Amelia Dimoldenberg quits Chicken Shop Date after 12 years as she moves onto a new adventure

Amelia Dimoldenberg has announced the end of her YouTube show, Chicken Shop Date, after 12 years as she shares her plans for a ‘new adventure’.

The comedian, 32, who describes herself as ‘refreshingly awkward’, has interviewed huge names on her show including Cher, Andrew Garfield and Jennifer Lawrence.

But Amelia has now revealed her professional dating career is over and she will wrap up her show with ‘a few final dates’ coming soon.

Amelia’s upcoming projects include starring in an Amazon MGM’s Orion Pictures romcom and writing a Skins-style drama with the BBC, which has yet to be green lit. 

The presenter announced the news on her Instagram page on Thursday, with a note scribbled on a napkin that said: ‘All good dates must come to an end.’

Fans of Amelia and the show immediately shared their devastation that Chicken Shop is ending, with one describing it as the ‘worst break up yet’.

Explaining her decision, Amelia wrote: ‘When I was 17 I had a fantastic idea that I might meet the love of my life on a date in a chicken shop. 

‘I’ve spent my entire twenties sitting across from the most incredible people, people I’d always dreamt of meeting. All of them charmed me (some more than others) and I definitely charmed them.

‘To me the show is my very own romcom and I have loved creating so many stories for you to watch. I am so grateful to everyone who has followed me on this journey and found some joy in these episodes.

‘I never thought I’d stop Chicken Shop Date, I thought maybe it would be a part of me forever, and in some way it always will, but I feel like it’s now time to move on from this adventure and onto a new one.

‘But before I say goodbye forever, I want to celebrate everything Chicken Shop Date has been for me with a few final dates…coming very soon. Love Amelia x,’

The comments section of the post was awash with messages from fans of the show who wanted to wish her well and share their sadness over the show ending.

Elizabeth Day said: ‘As ever, I admire you so much. Knowing when to stop – and leaving on such a high, after shaping the culture – is the quintessential power move. Congratulations. Love you xxx’.

Grace Campbell wrote: ‘Love you (heart)’.

Rina Lipa shared a string of heart emojis. 

Diversity dancer Perri Kiely said: ‘You really paved the way! Congratulations man!’.

The Chicken Shop Date idea was introduced as a print column around 2011 in The Cut, a youth-run magazine, when she was 17.

The idea of posing the interviews as first dates came from wanting to do something different, and the idea of setting them in a chicken shop was because she wanted to go somewhere ‘no one goes on dates’.

Amelia began interviewing friends of friends in the music scene alongside her studies and the links to her online articles started getting traction.

She took her idea to people in ‘big places’ but said they struggled to ever know what to do with it which led her to begin video recording her chats and posting them on YouTube. 

Amelia began the video version of her show in March 2014, with Ghetts as her first guest. The first few years she focused on chatting to grime artists.

The 2014 interview now has 1.3m views and the pair, who are now good friends, celebrated the tenth anniversary of Chicken Shop Date last year by going on a second date. 

Posting the first episode of the series, the videos see her interviewing the guests in a comical, awkward way, asking them questions about their love life.

And to this day she says her unusual interview style is authentic.

In 2017, Amelia began featuring women, after initially worrying that the dating premise wouldn’t work with female guests.

‘I wanted to be the antithesis of a bubbly presenter because I was bored of seeing that,’ she told Complex.

‘The average TV presenter was very good at being non-stop chatty and bubbly; I wanted to be the opposite of that, and make that my thing. It’s an exaggerated version of myself.

‘In fact, when it first started it wasn’t a character, it was never meant to be like that. It’s literally how it happened, people must have just assumed I was so bizarre or so weird it had to be a character.

Taking inspiration from Louis Theroux, who she has since had as a guest on her own show, she said her deadpan character came about from when she began – and from being genuinely nervous when meeting rappers.

‘Whatever was happening was funny, just this little blonde girl in a chicken shop, with, like, Stylo G,’ she said.

‘It was just a weird situation and super awkward and it was just like how the show’s filmed now, but I was so nervous filming it.’ 

Since then, she has gone on to interview some of the biggest names the industry has to offer including Cher, Paul Mescal, Sabrina Carpenter and Billie Eilish. 

Now with 2.9million subscribers on YouTube and her videos getting no less than a million views per episode, it’s thought the creator earns around £6,000 per episode. 

The series won a Stremy Award in 2022 and won the Content and Entertainment award at The Drum awards in November 2024. 

Stepping away from her own productions, Amelia has also become well-established as a familiar face on the red carpet.

Now recognised by most celebrities walking down, she has hosted interviews from the Baftas, the Brits, MTV VMAs, GQ Awards and film premieres, including Barbie.

Before Amelia’s beloved series ends for good, she revealed she still has a few more dates to go on in one final series.

A teaser for the next episode, with the caption ‘We Need To Talk’, hints that her next guest will be Paul C. Brunson, as that is the name of his own podcast.

Amelia has previously said her dream guest is Drake, who she is yet to interview, however there is still time!