CHAMPAIGN — The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has named Daytime Emmy® Award-nominated talk show host and alumnus Sean Evans to serve as its 2026 commencement speaker.
Evans graduated from U of I with a degree in broadcast journalism in 2008, according to a news release from the university. He is the co-creator and host of the YouTube show “Hot Ones,” where he asks celebrities rounds of questions while they eat chicken wings with increasingly spicy hot sauces.
He earned a Daytime Emmy Award nomination in 2021 for Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host and has won multiple internet entertainment awards. Evans also was named to Time magazine’s inaugural “Time100 Creators” list last year.
“Sean Evans defined his own path and reimagined the role of a journalist and a talk show host in the modern media landscape,” U of I Chancellor Charles L. Isbell, Jr. said in a statement. “We encourage Illinois students and alumni to be innovative, and Sean created something no one else had. His work inspires us to continue to push boundaries, to challenge convention and to develop new ideas instead of just adopting old ones.”
Isbell was featured in a special episode of “Hot Ones” where he took on the host role to interview Evans.
“As somebody who loves this school, went to this school and now has this crazy pop culture platform, it’s fun to bring that energy back to Illinois,” Evans said in an interview with the university.
Evans has made several trips back to U of I to attend sporting events, speak to students and host a special edition of “Hot Ones” with Illinois men’s head basketball coach Brad Underwood as the guest.
Commencement will be held on Saturday, May 16 at 9:30 a.m. at Gies Memorial Stadium.