Tears after titular ‘Tiny Chef Show’ character learns preschool series is canceled

We dare you not to cry along with Tiny Chef, who has just been laid off at Nickelodeon.

The stop-motion animated star of The Tiny Chef Show released a video on Tuesday, dramatizing a call from Nickelodeon honchos — and secured some new fans with his heart-wrenching reaction to learning the show has been canceled.

The scene starts out cheerful enough, with Tiny Chef diligently cleaning with a tiny, blue floof duster. Then he gets a call.

“Canceled? What do you mean, canceled?” the aghast 6-inch felt chef says into his tiny, pink phone. He pleads, “But we won an Emmy.”

“What about Rob? And Jen? Kate, Patty, MK, Leah — all my friends,” he says. He pauses. “I — I understand. I love you, too.”

Cheffy hangs up and straightens his colorful apron, but as soon as he picks up his blue floof to continue his chores, he drops it again and dissolves into tears.

And the internet’s heart collectively breaks.

“How did they make me care about this character despite never seeing a single episode?” asked one new fan on YouTube.

From Imagine Entertainment, Tiny Chef Productions, and Nickelodeon Productions, The Tiny Chef Show is the recipient of the 2025 Outstanding Preschool Animated Series Children’s & Family Emmy award. Its executive producers include Ozlem ‘Ozi’ Akturk, Kristen Bell, Alex Bulkley, Corey Campodonico, Leah Gotcsik, Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Rachel Larsen, Adam Reid, Morgan Sackett, and Stephanie Sperber.

The series has also won two Annie Awards, for excellence in the field of animation, in 2023 and 2025 in the category of Best Animated Television/Media Production for Preschool Children.

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“‘All my friends’ broke me. We’re mobilizing all Chefs. We ride at Dawn!!” one YouTube commenter promised.

The creators of the series have posted a page to the official site requesting help with the character’s next steps.

“Many of you have said that you would die for Tiny Chef, we don’t need all that (!!!) but we do need crowd funding to keep going,” the page reads. “Please consider joining the Fan Cwub.”

The page includes links to join the fan club, make a donation to Cheffy through Venmo or PayPal, and to like and subscribe to The Tiny Chef Show‘s YouTube channel, so that Chef and the team can keep cooking.