Chrissy Teigen Says Freeform Show Helped Her Overcome Anxiety

January 24, 2024 @ 5:54 PM

Despite her own level of fame, Chrissy Teigen admitted interacting with celebrities used to give her “terrible anxiety” — until she was given the chance to dig deeper on her new Freeform show, that is.

“Chrissy & Dave Dine Out,” which premieres Wednesday, welcomes a slew of A-list guests — including the likes of Jimmy Kimmel, Simu Liu and Regina Hall — to dine their way through L.A.’s vibrant restaurant scene while fostering meaningful conversations that helped Teigen overcome her “crazy jitters.”

“I see a lot of the guests that we have on the show in passing, maybe at a cocktail party and award shows here and there. But to sit down and share a meal with somebody is really unique and different,” Teigen told TheWrap. “It was honestly nice for me, who’s always had such bad anxiety — and especially around celebrities, had terrible anxiety — to see them as people and not entities.”

Cohosted by Teigen and restauranteur David Chang — with Joel Kim Booster making special appearances during the meals — the unscripted series is a steep departure from talk shows, whose intensive prep from segment producers ensures guests “know exactly how the conversation is going to go.”

“None of that existed on our show,” Booster said. “It took some people a little time to settle into that, but once they did, I think you get really interesting responses to some of these wild questions because they they forget the cameras are there … and the food is really disarming. You get to see these people let their hair down.”

Booster, who worked with Chang on Apple TV+’s “Loot,” sees himself filling the role of a “detective” on the show as he relishes in asking “invasive questions” to the guests.

“I share a lot, too — I don’t just expect people to share a lot of themselves without doing it in turn,” Booster said. “I think that’s what makes for a really interesting dinner party.”

The final product of “Chrissy & Dave Dine Out” looks very different from where the concept for the show first started, as Teigen noted the original iteration of the show took place on a set with a manufactured kitchen and bar.

“With the first iteration of the show, we were bringing guests to us, [and] we still wanted the audience to learn some facets about the guests that maybe they didn’t know about and use food as that bridge to get to that point,” Chang said of the setup.

“It felt very awkward and odd and very indoors,” Teigan added. “So we decided to take it outside and hit the streets of L.A. for some of the best meals that we’ve ever had.”

“Chrissy & Dave Dine Out” premieres Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on Freeform, and streams the next day on Hulu.