Preschool Series Has Viral Moment as Tiny Chef Learns Show’s Cancellation In Heartbreaking Video

In a bid to try and save the series from cancellation, the creators opted to show the title character’s reaction to getting the news from Nickelodeon that his show had been canceled after three seasons.

The video begins with the stop-motion character tidying up with a blue duster when he gets a phone call that changes everything.

“Canceled? What do you mean, canceled?” he says after he’d just enthusiastically shared his excitement about when they might resume making new episodes.

As he listens to the call — we do not hear what’s being said on the other side — he promises that Ruby will behave and pleads that he has new ideas that will blow their minds, too. He even interjects a reminder, “But we won an Emmy.”

“What about Rob? And Jen? Kate, Patty, MK, Leah — all my friends,” he then says in a defeated voice before finally accepting the inevitable truth that it was over.

“I understand,” he says sadly. “I love you, too.”

He tires to pick up and carry on with his cleaning, but with a tiny whimper, he’s reduced to tears, retreating to his bed to begin processing his loss.

The video was entitled “Tiny Chef needs your help” on YouTube, with the show’s creators sharing more about the unexpected cancellation news in the captions.

“Tiny chefs cooking show has officially been cancelled (very unexpected) and without the support of a major network we need crowd funding to keep cookin’ over here,” they wrote, adding in Tiny Chef’s signature vocal style, “Yesh this es weal!”

They went on to thank Nickelodeon for two “blamazing seasons” and made it clear that Chef “wouldn’t want anyone to blame his friends over there, he’s just deeply sad he doesn’t get to continue hosting a show he adores.”

They then asked for comments from fans to share how much he means to them as “he’s really feelin this one.”

And boy did those comments come pouring in, with the response so outsized that fans go the show trending on X and eliciting hundreds of thousands of responses across social media.

“Ohhh Cheffy, seeing you cry has broken my heart…? Sending tiny big hugs. It’s gonna be ok. ?,” wrote one fan on the IG share of the video, while another simply shared, “OMG??????”

“can we talk about how beautifully raw, honest, and emotional this scene is???” wrote another commenter, appreciating the tender care put into such an emotionally raw clip. “I’ve never seen disappointment encapsulated so perfectly in such a short timeframe. Oscar worthy. We’ve all been there before. We love you, Cheffy. Things work out!”

“That little attempt to straighten himself out and then get back to what he was doing only to immediately break down… that’s REAL grief right there” remarked another fan on YouTube.

Another praised the animation, noting, “The freaking lip quivers at 0:34 is what broke me. Such an outstanding level of detail in the acting of this animation.”

“‘all my friends’ broke me,” commented another. “We’re mobilizing all Chefs. We ride at Dawn!!”

The Tiny Chef Show launched in September 2022 and offered up “weshipees” from his tree-stump home alongside all his friends for three seasons and 41 episodes.

Along the way, it picked up two Emmys, one for Outstanding Directing and one as Outstanding Preschool Animated Series just this year. It was nominated for six total Emmys and also won the Annie Award for Best Animated Production for Preschool Children the past two years.

The creators aren’t throwing down their dusters just yet, as they posted a plea to the fans to try and help save the show. “Many of you hvae said that you would die for Tiny Chef, but we don’t need all that (!!!),” they wrote on the show’s official page, “but we do need crowd funding to keep going.”

They shared a link to the show’s “Fan Cwub,” and offered additional ways to help support the show financially, or just by liking and subscribing to their various socials to help raise awareness.

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Thursday morning, they also shared another video of Tiny Chef playing Paint It Black on a banjo.

“Please know Cheffy is ok he”s just feeling his feels and says music helps him process his emotions,” they captioned the post. “THANK YOU CHEFFERS for all the support you’ve shown Chef, if you want to help keep Cheffy on socials and join the #savetinychef movement please click the link in our bio to see how you can help.”