Sean Evans says progress doesn’t have to be fast to be meaningful: ‘Glaciers can change landscapes, but they don’t do it with their speed’

Evans, who has built a career interviewing celebrities while they consume progressively spicier chicken wings, appeared on Cenat’s 30-day streaming marathon to raise money for building a school in Nigeria, hosting a live Hot Ones segment. However, it was Evans’ impromptu speech about persistence that’s been making the rounds online.

Since the’ speech was so eloquent, here it is in its entirely:

“Slow motion is better than no motion. You know, you might be facing a mountain of problems, but don’t just wait for that perfect moment to race to the summit, okay? Just start with a step. Just take a step forward. Every expert that you know was once a beginner. Every master of their craft was once a big, embarrassing mess. Glaciers, okay, they can change landscapes, but they don’t do it with their speed. They do it through steady pressure by always moving forward. Don’t be so afraid of not moving fast enough that you choose not to move at all. That’s what I have. Thank you so much for watching. Shout out to the chat.”

The 39-year-old Illinois native, who studied broadcast journalism at the University of Illinois and worked as a copywriter before launching Hot Ones in 2015, has built his reputation on thoughtful interviewing combined with the unique challenge of increasingly spicy wings.

The show, which he co-created with Chris Schonberger, has been praised for Evans’ deep research and ability to extract authentic moments from celebrity guests. But as Evans alluded to in his speech, his success wasn’t made overnight.

Evans began his career doing on-camera interviews with celebrities like 2 Chainz and Steph Curry for Complex Magazine before Hot Ones launched him to internet fame. In 2017, Evans told me he thought he was destined to be a weatherman, based off a compliment from one of his professors.

It makes sense that Evans wanted to participate in Cenat’s ambitious Mafiathon 3, which began Sept. 1 and features 30 days of continuous streaming, as Cenat had appeared on Hot Ones just two months ago. Cenat’s livestreaming event has already broken records, with the influencer currently holding nearly 767,000 active Twitch subscribers, the most ever, as he aims for 1 million. Previous celebrity guests have included Kim Kardashian, Mariah Carey, and Linkin Park.