ABC’s “The Chew” comes to Walt Disney World for the Epcot Food & Wine Festival 2017

in Disney, Entertainment, Theme Parks

ABC’s The Chew came to Walt Disney World to shoot a full week’s worth of episodes in celebration of Epcot Food and Wine Festival 2017.

“The Chew” is an Emmy Award-winning, American cooking-themed daytime talk show that currently airs on ABC. The talk show’s main focus is on food related and lifestyle topics. This year’s taping marks the show’s third year at the international festival, which features segments covering the festival on the show throughout the special week of the on location shoot.

WATCH – BEHIND THE SCENES OF “THE CHEW” AT WALT DISNEY WORLD: 

Before the show began, R.C. Smith, a comedian and crew member from the show took the stage to warm up the crowd. Cheering and applause overwhelmed the outdoor stage as Smith lead guests in rocking out to classic rock n roll songs. Some of the songs that got the crowd going wild were “I Wanna Rock And Roll All Night” by KISS and “Livin’ On a Prayer” by Bon Jovi.

After the crowd finished jamming out and clapping, Smith walked around the stage and called out to different audience members asking their occupation and where they were from. Naturally, the comedian was able to sneak in some witty banter and comical responses that had the crowd in stitches. Smith really lit up the crowd and he set the mood for an exciting and fun show.

WATCH – “THE CHEW” CAST QUESTION AND ANSWER: 

Then, it was time for the big moment, the cast of “The Chew” made their way on stage. Carla Hall, Mario Batali, Clinton Kelly and Michael Symon came out, with special guests Mickey and Minnie Mouse. All of the show’s audience members raised to their feet in unison, claps and cheers echoed out over the World Showcase as the crowd’s excitement was uncontainable.

The show began with the cast discussing their time at the theme parks during the past few days. Mario Batali and Carla Hall talked about their experiences with the new Avatar Flight of Passage attraction at Animal Kingdom’s Pandora – The World of Avatar. Both were in awe over the ride, Hall became speechless when trying to describe how overwhelming the experience had been for her. Clinton Kelly went on to mention his impressive score on Toy Story Midway Mania! at Hollywood Studios, boasting an impressive 189,000.

In celebration of the 35th season of “The Wheel of Fortune,” Vanna White was the episode’s special guest. White discussed the legendary network gameshow and its rich history. White also discussed all of her impressive ball gowns and outfits she wears on the show. White shared that during her time on the show she has worn over 6500 dresses, but in real life she’s a “jeans, sweats and no makeup kind of girl.”

Then, White went on to cook a banana pudding pie with the cast, one of her favorite desserts she makes for her own family. This led to the cast moving on to play a game of “Would You Rather?” with white. Audience members were asked to choose letters from cardboard displays, which contained would you rather questions for White to answer. Some of the questions from the game really painted a picture of White’s character. The game included serious and fun questions, one revealed that White would give up social media any day over television.

After “Would You Rather?” White left the stage and the next segment went on, which included oranges, grapefruits and limes… oh my! Hall and the rest of the gang put together a special vinaigrette dressing that viewers could make at home. This segment was nice as it was in honor of the show taping in Florida, which is full of a momentous amount of citrus fruits. With the combination of the three fruits and some other simple ingredients, Hall was able to put together the dressing, which she combined with kale, mixed greens and toasted pecans.

Keeping in theme with the show being at Walt Disney World, a special video package aired, where crew members from “The Chew” were sent on a scavenger hunt around Disney Springs. The crew members were given riddles which would help them find specific restaurant locations within the entertainment center. Once arriving at the restaurants, the crew members would then be given a challenge. Their completion of the challenge resulted in the entire studio audience going home with $50 gift cards to be used at Walt Disney World. After the special announcement of the gift cards, the audience roared with screams and applause. What better take home then a gift card to the theme park where the audience members were going to be spending the rest of the day.

Throughout the commercial breaks the cast members would leave the set to interact with audience members. Carla Hall actually danced with several audience members, and shared a funny story of her hitting her hair on a door frame. Hall had forgotten how high her hair had been styled when she was walking around back stage and had gotten clotheslined by her own hair. This lead to many laughs among the audience members. Another highlight of these interactions was when Clinton Kelly made a joke about R.C. Smith’s comedy, which ended with Smith stating that he needed to leave “The Chew” and join the “The View” instead.

To end the show, the cast brought out Mickey and Minnie to announce the names of three special audience members who won admission to Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. The contest winners had to share their most embarrassing moments at Halloween parties and the funniest answers won. This segment was full of laughter from audience members as the stories were actually shared during the broadcast.

ABC’s “The Chew” show’s taped at Epcot are set to air at 1 p.m. daily the week of October 9-13. The Epcot Food & Wine Festival 2017 is running now at Walt Disney World until Monday, November 13. 

View Comment (1)