The Real-Life YouTube Channel Namechecked In Cobra Kai Season 5 Episode 2
This article contains spoilers for "Cobra Kai" Season 5, Episode 2, and the season at large in general.
"Cobra Kai" has never shied away from having fun with pop cultural references. In Season 5 alone, there's a fun montage that pays tribute to "Top Gun," and the show itself has been littered with hundreds of references, from background music to dialogue nods to onscreen references. It's a series that definitely lives within a well-lived universe and one that exists beyond the bounds of its fictional version of the valley.
But the show doesn't just lean on nostalgia. In the candy-coated but hard-kicking world of "Cobra Kai," internet culture and other modern trappings of convenience definitely play a part in the show's plotlines, viral videos and all. For instance, Episode 2 of Season 5 makes reference to something entirely modern — a popular web series that features celebrities putting themselves through agony in the name of the viewer's entertainment.
Hot Ones is Cobra Kai Approved
During Episode 2 of Season 5, Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and his son Robby Keene (Tanner Buchanan) are stuck in Mexico. They're both on a mission to find Miguel Diaz (Xolo Maridueña), who runs away from home at the end of Season 4 to look for his father, Hector Salazar (Luis Roberto Guzman). Low on funds and having temporarily lost Johnny's beloved panel van to a linguistic barrier and bad parking, they're running out of options. Entering a local café, they note that a hot pepper eating contest is going on. Johnny realizes that they can make the cash they need to get the van back, but Robby volunteers to take the duty on himself. Robby makes it through the contest, even swallowing down The Dragon, a mega hot pepper that takes his opponent out.
It seems that Robby has some knowledge of hot peppers and what they can do to a person. Observing the contest, Robby notes of the peppers being chomped, "that's a red savina, it'll burn a hole right through you." Johnny looks at Robby askance, and Robby explains, "my mom and I watch Hot Ones on YouTube."
"Hot Ones," of course, is a famous webseries from First We Feast, which recently spawned a tv show that airs on TruTV. Featuring celebrities dining on chicken wings coated in increasingly spicy layers of hot sauce while trying to answer questions, it mines humor from the agony — and occasionally lack thereof — from the participants.
Interestingly enough, as of press time, none of the show's cast has made an appearance on Hot Ones. But this fun reference definitely connects the two shows in a fun way.