“I was living for it,” Palmer tells PEOPLE of Evans’ admission
Keke Palmer knows good chemistry when she feels it!
While chatting about hosting the Made by Google After Party — which featured a Hot Ones segment — on Aug. 13, the actress, 30, recalled her reaction to learning that the series’ host, Sean Evans, had a “crush” on her last year.
“I was living for it,” Palmer tells PEOPLE, remembering the pair’s “good chemistry” while filming her iconic Hot Ones episode in 2021 — plus, an even earlier episode in 2017.
“Not to say that I was surprised or I wasn’t surprised,” she continues. “But when I heard it and people were sending it to me, I was like, ‘I knew the vibes were vibing.’
Sean Evans and Keke Palmer on ‘Hot Ones’ in 2021.
First We Feast/YouTube
Evans, 38, first shared that he was crushing on Palmer while appearing on another chicken-themed celebrity interview show, Amelia Dimoldenberg’s Chicken Shop Date.
During the Hot Ones host’s episode last November, Dimoldenberg asked Evans if he has “ever had a crush on a guest.” After admitting that he had — and making the Chicken Shop host guess their identity — he revealed that it was Palmer.
“Very charming,” he said of the actress. “Very charming woman.”
At the time, Palmer reacted to a clip of the Chicken Shop admission on Instagram, joking, “It was love at first hot wing 🤪— this was too kind @seanseaevans 🫶🏾.”
After Evans’ revealed his crush, lots of viewers returned to his Hot Ones episodes with Palmer to confirm their chemistry — and were not disappointed.
“Who’s all here after hearing he has a crush on her?” one user wrote of the 2017 interview, while a comment on the newer episode said, “Here after Sean said he had a crush on Keke and I agree, she is charming.”
Also during her conversation with PEOPLE, Palmer opened up about her life as a working mom to her 1-year-old son Leo, stating that she tries “to bring him every-single-where I go.”
Keke Palmer.
Amy Sussman/Getty
The actress also said that as the toddler — whom she shares with ex Darius Jackson — grows up, she wants to “maintain” that “closeness.”
“The grace of a career like mine — and, obviously, his age — is just that he can be with me,” Palmer explains. “So I’m grateful for that. I think I wanna just continue to be able to just do that and have him with me and do things together and make sure that he feels part of my life and sees what I’m doing.”
“I’m working, but you know, you’re here and we’re here together and just to serve as an example for him, that’s just important for me,” she adds.
