Ortega's straight-faced handling of the spice felt reminiscent of her portrayal of the famously emotionless Wednesday Addams.
Jenna Ortega kept her cool on this week's Hot Ones. The Wednesday star barely raised an eyebrow at even the spiciest chicken wing, even adding extra hot sauce to the final round.
Ortega didn't appear scared at the beginning of the game either, telling host Sean Evans "typically I can handle myself" when it comes to spicy food, adding that she was more "curious" than anything else.
Her ability to handle the spice in such a straight-faced manner felt reminiscent of her portrayal of the famously emotionless Wednesday Addams on Netflix's Wednesday. Like the other women who have taken on the role, Ortega brought a sense of morbid humor and deadpan delivery to the beloved character.
"When you're going to be the lead of a story, you have to have some sort of emotional arc, some sort of emotional payoff," Ortega said. "But Wednesday doesn't actually have that."
"Fighting the nostalgia that everybody feels for the '60s Wednesday and the '90s Wednesday, while also feeding into that," she continued in reference to her approach to the character. "Giving a new take and making it your own to a new generation so that they're introduced to the character was a real balancing act."
Ortega also talked about her role in the upcoming film, Scream VI, telling Evans she's been drawn to content that scares its audience "from a very early age."
"I know when I was younger when people would jump out from behind walls or something like that, I never moved, I never flinched," Ortega said. "People would tell me I had no soul, so I felt like trying to get them back was kind of the start."
Ortega also took a second to explain why the '80s slasher film, Prom Night, stands out as forever important to the horror genre.
"It's got all the teenage tropes, it's got incredible gore, I feel like it's inspired so many films to come since then," she said. "It's just the proper way to do a slasher."
Ortega paused only slightly after trying the infamous Da Bomb sauce that many guests struggle to move past, but then completed the round of wings with grace. She also told Evans that her father had purchased the Hot Ones collection of sauces for her as a Christmas present, but she had abstained from trying them in order to get the full experience as a guest on the show.
She finished the final wing with a Wednesday-inspired staring contest with Evans, which she won, and a single tear caused by the spice went running down her cheek.
Wednesday is streaming on Netflix and Scream VI will be released in theaters March 10.
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