He might be comfortable in the Colosseum by now, but when Paul Mescal took on the mighty hot wings it was an entirely different battle.

“This is where the toxic masculinity will kick in,” he says. “I want to win the wings.”

The Gladiator II star joined Sean Evans on First We Feast’s Hot Ones, chomping through increasingly spicier chicken wings and chugging ice cold milk while answering interview questions about Ridley Scott’s sequel, making Normal People, and the difference between a plonker and a shitehawk.

Honestly, Mescal has made us cry so many times onscreen, it’s about time the tables were turned (through hot sauce, not emotional upheaval). It’s a wildly more painful experience for Mescal than his Chicken Shop Date with Amelia Dimoldenberg. And if you want to see Mescal’s co-star Pedro Pascal tackle the wings, it was as delightful as you’d expect.