Flamin' Hot Cheetos movie: 5 cool facts about the cheesy treats

Flamin' Hot Cheetos is not just a delicious snack anymore, as it is also going to be a movie based on the memoir of Richard Montañez's A Boy, a Burrito, and a Cookie: From Janitor to Executive and Flamin' Hot: The Incredible True Story of One Man's Rise from Janitor to Top Executive with his simple idea of a snack.

However, the Flamin' Hot Cheetos movie is already shrouded in controversy as a 2021 investigation by Los Angeles Times found out that it was created in Frito-Lay headquarters to compete with spicy snacks. Although Montañez has made big claims in his book about founding Flamin' Hot Cheetos, he did not reportedly truly create it. One of the employees said to LA Times about the whole debacle that:

"None of our records show that Richard was involved in any capacity in the Flamin' Hot test market. We have interviewed multiple personnel who were involved in the test market, and all of them indicate that Richard was not involved in any capacity in the test market."

Although Montañez did not respond to LA Times, he did open up to Variety, saying that:

"All I have is my history, what I did in my kitchen.”

Other than its controversy, the film has made a significant buzz as it would be the directional debut of Eva Longoria. The 48-year-old is very passionate about the upcoming project as she emotionally told People why she wanted to do the story of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos:

"We were never telling the history of the Cheeto. That would not be a very interesting movie. I’m doing the story of Richard Montañez, who happened to have a hand in creating the No. 1 snack in the world, which is a billion dollar brand."

She continued saying:

"Nobody knew this market better than Richard. He’s more known as the godfather of Hispanic marketing than the creator of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos because he was the first person to go, 'You guys, we need to market differently to different cultures, to Hispanics, to African-Americans, Asian-American. Everybody appeals differently to different things. And this is what my community likes. And all I know is that my community is not being spoken to. So you guys should speak to them and they’ll show up.' And he was right."

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Flamin' Hot Cheetos movie: 5 flaming hot facts about the spicy treat

1) Flamin' Hot Cheetos is banned in many schools

According to ABC News, many schools in California and New Mexico were working to ban the Flamin' Hot Cheetos from school premises as an unhealthy snack. Many schools have stopped offering Flamin' Hot Cheetos due to its high fat, salt, and calorie content. In fact, it was so big that many school districts even started prohibiting that snack as they did not want to feed their children Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

One health teacher in New Mexico went as far as to send out a letter to parents citing four reasons why Flamin' Hot Cheetos should not be allowed. The reasons included the clean-up hazard, potential cross-infection, and the nutritional value of the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

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2) One Flamin’ Hot Cheeto sold for $99000 on eBay

It seems really unlikely that this cheap snack like Flamin' Hot Cheetos would be sold for close to $100k on eBay. However, it is the age of the internet, and people will go far for an incident’s meme potential. For example, many stormed Area 51 on a certain day just because of an internet conspiracy theory hype.

Apparently, the concerned Flamin’ Hot Cheeto looked like Harambe, a Cincinnati Zoo gorilla that was killed in a zoo in 2016. The incident took place after a 3-year-old boy fell into the enclosure of the gorilla, and to save the child, zoo operatives decided to kill the gorilla. It garnered a lot of attention across many social media platforms, especially Twitter and Reddit.

Initially, the Flamin' Hot Cheeto was listed on eBay for $11.99, but the price jumped as people started offering more and more money. In the end, it was sold for $99000.

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3) Flamin’ Hot Cheetos caused a health scare

An uproar took over the internet as many started complaining that after eating too many Flamin' Hot Cheetos, their bowel turned red. Many took this as a sign of internal bleeding due to too much spice. However, it was debunked soon enough. Dr. Robert Glatter, a physician for Lenox Hill Hospital, opened up about this viral sensation to CBS News:

"Food such as beets or red peppers can make stool appear red, however it is not actually blood in the stool.”

4) Flamin’ Hot Cheetos recipe is a mystery

Much like many high-profile food items, nobody knows what is really inside the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Nobody has been able to guess the combination of spices that is used to make Flamin' Hot Cheetos. The bag includes Flamin' Hot Seasoning as one of the ingredients and the rest remains a mystery as old as time.

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5) Many have visited the ER due to Flamin’ Hot Cheetos

Other than the viral red bowel incident, these Flamin' Hot Cheetos have sent some people to the ER for good reasons. Rapper Lil Xan made headlines as he was admitted to the hospital due to eating too much Flamin' Hot Cheetos that "ripped something in [his] stomach open."

Many have endured stomach pains due to eating too much Flamin’ Hot Cheetos as well and had to visit the ER. Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency medicine physician for Lenox Hill Hospital, told CBS News:

"A number of patients who have consumed these Cheetos in excess have complained of pain in their upper abdomen, rising up into their chest, likely due to due to the red peppers and spice contained in the snack.”

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The Flamin' Hot Cheetos movie will come out on June 9, 2023, in theaters across the country.