Let's Chart About That!

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Episode

Hostess Cakes includes 30 scored items from the "Gut Check" series from Good Mythical Morning.

In all charts, Rhett's data is RED, Link's data is BLUE, and combined data is PURPLE.

Episode Hostess Cakes

Items scored 30

Ranking method Raw Score

Abstract

This episode report summarizes published Gut Check scores for N = 30 items in Hostess Cakes, including rankings, score distributions, disagreement counts, and derived measures.

Dataset snapshot refreshed June 3, 2026 6:57 AM.

Methods

The selected ranking method is applied within this episode only. Rank ties are preserved. Original final rankings are reported separately from recalculated rankings shown under the selected method.

Raw score. Sum of Rhett and Link scores.

Formal notation R = S_R + S_L

Normalized score. Episode-relative placement measure.

Formal notation N = f_episode(R)

Consensus score. Normalized score with disagreement penalty.

Formal notation C = g_episode(N, |S_R - S_L|)

Results

1. Combined Results Raw Score

Table 1. Original Episode Final Ranking
Final Rank	Item	Total Score	Rhett	Link	Numeric Rank
1	Coffee Cake Cream Cheese	168	90	78	2
2	Coffee Cake Cinnamon Streusel	173	85	88	1
3	Cupcake Chocolate	162	79	83	3
4	Zinger Chocolate Devil's Food	153	73	80	4

Table 2. Rank Drift from Original Final Ranking Raw Score
Item	Final Rank	Method Rank	Drift	Total Score	Rhett	Link
Coffee Cake Cream Cheese	1	2	1	168	90	78
Coffee Cake Cinnamon Streusel	2	1	1	173	85	88
Cupcake Chocolate	3	3	0	162	79	83
Zinger Chocolate Devil's Food	4	4	0	153	73	80

Figure 1. Distribution of Rhett and Link scores within Hostess Cakes.

Figure 2. Distribution of combined total scores within Hostess Cakes.

Figure 3. Score distribution by ranking method after rescaling each method to a 0-100 index.

Figure 4. Rhett-Link agreement within Hostess Cakes.

Figure 5. Score range by score source within Hostess Cakes on a 0-100 scale.

Figure 6. Items with the largest absolute Rhett-Link score difference.

Score source	0	10	20	30	40	50	60	70	80	90
Rhett	0	0	1	3	4	6	7	6	2	1
Link	2	3	3	4	4	4	5	2	3	0
Combined	0	1	2	6	4	6	6	2	3	0

Figure 7. Heatmap of score bucket counts by score source.

Average Score

106

Peanut Butter Quotient*

-38

The average score for a peanut butter item is 69. The average score for a non-peanut butter item is 107.

Nice! Factor**

1

Recipients: Ding Dong Peanut Butter

Figure 8. Peanut Butter Quotient by score source.

Figure 9. Nice! Factor occurrences by score source.

Table 3. Highest-Ranked Items Raw Score
Rank	Item	Total Score	Rhett	Link
1	Coffee Cake Cinnamon Streusel	173	85	88
2	Coffee Cake Cream Cheese	168	90	78
3	Cupcake Chocolate	162	79	83
4	Zinger Chocolate Devil's Food	153	73	80
5	Twinkies Fudge Covered	143	79	64
6	Zinger Vanilla	139	62	77
7	Cupcake Vanilla Limited	136	67	69
8	Twinkies Chocolate	135	77	58
9	Cupcake Golden	133	64	69
10	HoHos	128	66	62
	Ding Dong Chocolate	128	81	47

Note. Tied scores share rank labels; tables include all items in the first ten rank groups.

Table 4. Lowest-Ranked Items Raw Score
Rank	Item	Total Score	Rhett	Link
1	Zinger Raspberry	33	28	5
2	Twinkies Cotton Candy	55	42	13
	Cupcake Holiday	55	36	19
3	Cupcake Iced Lemon	63	54	9
4	Ding Dong Caramel	65	32	33
5	Cupcake Mermaid	68	46	22
6	Ding Dong Peanut Butter	69	49	20
7	Cupcake Unicorn	77	58	19
8	Cupcake Valentines	79	47	32
9	Suzy Q's	89	56	33
10	Twinkies Mint Chocolate	97	72	25
	Ding Dong Valentines	97	57	40

Note. Tied scores share rank labels; tables include all items in the first ten rank groups.

Table 5. Largest Score Differences
Rank	Item	Score Difference	Rhett	Link
1	Twinkies Mint Chocolate	47	72	25
2	Cupcake Iced Lemon	45	54	9
3	SnoBalls	40	71	31
4	Cupcake Unicorn	39	58	19
5	Ding Dong Chocolate	34	81	47
6	Ding Dong Peanut Butter	29	49	20
7	Twinkies Cotton Candy	29	42	13
8	Twinkies Banana	25	66	41
9	Cupcake Mermaid	24	46	22
10	Cupcake Birthday	23	38	61

Table 6. Full Combined Ranking Raw Score
Rank	Item	Total Score	Rhett	Link
1	Coffee Cake Cinnamon Streusel	173	85	88
2	Coffee Cake Cream Cheese	168	90	78
3	Cupcake Chocolate	162	79	83
4	Zinger Chocolate Devil's Food	153	73	80
5	Twinkies Fudge Covered	143	79	64
6	Zinger Vanilla	139	62	77
7	Cupcake Vanilla Limited	136	67	69
8	Twinkies Chocolate	135	77	58
9	Cupcake Golden	133	64	69
10	HoHos	128	66	62
	Ding Dong Chocolate	128	81	47
11	Ding Dong White Fudge	113	64	49
12	Twinkies Original	111	60	51
13	Twinkies Banana	107	66	41
14	Twinkies Mixed Berry	105	52	53
15	SnoBalls	102	71	31
16	Cupcake Orange	100	50	50
17	Cupcake Birthday	99	38	61
18	Ding Dong Valentines	97	57	40
	Twinkies Mint Chocolate	97	72	25
19	Suzy Q's	89	56	33
20	Cupcake Valentines	79	47	32
21	Cupcake Unicorn	77	58	19
22	Ding Dong Peanut Butter	69	49	20
23	Cupcake Mermaid	68	46	22
24	Ding Dong Caramel	65	32	33
25	Cupcake Iced Lemon	63	54	9
26	Cupcake Holiday	55	36	19
	Twinkies Cotton Candy	55	42	13
27	Zinger Raspberry	33	28	5

Figure 10. Counts of instances in which Rhett, Link, or neither assigned the higher score.

Table 7. Higher Score Counts
Episode	Rhett	Link	Tie
Hostess Cakes	20	9	1

Results

2. Rhett

Figure 11. Distribution of Rhett scores within Hostess Cakes.

Average Score

60

Peanut Butter Quotient*

-11

Rhett's average score for a peanut butter item is 49. Rhett's average score for a non-peanut butter item is 60.

Nice! Factor**

0

Recipients: None

Table 8. Rhett Highest-Ranked Items
Rank	Item	Score
1	Coffee Cake Cream Cheese	90
2	Coffee Cake Cinnamon Streusel	85
3	Ding Dong Chocolate	81
4	Cupcake Chocolate	79
	Twinkies Fudge Covered	79
5	Twinkies Chocolate	77
6	Zinger Chocolate Devil's Food	73
7	Twinkies Mint Chocolate	72
8	SnoBalls	71
9	Cupcake Vanilla Limited	67
10	HoHos	66
	Twinkies Banana	66

Note. Tied scores share rank labels; tables include all items in the first ten rank groups.

Table 9. Rhett Lowest-Ranked Items
Rank	Item	Score
1	Zinger Raspberry	28
2	Ding Dong Caramel	32
3	Cupcake Holiday	36
4	Cupcake Birthday	38
5	Twinkies Cotton Candy	42
6	Cupcake Mermaid	46
7	Cupcake Valentines	47
8	Ding Dong Peanut Butter	49
9	Cupcake Orange	50
10	Twinkies Mixed Berry	52

Note. Tied scores share rank labels; tables include all items in the first ten rank groups.

Results

3. Link

Figure 12. Distribution of Link scores within Hostess Cakes.

Average Score

46

Peanut Butter Quotient*

-27

Link's average score for a peanut butter item is 20. Link's average score for a non-peanut butter item is 47.

Nice! Factor**

2

Recipients: Cupcake Golden, Cupcake Vanilla Limited

Table 10. Link Highest-Ranked Items
Rank	Item	Score
1	Coffee Cake Cinnamon Streusel	88
2	Cupcake Chocolate	83
3	Zinger Chocolate Devil's Food	80
4	Coffee Cake Cream Cheese	78
5	Zinger Vanilla	77
6	Cupcake Vanilla Limited	69
	Cupcake Golden	69
7	Twinkies Fudge Covered	64
8	HoHos	62
9	Cupcake Birthday	61
10	Twinkies Chocolate	58

Note. Tied scores share rank labels; tables include all items in the first ten rank groups.

Table 11. Link Lowest-Ranked Items
Rank	Item	Score
1	Zinger Raspberry	5
2	Cupcake Iced Lemon	9
3	Twinkies Cotton Candy	13
4	Cupcake Holiday	19
	Cupcake Unicorn	19
5	Ding Dong Peanut Butter	20
6	Cupcake Mermaid	22
7	Twinkies Mint Chocolate	25
8	SnoBalls	31
9	Cupcake Valentines	32
10	Ding Dong Caramel	33
	Suzy Q's	33

Note. Tied scores share rank labels; tables include all items in the first ten rank groups.

Notes

4. Definitions and Notes

* Peanut Butter Quotient is calculated as the difference between the average score for peanut-butter-focused flavors and the average score for non-peanut-butter flavors. Flavors designated as peanut-butter-focused in this episode are: Ding Dong Peanut Butter

Formal notation PBQ = x̄_PB - x̄_non-PB

** Nice! Factor is the number of times a score of 69 appears.

Formal notation NF = Σ 1(score = 69)

Rank Drift is the absolute difference between the original final rank and the rank produced by the currently selected ranking method.

Limitations. Scores are treated as interval values although the underlying tasting process is subjective.