones” appearance, though the preview provided for this report does not include further specifics.

The “Hot Ones” format, which centers on celebrities eating progressively hotter chicken wings while discussing their lives and work, typically draws attention both for the interview content and for the physical reaction to the sauces. Cruz’s episode added to that mix with her account of pushing through spice after starting out nervous, and with her stories that ranged from high-profile stage appearances to a flight incident involving Halloween costumes and, in her telling, an emergency instruction to use oxygen masks.