Bobby Flay is leaving Food Network after 27 years
Plans for renewing his Food Network contract fell through
Aux News Bobby Flay
Bobby Flay has been on Food Network since the days where TV celebrity chefs were still a novelty, hosting over ten shows for the channel throughout the years. But nearly three decades later, Flay is ready to leave.
Variety announced that after 27 years, Flay and Food Network are parting ways. His current contract expires at the end of the year. As the publication reported, Flay was in negotiations for a new contract, but ultimately, they couldn’t reach an agreement. Sources close to Food Network told Variety that the decision to cut ties between Flay and the network was made “as the sides were far apart on financial terms.”
The first show Flay hosted on Food Network was Grillin’ & Chillin’, and he quickly became a household name through his various shows, like Beat Bobby Flay, Brunch At Bobby’s, BBQ With Bobby Flay, and Boy Meets Grill.
He also had appearances on Chopped, Iron Chef America, Worst Cooks In America, The Best Thing I Ever Ate, and The Next Food Network Star, and hosted a cooking show with his daughter, Sophie, called The Flay List. Flay even became the first chef to ever get their own Hollywood Walk Of Fame star, thanks to his stardom through Food Network.
So what’s next for the famed chef? After so many years on TV, this likely doesn’t mean that his fans won’t be able to watch him cook onscreen. If anything, as a celebrity chef who’s now a “free agent,” any major streaming platform can take their pick to make a show with him.
Netflix has been trying very hard to expand its cooking show selection in recent years, with shows like The Chef Show, Ugly Delicious, Midnight Diner, and The American Barbecue Showdown. So, it wouldn’t be surprising if some executives’ ears perked up upon hearing about his departure from Food Network.
160 Comments
Who?
I’ve always thought this dude was extremely boring. Say what you want about Guy Fieri, but at least he has personality. I forgot Bobby Flay exists while he’s still talking.
If you’d like additional information I’ve interacted with him a few times and overall he was rather unpleasant each time. Not a tyrant or anything just kind of a dick.
Would have never imagined that.
Seems like he would be
He does kind of give off the vibes of a guy who would be a prick in person if you were interacting with him outside of shooting a show.
He’s never come across to me as anything but a dick. I still remember how embarassing he was the first time he went on the original Japanese version of Iron Chef. Throwing things around and jumping on the counter like some drunken frat boy. Remember this is a tool that couldn’t even graduate high school.
thats most chefs
I have met him several times too at, and my experiences were the complete opposite of yours. I thought he was pretty cool. And the dude can flat-out cook.
Definitely not my experience. He made very abrupt and often pushy Susan Sarandon seem charming. At least she’s funny.
I have friends who’ve met him who have similar positive experiences to yours. I think, though, that when it comes to “X celebrity is a dick” there is a ton of randomness, based on how and where you encounter them. Some celebs are great to the guy that fixes their car or takes their order at the deli counter, but are automatically annoyed the second they suspect someone is press or a fan. Other celebs only turn on their charm if they see a press credential, and are miserable human beings the rest of the time.
Years ago I had a friend who worked in the New York food scene. She echoed what many commentators have been posting here. Flay is a jackass.
There’s being a jackass as a head chef, and then there’s being a predator… which are you talking about?
That seems on brand for him. Like, just an unpleasant competitive asshole.
A former colleague had a few run-ins with him, and yeah, apparently he’s a garden variety asshole. Plus, the one time I’ve eaten at one of his restaurants (it was a business dinner), it was nothing special.
Also: does anyone really want or need more Bobby Flay content? There are so many other chefs out there doing far more interesting things with food these days who’d I’d actually enjoy watch cooking and talking.
The thing about Flay is that he inspires creativity within regular recipes. He’s not going to win awards for new recipes, but he’ll rock your world with re-imaginations.Of course, others can do the same things, and if he’s leaving the game, I’ll be curious about what replaces him.
lol, if that’s the best you get out of of a celebrity chef, you’re lucky.
I’ve always found it very curious that, and I might be mistaken here, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Guy and Bobby appear in the same show, at least not in the last 10 years or so. That’s pretty weird with your two biggest stars, right? I’ve always just assumed there’s some sort of Vin Diesel/Dwayne Johnson thing going on there.
Flay and Fieri would be fascinating. I’d love to see Bobby compete on GGG sometime.
Maybe Guy Fieri is really an alter-ego created by Flay… I’ve never seen the two of them together.
Nearly every other major chef from Food Network has been on Beat Bobby Flay and Guy’s Grocery Games, but Bobby Flay has never been on GGG and Guy Fieri has never been on BBF. I have often wondered about that.
We watch a lot of Food Network shows in our home, especially the ones with Robert Irvine, and we always change the channel when one of Flay’s shows comes on. Nothing specific about him, just not interested.
Right?
I’m the total opposite. love Flay, have a hard time watching Irvine. *shrug emoji*
The whole point of his “thang” is that he does what you do, but just “a bit better.”Having eaten at his places, he’s usually right.
The nice thing about Beat Bobby Flay is that the focus is rarely on him. When he’s cooking against the chef who wins the first round, there’s more focus on him, but the celebrities (chef and otherwise) who are on are usually taking focus from him in order to try to annoy him and there’s at least as much focus on the chef he’s up against.
His recipes are pretty good. He’s definitely a restaurant chef, but yeah his personality is a little bland, except for the show he did with Giada that had an odd sexual tension
Whoa, I had to Google who she is and that caused sexual tension.
Rachel Ray allegedly called Giada the “blowjob queen”, so maybe she’s more about relieving sexual tension…?
Ooh, where can I line up?
Rachel Ray her chronic vocal fry and “EVO LOL” suck in their own special way.
Also: “Sammies.” Fuck that shit.
Ate at Boby’s Burger Palace and Giada’s restaurant. Preferred her food.
There used to be an account from the Disqus days that used her image named Tits McForehead.
Love it
Once you see her mouth you can’t see anything else
Because they were having an affair.
There’s nothing odd about it, they’re a couple now.
Granted there would be sexual tension in a show starring Giada and a piece of discarded linoleum.
See, I think she’s an ice queen. All show, no go.
OMG. Just looking at that the show where they went to Italy…they totally banged.
I notice that every time I see them together.
Same, and after good eats left the channel, they over did it with the Bobby Flay verses stuff and turned me off from the station.
Ive come way around on Fieri. Even if it’s just for the publicity, he’s done some really good things over the years.
Eh, he’s apparently not great off camera either, but at least he’s doing some legitimately good charity work. I had to give up DDD after I noticed how often he interrupts all the cooks to tell them what they’re doing just as they’re about to tell you (it feels like he’s trying to flex), but I LOVE the concept of celebrating non-fancy local joints because they deserve some appreciation.
This guy? Boring? I don’t see it.
Commander Shepard dances better.
Maybe they could bring in his daughter Sophie to do a few more shows, because she’s quite charming and extremely easy on the eyes.
Yeah, why not have the Food Channel Swimsuit Issue Special…WTF, man…
I’d watch.
Given the size of Guy Fieri’s contract, I’m not surprised by this news. It’s pretty apparent that Food Network is all-in with Fieri’s vision and that there’s not a lot of money left over for anyone else to get the same kind of deal.It also seems that FN has departed ways with Alton Brown.
I’m so bummed that they decided to cancel Good Eats again. The recent seasons and Reloaded have been such a delight. I was so happy to have it back.Part of me is happy we got 46 new (or new-ish) episodes, of course. But it feels cruel (to Alton, certainly, but also to viewers) to dump it again so soon.My big hope now is that they’ll at least release a 4th volume of the GE cookbook covering these four seasons, but obviously I’m not holding my breath.
I’d be happy if they just put out a combined index to the three I already have. “Pork tenderloin is from season…which?”
Yeah, that would be good. I usually just end up googling “good eats pork tenderloin” or whatever, and then grabbing the book once I know which volume.
I’ve used Good Eats Fan Page since before the books and I go back there because it’s easy to search for.
Looks like it’s actually happening! Maybe it will even have that index!https://www.abramsbooks.com/product/good-eats-the-final-years_9781419753527/
Agreed. I loved Good Eats, both the original and the reboot. And Alton was always fun on Cuthroat Kitchen and anything else he did on Food Network.I get the feeling that Alton can be … difficult … to deal with, so maybe less surprised at that move than Flay. But Food Network has done some pretty hard resets in the past (i.e., moving past the Emeril phase where chefs cooked, to the more current offerings of all competition shows featuring local chef talent, where the celebrity chefs are the judges or hosts) and it appears they may be gearing up for another shift in what kind of programming they do.
If how Alton comported himself on his “Quarantine Kitchen” home spun YouTube series with his current wife in any indication, he seems like a cantankerous fuck. And he’d probably agree with that.I’m sure Flay will find some other project/network soon. And I won’t watch. Again.
Oof, learning this has broken my heart. I really enjoyed the rebooted GE.Both Alton and Bobby come off as massive dicks, but at least Alton has been super entertaining. Flay is just…bland.
If you watch his YouTube videos Alton Brown makes with his wife where they make dinner on Tuesdays, it seems like he knows he can be a dick and he’s generally trying not be as much of one, but fails sometimes. Not as sure that Flay is even aware or cares.
yeah and that shits chaotic. fun to watch cause they get to drinking and arguing. i try and catch the livestreams he does.
I know for a fact that at least one person told Bobby he’s a massive asshole, but apparently he hasn’t taken that on board.
As much as I loved Good Eats I am really not surprised. Alton has been kind of showing his ass lately. He said a bunch of racist stuff on stage a few years ago, flippantly wrote off accusations of sexual assault against another chef, and made a bunch of weird holocaust comments last year.
Wait, they decided to cancel Good Eats again!???? Fuckers just brought it back!
Fieri’s contract is less than I thought it would be. $80 million is a lot of money, but it’s not that much compared to some of the production deals that are going around, and especially given his outsized role on Food Network’s line-up of shows. In any case, I think Tenreyo’s last bit there is like to prove prophetic. Would not be surprised if over the next month or two, we find out that Flay has signed a deal for $50-100 million to produce cooking shows for Netflix (although I hope he’s sharp enough to require a minimum amount of promotion and advertising from there in the contract).
Agreed. Netflix is really pushing competition cooking/baking shows right now and Flay would be a big “get” for them.
80 Million but with his brands, associated merch, persona and all the other things going on, the 80 mil is PR money. His face is out there on the network, which is a Rainmaker. Even FN Stars Of A Lesser God have a line of products and daily publicity on the network. Flay should have recognized it, rather than holding out.
Wtf !?! I was loving the new episodes of Good Eats. First time I’ve watched Food Network in years.
I liked early seasons of Good Eats, but between IC:A and Cutthroat Kitchen, he really turned me off him. He comes off as a genuine jerk.
So they’re siding with the demon Fieri?
I’ll always be bitter than they took the amazing insanity and drama that was Iron Chef, pasteurized it into Iron Chef America, and then diluted it even further to make Beat Bobby Flay.
It did help make Chopped, which was great for a while but never had the technical mastery that iron chef brought
Beat Bobby Flay’s concept was hilarious to me. Like, his pompous ass was made to compete against the unwashed masses and, even though I’m sure he was paid well for it, it had to kill him inside a bit doing so. Flay, an accomplished chef, lost to Trish’s from Ohio’s ambrosia salad.
Beat Bobby Flay wasn’t even his first show with that premise. There was one before it that was somehow even more mean-spirited.
Truly. It was called Throwndown, and it sucked. Unlike Iron Chef, Bobby Flay showed up and challenged them to a surprise cooking challenge. I’m sure they submitted an application, but it still seemed like bullying.
Even if Flay lost, it was a hollow victory, because he was trying to best them at their trademark dish. And when he won, he basically just showed up to embarrass another chef on their home turf.
And he always brought gourmet ingredients to make a fine dining version of their trademark dish—like when he brought Porterhouses to compete against a military chef’s marinated steak recipe, which was like sirloin or something.
In Beat Bobby Flay he competed against other, usually quite accomplished, chefs not random people off the street. He actually only won about 63% of the time.
I might be thinking of another show more likely just assumed they were ‘normal’ from the 10 minutes I watched of the show. Thanks for correcting me.
This is creative history and makes zero sense.ICA wasn’t a “Flay” thing at all, at least early on.
The concept of Beat Bobby Flay is so disrespectful
What’s happening with Stephanie March’s extremely sloppy seconds?
Of all the chefs who became celebrities, he always struck me as the most surprising. Zero charisma, charm, humor, the list goes on.
yup
As opposed to who?
Hell, even with his annoying catch phrases at least Emeril had charm.
I recently ran across a baby Emeril on one of Julia Child’s later shows, and he’s lovely: earnest, in love with his food, so excited to share it. I’ve been to his signature restaurant in New Orleans (once, a long time ago on business) and it was great food and some of the most amazing service I’ve had, which is more than I can say for whichever one of Bobby Flay’s joints I went to (also on business).
I prefer Elzar. He at least knows how to kick it up a knotch with the spice weasel. BAM!
As opposed to cardboard.
I’ve always found him off-putting. My opinion of Helene York from The Other Two was forever diminished when I learned she used to be his girlfriend.
I bet if they changed the “Beat Bobby Flay” show to “Beat Bobby Flay with a Tire Iron” they would have gotten double the ratings.
I would watch it
Hahaha, outstanding, reminded of that sketch on SNL, from 2003, Zack Ricky was played by Seth Meyers, a prank show host, and his guest was Larry Hobson (played by the always amazing Christopher Walken)Zack Ricky: Wha-wha-what happened?
Larry Hobson: I jumped out and pranked him! To death with a tire iron!
“I pranked him! To death!” has lived rent-free in my head for close to twenty years now.
They revived the sketch with exactly the same gag like a year later when DeNiro hosted (or was it the other way around? Can’t remember). I enjoyed the gag of having to tell the sound effects guy to stop using wacky “boy-oy-oing” noises for people getting assaulted/murdered.
Gotta keep it cooking related so how about instead of a tire iron it’s a spatula or pan
Hmm, spatula would be too small. Pan, would work, but it just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Maybe a waffle iron?
Maybe one of those beast grilling spatulas? I think throwing a crockpot would work too lmao
I always used to add: “with his own shoe.”It’s like this guy was born a douchebag.
So instead of watching Bobby Flay, you’d rather watch Flay Bobby?
Why? What did he do to you or anyone you relate to?Did he leverage his position to twist people less powerfull than him, or are you just jealous?I get the feeling you’re just jealous. – B.
Is he still going to be allowed to deep dick Giada on the regular?
Nope, that wasn’t in the contract.
Is that what happened? It would explain why both she and Flay ended their respective marriages in 2015.
Isn’t that the internet scuttlebutt? They did that Italian vacation show which was basically a damn honeymoon documentary. And didn’t Flay’s wife fly a banner overhead when he got his star on the walk of fame calling him a cheater? And supposedly she is very friendly with many, many, MANY people. But who the fuck knows. Do I think they had an affair? Absolutely. But I don’t know shit.
She also got with John Mayer, so whatever her cooking is like, she has horrible taste in men.
John Mayer is like the Kramer of lame musicians. He’s always banging way above his weight class.
Yeah, but Kramer’s zaniest might bring some in. I’m always puzzled how Jerry and George got the ladies they did – I mean, George with Christa Miller – just no.
Nah he can play guitar. Just makes god-awful terrible worthless please-god-make-it-stop music.GREAWHVITY!
Bobby Flay come work for me I need private chef
Any chance Food Network will be replace Bobby Flay’s shows with something other than a cooking game show?
Its either an episodic game show, a full season reality show competition, or something where Fieri just travels around and mugs to the camera.
That Wayne kid sat in his parents’ basement and mugged to the camera; he got like two movies!
I always got the impression that Bobby Flay is too full of himself. It doesn’t help that he has a game show where people try to beat him at their own dish or that the hosts of that show “drag Bobby down” by distracting or annoying him to help “make things fair”.
I knew someone who looked remarkably like him, and he was full of himself too. I’ll never forget when we were playing an online game together and he told us he’d “drag us to victory, even if we were kicking and screaming.” Same guy would ice you out and play with online friends (in the same room) if you did poorly in the game.
All that’s to say – I don’t really like Bobby Flay.
Some of us will never forgive him for his behavior on Iron Chef vs Morimoto. Total dork.
Name/ire checks out.Proceed.
I came here just to echo my support for this petty, pivotal grudge.
Putting your feet, no, your shoes! on a cutting board! Disgraceful.
NEVER FORGET
Aw, this is kind of a bummer. Beat Bobby Flay wasn’t exactly appointment television, but it was hella fun to watch what kind of stuff Flay would come up with.
Every BBB is kind of the same, but kind of fun.Guest: Let’s make s’moresBobby: *inserts Calabrian chilis*Guest: Lets make chocolate milk and peanut butter sandwiches!Bobby: *inserts Calabrian chilis*
Not true! Sometimes he inserts Fresno chilies.
Poblanos FTW
Let’s make love!
Bobby: *muttering while preparing his chilis* gotta do what you gotta do
and honey. don’t forget honey in every dish.
Cut the heat, as it were.
Ok sweetie. I won’t forget.
Bobby Flay was never my favorite chef on the network. He always comes off as a bit of a dick, whether he is too good for whatever he is doing or just wants to be somewhere else. To whit:1. On Chillin & Grillin where every time Jack McDavid (an affable chef with a drawl) would say anything, Bobby would just stare daggers at him. His expression clearly read “I can’t believe you paired me with this redneck”. He absolutely felt like he was too good to be there.2. He hosted a holiday special with his then-wife Stephanie March. During the show, she was clearly trying to act as an audience surrogate by asking questions like “why do we do this?” or “how high should the heat be?”. Clearly questions designed to help out non-chefs watching at home. Bobby would continually answer with the air of “why the fuck are you asking something so dumb?”3. The episode of Beat Bobby Flay where he said aw, fuck it and made a plate of spaghetti (even though the challenge was like seafood pasta or something). I felt crappy for the competitor.This is on top of the fact that he just seems to have a lot of disdain for everyone outside of the newly single Giada and, I forget who said it (maybe Bourdain), but that Flay’s whole career was made on the novel idea of using blue corn tortillas.
I was never a fan of Bobby Flay. That said, it’s been a shame to watch the network transition from shows that taught you to cook to reality shows and “look here’s some nachos made with squirrel meat in this diner in the middle of nowhere!”Alas, things change.
Honestly, I have learned a lot about cooking and flavors from watching Chopped and Guy’s Grocery Games (and some on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.) And been entertained at the same time. I usually can’t sit through just someone cooking something, not even Emeril Legasse.
I wish I knew what Flay was asking for. He’s made them plenty of money over the years – they can probably afford to pay him a big producer deal. Is he asking for an ownership stake in the network or something? So, it wouldn’t be surprising if some executives’ ears perked up upon hearing about his departure from Food Network.90% chance he inks a producer/show-runner deal with Netflix after this. They’ve got the money for it.
It could be as simple as he doesn’t want to spend his life hosting competition shows and reality shows since that’s all Food Network seems to be willing to do anymore. If he had a few other show ideas that FN just refused to try out I could see him just deciding to be done with them. While I was never a big fan of Flay, you’re right in saying he made them plenty of money over the years. He was one of the key figures in making Food Network have some real influence in the cooking world.
Good.
It’s not like he doesn’t have anything else going on. He owns a ton of eateries, from steak houses to burger joints. He puts out a new cookbook every other year. He has a twice-a-month gig with CBS Mornings and just came out with a cat food brand called Made by Nacho, named after his red Maine Coon cat.While Flay can come off as a little self important at times, I think that in this case Food Network needed him more than he needed them. The simple answer is they just didn’t come up with a good enough offer.
I, for one, enjoy Bobby’s arrogance. He’s a fascinating anti-hero/villain on the network. I root against him only because he’s SO good. Even on shows where he has to coach up a team of “novice” chefs etc he prevails. Sometimes I enjoy him winning even. Its very complicated.The food network really does need him.
I made the mistake of getting his Nacho cat food. My orange tabby will eat nothing else now.
Who cares? I stopped watching food network years ago because I kept seeing the same 10 faces in everything and it became about personalities and game shows and less and less about actual food. There are a thousand better food shows on Youtube. Food Network will never be a relevant space in the industry again, but if it wanted to be it would fire everyone that’s been there more than about 5-10 years.
They let others go, like Emeril and Paula Deen, so why not this dude? He’s a snoozefest.
umm, Paula Deen is a human-pig like racist.letting go for two very different reasons.
Eh, Michael Symon’s better. I actually want to hang out with him.
YES! Michael Symon’s pandemic show that he made with only with his wife and their one friend has way more useful tips about cooking and he doesn’t come off like a giant douche nozzle like Flay.
Is it drastically different from Alton Brown’s pandemic show he does with only his wife?
Symon’s show is way less produced and feels less fussy and technical than Alton’s show, but don’t get me wrong, I love Alton’s show too.
Except for his horse laugh. He can cook though.
I trust people with ugly laughs more than those with pretty titters: it just feels more genuine.
hard pass on the auto-play sound on ad.
This doesn’t surprise me. Food Network has been using more and more resources each year to keep his behind the scenes behavior from the general public. Now he wants a raise when he’s becoming more and more a liability, especially after the supposed incident with one of his daughter’s best friends.
Nowadays The Food Network ain’t nothing but them danged Ice Road Truckers.
How could that big of an ego exist in such a bland wrapper is beyond me. This is just the middle of the beginning of the end of cable tv. Youtube is where younger people go to watch cooking stuff. He may have a few years of streaming left in him but DIYers on places like youtube may end the tv cooks supremacy.
Yeah, it’s kind of amazing that in a world of celebrity chefs with huge tv-ready personalities, Flay was still able to rise to the top without much personality and a really limited ability to emote.
He’s the only chef I’ve ever watched where I’m rooting for him to accidentally burn himself every episode. He seems incredibly unpleasant and like he’s being forced to be on tv.
Flay even became the first chef to ever get their own Hollywood Walk Of Fame star, thanks to his stardom through Food Network.
Flay was also the first WOF inductee to have his ex-spouse hire a plane carrying a banner saying “CHEATER” during the induction ceremony.
As opposed to many celeb chefs, his restaurants are actually quite good. Other than his burger place, which I was really unimpressed with.
Too bad for FN. I like Bobby Flay. I imagine the Guy Fieri contract didn’t help their re-negotiate contract cause very much. Will be curious to see what Flay gets up to without the tired Food Network IP holding him back. Should be interesting.
Flay even became the first chef to ever get their own Hollywood Walk Of Fame star, thanks to his stardom through Food Network.Doesn’t anyone who pays the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce enough money get one of those? Like I could get a Soylent Green star on the Walk of Fame if I ponied up enough cash?
Someday I expect he will be selling cheap plastic crap cookware on some infomercial playing on a local channel at sunday 5am.
My favorite night of television ever was when it was public his ex-wife dumped him, that night Food Network ran an entire night of Beat Bobby Flay where he lost. I don’t think there’s much love lost between those two.
So, considering the coments, I’m leaving all cooking convos outside of the most important as useless.Good luck.