The new contenders: Why YouTube creators like Khare, Evans, and Rhett & Link are Emmy-worthy
May 19, 2025 – [[read-time]] minute read
For years, YouTube has been a hotbed of creativity, building massive audiences and launching global careers. Now, the conversation is shifting towards mainstream industry recognition, with creators like Michelle Khare, Sean Evans, and Rhett & Link leading the charge at a recent "For Your Consideration" Emmy event. These digital pioneers aren't just seeking validation; they're demonstrating how their unique approaches to storytelling, audience engagement, and content quality are producing work that stands shoulder-to-shoulder with traditional television. Hear directly from these trailblazers as they explain the vision behind their acclaimed series and articulate why the time is right for YouTube-born content to claim its space at the Emmys.
Michelle Khare
On the origin and purpose of "Challenge Accepted":
“I am a person who's actually very fearful and anxious most of the time. And Challenge Accepted was actually born for me out of listing all of my fears on a whiteboard and then pairing them with different situations to genuinely try and overcome these fears.”
On her content philosophy and quality:
"So we really, really take our time with these projects to make sure that the story is king. And we're not beholden to a release schedule or a weekly expectation, and our audience is primed to expect that when we drop anything, it should be worth it."
On striving for excellence and ambitious content:
"Our team is constantly one-upping themselves and when I think about awards-worthy content... I think about people who fit the category but also push it to the next level. And I know for a fact that that's what we're doing."
Sean Evans
On the core concept behind Hot Ones:
"What we really wanted to do was create a disruptive element in the interview... What if we had them eat increasingly spicy chicken wings over the course of the interview as a way to break them down?"
On the show's unique positioning between mainstream and internet culture:
"I think that we live at a unique place where we kind of straddle the line between mainstream and internet so we're able to make these tent pole event episodes that can appeal to a mainstream audience but then also do these cult sort of internet things that are then accessible to that mainstream audience."
On Hot Ones' place in the "late night" landscape and its cultural relevance:
"I think when you look at a show like Hot Ones and what we've done and the fact that we've done it for 10 years and kept that kind of cultural relevance that seems to just always be growing, then yeah, I'm not ashamed to say it and I'm not afraid to say it. We're absolutely deserving of that competition and of that comparison."
Rhett & Link
On their early freedom and humble beginnings on YouTube:
"Well, we had complete freedom to fail repeatedly because nobody was investing anything in, you know, two guys in a basement in the middle of nowhere in North Carolina.”
On the advantage of data and direct audience connection on YouTube:
"Something that gets overlooked a lot of times is how much we rely on the data. What we can see... we have access to how our show is connecting with every demo, with every country in the world. And we can actually take that into account and shape the product that we're making. And there's nobody in between us and [that]."
On prioritizing connection over simple engagement:
"But for us engagement isn't the first thing we think about. Connection is the first thing you think about... the reason that I think it's time to be recognized is the fact that we have connected with the culture in a way that, you know, traditional entertainment has been doing for a really long time."