Nellie and Almanzo had many scenes together, especially in season six. Do you have a favorite memory about the iconic “cinnamon” chicken scene [when Laura swaps the cinnamon with cayenne pepper]?
Alison Arngrim: The chicken was delicious. It was lovely baked chicken with no cayenne pepper. Our prop men were such wonderful cooks. I got the best food on that job. So our prop man brought us lovely, lovely, lovely herb-roasted chicken. And we sat there, and at one point, Dean, I think you said something like, “Should we put pepper, not a lot, just like a single dash of pepper on it, just to get the smell?” And then that was it. We started. And I think you [Dean] went first, where you froze and looked at me, and your eyes went wide, and then I started, and it was contagious. And both of us, our eyes got bigger, we both got red.
Then I’m doing the chugging-the-water thing. So when we’re doing this, I go to chug a huge mug of water, and I can’t chug it. I start to put it down, and Michael’s saying, “No, no. Keep it rolling. Don’t even cut. Refill her glass because, listen, you’re going to chug that entire glass of water. Do not put it down until it is empty. I don’t care if water comes out your nose. I don’t care if it comes out your eyeballs. We’re just going to do this. I promise you, it’s funnier.”
I chugged, and water came out the sides of my mouth, and water did come out of my nose. And, of course, it’s hysterical. It’s brilliant. He’s absolutely right. It was the only way to go. You have to chug the whole thing. And then we run into the kitchen, screaming as we’re with the pump and everything.
(Alison has since made cinnamon chicken on her YouTube channel).
