Food Network host Sandra Lee’s infamous “two shots of vodka” moment, captured on a 2008 episode of her series “Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee,” quickly transcended its origins to become a viral classic of internet culture. The clip, which shows Lee casually pouring what appears to be half a bottle of vodka into a cocktail shaker after calling for “two shots,” initially gained popularity on Vine and YouTube before eventually finding a new audience on TikTok amid the pandemic, as a collective desire for escapism and the rise of Zoom cocktail hours collided.
But in a recent Instagram post for Delish, Lee revealed some interesting industry stories about that moment. “First of all, I was the first person to make cocktails on national television and especially on cable,” Lee said. “And that was a gigantic Argument when we were negotiating the show. By the way, I never wanted to make ‘Semi-Homemade’ as a TV show and nobody knows that.”
Lee said she and network executives negotiated for nine months because they felt “nobody would enjoy the cocktail reception on the show.”
“And I say, ‘You don’t know Colleen Schmidt from Fredonia, Wisconsin,'” Lee said. “‘It’s Sunday. She’s watching the Packers. She’s drinking a Bloody Mary. We need to make some cocktails.'”
Read more about Lee’s return to cooking television with Netflix’s Blue Ribbon Baking Championship in her new interview with Salon’s Mary Elizabeth Williams.
