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Ha, it's more than hot. It's deathly.
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Hey, what's going on everybody?
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For First We Feast, I'm Sean Evans and you're watching Hot Ones.
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It's the show with hot questions and even hotter wings.
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And today we welcome Priyanka Chopra Jonas to the show.
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From India to Hollywood, she's one of the world's most famous and successful actor/producers.
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Her latest film, The White Tiger, is currently streaming on Netflix.
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Ditto for We Can Be Heroes.
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And her memoir, Unfinished, is set to release on February 9th.
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Priyanka Chopra Jonas, welcome to the show. Thank you so much, Sean.
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So terrifying to be here again.
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Well, you know, Nick has done the show a time before and then of course you've had a taste of what's to come during our appearance on The Tonight Show.
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What's going through your mind as you prepare for this 10-wing gauntlet here?
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You know, I'm usually a big fan of hot wings um and I'm a big fan of spice, but I've seen what happened on Nick's show and I remember what happened on mine.
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So I'm actually terrified this time to be doing it again.
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Oh, crying on actual TV, international. Okay. Okay. Should be doable. Hopefully. Mhm. Okay. It's got a little kick. But it's doable.
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So your new film, The White Tiger, tells a distinctly Indian but universal story about poverty and what it can do to push a to break through these fixed class structures.
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How would you describe the master-servant relationship?
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Like, is it just as simple as rich, powerful people taking advantage of the poor, or is it more complicated than that?
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Well, the complexity is something even I can't claim to understand for sure because every country, every culture has its own dynamic.
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But, the universality of this story is the socioeconomic difference that exists all over the world.
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And that divide is only increasing.
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The story happens to be based in India, but it definitely is, you know, sort of self-reflection narrative of being able to pull yourself, if you can, out of the vortex of, you know, that vicious cycle.
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And this is just like a entertaining, sarcastic, um, perspective on that. Mhm.
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That was actually really good.
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I need one of those in my house. Hey, keep it. I kind of am. You sent them to me.
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All the way to London, so thank you. We got you. We got you.
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So, besides being slapped in the face by a monkey when you're in boarding school, one of the parts of your memoir that I found most fascinating was your first trip to the United States, which I imagine, as a young girl who grew up in India, was a massive culture shock.
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What were your expectations of America before your first visit?
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And how did, of all places, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, stack up?
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You know, I my mom used to watch a lot of these, um, shows, Bold and the Beautiful, Remington Steele.
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I'd seen Saved by the Bell.
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So, to me, that was America.
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It was, you know, quaffed hair, couture clothes, you know, high school, bright and happy.
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And that was the culture shock for me.
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High school's, anyway, it's scary.
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But, then when you're coming from another country, it's even more scary.
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You also spent some time in Indiana.
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How big a thrill was it for you to meet Larry Bird when the Kings played the Pacers in Mumbai.
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I was very excited about it.
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I had partnered with NBA and NBA India for that first game that happened in India.
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And then the fact that it was it was the Pacers playing was just so ironic.
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In fact, I think they were really excited about the fact that I went to high school in Indiana.
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It was such a like, "What?" Good stuff so far. Enjoy it while you can. I know.
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I know how this game goes, Shawn.
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So, you're coming to us right now from London, but I know that you spent more than your fair share of time in New York City.
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Between those two cities, London and New York, which one does Indian food the best?
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Well, there's such a large diaspora of Indian people in in London and in New York, that if you go to a right place, then, you know, you can get really authentic Indian food.
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But I've had some amazing Indian food in London.
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Like, really, really great.
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For people who are stuck in a holding pattern of just ordering chicken tikka masala or vindaloo every time they go to the curry house, is there a widely available dish or two that you'd recommend for people trying to break out of that?
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I would recommend biryani. It's really great.
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It's like, rice with you can have it with meat, you can have it with chicken, you can have it as vegetarian, but it's like lots of little things mixed in it.
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You should try dosa, that's from the south of India.
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North of India, you should definitely try the kebabs and the chaat, that's great.
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For the uninitiated, how do you explain achar? Okay, great.
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So, achar is basically pickle, but pickled with spices.
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So, you can make achar out of anything.
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My favorites are garlic, chili, mango, lime.
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You can make it out of anything and it's amazing.
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It's like a condiment that goes with all food. Hellfire. that sounds scary. Okay. Mhm. I felt that. Do it on my tongue. Mhm. First little like kick. Yep.
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We're on that We're on that path now. Mhm. I can see it.
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Love of the written word seems to be a theme throughout your life.
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You've written song lyrics, poetry, penned columns for the New York Times, then of course you just finished your memoir Unfinished.
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Have you gotten into collecting like first edition books or anything like that?
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You know, I've just about built my library, but yes, I do have a first edition of Les Mis that was just uh gifted to us this Christmas and a first edition of Black Beauty, which was one of my favorite books as a child.
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What impact did the master of deduction, Sherlock Holmes himself, have on you as a literary influence?
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The cleverness about the that writing really was um his character, Watson's character, and their camaraderie together.
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Plus you throw in the element of, you know, him not being a people's person and um you know, the thrill of a case every time and it's just such a great great um idea and the writing is always amazing.
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My nose is sweating, but besides that we're all right. Mhm.
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That was really good, too. Digging it. So far, so good. Mhm.
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All right, Priyanka Chopra, we have a recurring segment on our show called Explain That Gram where we do a deep dive on our guest's Instagram, pull interesting pictures that need more context.
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So, I'll show you the picture.
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You just tell us the bigger story.
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And then first things first, we have a hot sauce buffet on the set of Quantico.
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How did your love affair with hot sauce begin and do you have any go-to labels?
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Well, my love affair with hot sauce began when I started traveling abroad.
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Abroad means outside of India at that time.
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Um, and western food was just not spicy enough for me.
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You know, my palate was used to having been raised in India an explosion of flavors all day, you know, from breakfast, lunch to dinner. Started with Tabasco.
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It was very basic because we used to always have it in my house.
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My dad loved Bloody Mary's on Sunday.
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And then every country I go to I find a new hot sauce or their favorite hot sauce.
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My hot sauce collection is great.
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Caterers and that's what you saw.
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Um, catering on most of my sets know that so they always provide and show off actually who's got the best hot sauces. It's really cool.
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How big of a hero were you to your mom to be able to introduce her to the Hoff? She was so excited.
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He gave her a t-shirt which says don't hassle the Hoff and she still wears it.
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Very She's very proud of it.
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She was so excited and had quite the moment. I felt very proud. Ooh, ghost pepper.
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Mm, we're getting real now. Ghost peppers fire. Mhm.
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And it kicks you afterwards.
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It doesn't happen immediately.
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You know, you know a lot of hot sauce novices, they come on the show, they take a bite and they're like I'm good and then they don't know that it has that build. now.
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Like now you're going to start feeling it. Kicking in.
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It literally takes, especially with ghost pepper and few others um, it takes like a good like 7 to 10 seconds and then you'll suddenly feel your tongue on fire. It's crazy.
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It's really good this sauce.
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And this show gets a little cumulative as you keep going, you know.
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So, some people watching this may be surprised to learn that the Indian film industry is the largest movie market in the world producing films at two to three times the rate of Hollywood.
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And then with these streaming services, a lot of these titles become widely available.
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I, for example, I watched Fashion last night on Netflix. Aw.
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Have you given any thought to how these streaming services are breaking the borders of content to create these global hits?
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And if so, what insight do you have on how that whole movement might impact filmmaking going forward?
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Oh my gosh, given it a thought, I could write a thesis on it.
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I've been thinking about it since it first started and um I think it's genius.
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The White Tiger, for example, would not have this kind of a budget or this kind of a scale 6 years ago.
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It's going to be in 160 countries.
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You can watch it everywhere.
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But with theatrical, that would have been limited, especially a movie with an all-Indian star cast, an Iranian director, shot in India, written by an Indian author, you know.
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It would have been called independent or but look at the widespread release it's got.
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So, it's giving diversity and and a chance.
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And I think it's the natural evolution of entertainment.
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There's an amazing comfort in being able to sit on your couch with your family, in your blanket, and watch the newest movie.
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I think that's going to create opportunity for filmmakers, for variety of ethnicities, for people from different countries to be a part of global entertainment, for global entertainment to actually look like global entertainment, which is you know, people from all over the world and art from all over the world.
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And I think this is a great time. Okay. I'm scared already. The honey helps. But At first. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
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So There's a large so often?
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Well, I I I don't I don't know what I would do otherwise. That's the thing.
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I just ended up in this seat.
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The thing took off, and now I think I'm just tethered here.
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You know, like it's this is the cross that I bear. Oh my. Woo. All right.
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I wish you luck, my friend. Thank you, Priyanka. I appreciate it.
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So, there's a large portion of the internet devoted to celebrating your red carpet sartorial stylings, an eclectic array of working with Indian designers as well as international labels like Ralph Lauren and Dior.
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It's been a massive year for athleisure during quarantine.
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Was that white dress with the hood that you wore to Armani 2017 an announcement of athleisure's arrival to the runway? I wish.
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I wish anyone could have predicted what was going to happen and how much we were going to take to athleisure. I certainly have.
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I mean, today I happen to be wearing a dress in your honor, but usually I'm always in my um in my sweats. Ah, that just kicked in. Yep.
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Which fashion record are you most proud of?
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Wearing the world's largest trench coat at Met Gala or having a wedding veil with a 75-ft trail that required a 25-person train?
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It was suggested to me by by Andrea at the Ralph Lauren atelier that, you know, you should do a large train because it was such a large space that I had to walk.
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I was like, all right, if we're going to do a large one, it has to be the largest in the world.
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Which is why it was so big, but it wasn't the largest in the world.
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The largest in the world was a woman with some 15 football fields long just recently.
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So, I gave up on that fight.
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What's the most ridiculous piece of clothing that you've ever purchased for your Instagram-famous dog, Diana?
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Um Her first Moncler jacket was was definitely an obnoxious purchase.
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All right, Priyanka, you ready to move on here to the eighth one?
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This is the bomb Beyond Insanity and fair warning, this is probably the worst of the bunch. It looks like it. Especially the bottle. It looks like poison. Beyond Insanity. [ __ ] Okay. I know. I know. I know.
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But, if it's any if it's any consolation, you have done this before.
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You have eaten this sauce before.
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I think I may have put too much on it. Yeah, it looks like it. Oh, [ __ ] Yep.
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Sometimes you just have to laugh.
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Sometimes you just have to laugh. Ah. Oh my gosh. I know. I know.
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So, we've had many season travelers on this show, but I think you take the cake.
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I heard like prior to last year, you were doing the LA to Mumbai round trip every two weeks.
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Do you have a jet lag hack that actually works?
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Oh my gosh, I'm going to faint. I know.
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Yes, the jet lag hack that actually works is when you get onto a long flight, sleep according to the time of the country that you're going to land into.
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And that's all I can say. But that really works.
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I get the sense that you're a big beach person.
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If you had to pick one of the places that you've visited, which has the most majestic coastline?
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Maldives Fiji um Mauritius Turks and Caicos I love the beach. Ah, dying. That was crazy.
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Well, if you think that's crazy Yeah. We have two more to go. Ah. Okay, I'm Indian. I'm built for this.
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Can we turn on the air conditioning or open a window? Please. Yeah, there's that one. Ah, dying.
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Okay, let's do it, Shawn. Let's do it. Let's do it. Ah. Ah.
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So, Priyanka you've touched so many different projects which have reached audiences all over the world.
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What's the project or the thing that secretly makes you happiest when fans mention it to you in the wild? Ah. What was the question?
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Um this movie called Barfi I did.
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Makes me really happy when fans really like it because I didn't expect But also I didn't win any of the awards that year or I wasn't like I didn't get a lot of love from I got love from the fans.
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So that was one of those, you know movies which really made me feel really happy about. All right, Priyanka. Good job, Priyanka.
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This is the last dab, Apollo.
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Last wing, last question.
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We're almost at the finish line. God damn it.
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Okay, just needed to get it out. Yep. Oh my god.
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Okay, what's this called, Apollo? Apollo. I'm saying.
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Somebody get that dab, Apollo. I can't.
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The walls are closing in.
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You know how it goes here at the end. Yeah, yeah. Oh gosh.
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My temperature, I really want to check my temperature. I got it. Last one. Are you doing it?
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I'm I'm right here with you. Cheers, Priyanka.
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All right, Priyanka Chopra.
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Here we are at the end of our second go-round with the wings of death, albeit this time on a slightly less successful talk show, but nonetheless we're going out with a bang.
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You know, I know that you broke onto the scene at 17 years old when you were named Miss World India, and then you won Miss World the following year.
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And my favorite my favorite quality of beauty queens is that they're able to answer any question with confidence, even though if it's impossible for them to be an expert on it.
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So, with that in mind move. Sorry.
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My question to you is this.
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What, in your opinion, is the essence of hot sauce, and do you find it to be a force of good or a force of evil?
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I think the essence of hot sauce is the the people who made it.
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And I think the people who made it, this is a testament to who you really are.
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If you want to spread goodness, you want to spread evil in the world.
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I should be crowned for that answer.
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Put the crown on her head, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, the queen of Hot Ones, Miss Hot Ones 2021.
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And now there's nothing left to do but roll out the red carpet for you, Priyanka Chopra.
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This camera, that camera, probably just the one you're looking at.
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Let the people know what you have going on in your life.
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I have a movie that's out on Netflix called The White Tiger. You must check it out.
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Another one called We Can Be Heroes.
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Which you haven't check checked out, you should.
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And my memoir, which is called Unfinished, even though right now I feel like I am finished.
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You should check that out, too.
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And if I'm alive, I may see you back on the show, Sean. Great job, Priyanka. Great job. Bye. Bye, everyone. Woo. Thank you so much. Bye, Dominique.
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I'm going to go find my breath. Woo.
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Hey, what's going on, Hot Ones fans?
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This is Sean Evans checking in to say thank you so much for watching today's episode.
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If you enjoyed it, maybe like it.
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Maybe maybe throw us a subscribe even if you're feeling generous.
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And as long as you keep watching, [ __ ] it. I'll keep eating.