“Hot Ones” is a popular YouTube show where the host, Sean Evans, interviews celebrities while eating 10 progressively hotter wings. At the beginning of the episodes, most people are confident it won’t be that bad. By the end, they’re tearing up and chugging milk. West Side Story Co-Editor-In-Chiefs Gianna Liu ’25 and Marie Stier ’25 tried a similar version of this while reflecting on college applications, sports seasons and the path to their positions.

“I didn’t really plan to be EIC for sure,” Stier said. “I joined print after FOJ. And from there, I just really enjoyed writing. I liked the people that I worked with and doing journalism. So then I just took on more responsibilities, and it really wasn’t a conscious effort to be EIC. I chose the things that I wanted to do and followed that.”

Liu has a similar story about her path to EIC. She never had direct plans to take the position, but also never excluded the possibility.

“I was always a peoples person, but I never really thought about being EIC until towards the end of junior year. When I was on staff sophomore year, I was honestly just trying to survive and learn how to do things.”

The first two milder wings tried were Asian Zing and Mango Habenero. While not quite as hot as the final featured sauce in the actual show, “The Last Dab,” our substitute of Buffalo Wild Wings’ Blazin’ Knockout was definitely enough to have us tearing up and scrambling for water by the end.