From a viral video to starring on TV! A York street food company is set to appear on Sky’s A League Of Their Own.
Yuzu Street Food were invited to appear on the popular sports-based comedy panel game show after their ‘hot wing challenge’ went viral on social media.
The video of ITV Racing presenter Luke Harvey trying one of their hot wings reached more than 2.5 million people on Instagram.
YorkMix spoke to Yuzu Street Food co-founder Chirs Hargroves to find out more about the experience.
Yuzu Street Food was founded by Emily and Chris Hargroves after being inspired by a trip to Asia in 2019, and serves up everything from Katsu Curry to Bao buns, wings to Ramen. It has ‘permanent pop-up’ locations across Yorkshire, included inside Brew York on Walmgate.
“Off the back of that viral video, the producers of A League of Their Own got in touch with us and said we can come down and do the same challenge, but for the contestants in the studio,” explained Chris.
And that’s exactly what they did! Chris, along with events manager Lizzie, journeyed to the studios for a full day of filming.
“It was a really good day,” said Chris. “It was amazing to see the show come together, and see from an outsiders perspective how the production of a massive show like that works.”
Chris and Lizzie met team captains Jamie Redknapp and Jill Scott, regular panellist Micah Richards and host Romesh Ranganathan – as well as special guests that can’t yet be revealed.
“They were really, really nice people – especially Jill. Lizzie is a massive football fan so she basically got to meet one of her heroes.”
The team were there “for the whole day” from 10am to when filming stopped around 11pm. “The whole day was excellent – it was a super professional setup.”
The contestants were challenged to a wing eating contest – vegan wings, since one of the contestants is vegan – coated in the extremely spicy sauce crafted by Yuzu.
“It’s a Carolina Reaper and Ghost Pepper sauce that we make,” said Chris. “It’s a long, slow burn – there was a lot of sweat and tears on stage!
“One of their main concerns was that it would be too overpowering for the contestants, so they tested it out before the cameras were rolling in the dressing room.”
It’s not been announced yet when the new season of A League of Their Own will air, but it will be their 20th and final season “so they’re going all out with a bang.”
Chris is hopeful that this experience will help draw attention to York. “We’re from York and proud of that,” he said.
“It’s one of those things where we can draw more attention to what we do and where we’re from and that’s what it’s all about. All the ingredients we use are local, so being able to put that out on national TV is pretty cool.”
So which TV show would Chris like to take Yuzu to next? “Sunday Brunch!”
Catch A League Of Their Own on Sky Max – watch this space for a release date to see Yuzu take centre stage.
