Bobby Flay isn’t leaving Food Network after all
False alarm! Bobby Flay decided to stay at Food Network after working out his contract renewal
Aux News Bobby Flay
Last month, Variety reported that Bobby Flay was leaving Food Network after 27 years because of contract issues. At the time, he and the network couldn’t reach a financial agreement for the contract renewal. However, it appears Flay secured his bag after all and won’t be leaving Food Network anytime soon.
Deadline reports Flay reached a three-year deal with the channel, confirmed by Food Network president Courtney White:
We are thrilled to continue Bobby Flay’s long standing relationship with Food Network. He captivates our audience with his incredible culinary skill, fierce competitive spirit and his trademark ability to share a deep passion for food. Bobby generously invites viewers into his culinary world, sharing his #WeCook philosophy and inspiring everyone in the kitchen. Continuing this creative relationship with such an extraordinary talent is the perfect way to usher in the holidays.
Flay also gave a statement saying the negotiations “took a little longer than expected” but he’s “thrilled” to still stay at the network that turned him into one of the world’s most renowned chefs. He said, “The important thing is that both sides are happy that we can now build on an already rock solid foundation.”
According to Deadline, the new agreement goes beyond his TV shows. It “includes development of new content for Food Network as well as for elsewhere within the Discovery portfolio. Like its media peers, Discovery is pushing into streaming, with food programming aimed at niche service Food Network Kitchen as well as the broad-audience Discovery+.”
He already has some new stuff for Food Network on the horizon. New episodes of Beat Bobby Flay are underway, and he’s debuting a new show—the working title of the upcoming series is Bobby And Sophie On The Coast. As the title suggests, Flay will be teaming up with his daughter, Sophie, who starred with him in another one of his Food Network shows, The Flay List.
41 Comments
this is annoying. i quit my job in solidarity!
Oh! That finally explains why so many people are quitting their jobs right now. Solidarity for celebrity chef Bobby Flay’s contract dispute.It all makes sense!
Who’s coming with us?!
Cool, I guess? Bobby Flay is fine. I don’t have any strong feelings about it.Do boomers love him or something? I don’t really understand why the dude can command big contract dollars.
Gen X, we like a winner, and Bobby Flay *wins* !!!#WinnersWIN!
We do? I thought we liked weed, booze and not giving a fuck?Did someone update the GenX terms of membership while I wasn’t looking?
Our dirty little secret…..you just have to be born at a certain time to be a member. Don’t tell the others.
You also love your flannel, you silly goose.
I never really got into the flannel I’m more of a band t shirt and hoodie GenXer.
I see.
Doug Copeland is a mercurial master.
Not to mention fickle!
Copeland wrote a book about Marshall McLuhan, and gave a talk about it, which I attended. It was basically: ‘Uncle Doug shows you his favourite bookmarks in a tiki lounge while everyone gets hammered; connections to McLuhan’s work: almost nil.’One of my most treasured memories.
Now that’s my kind of book reading event. Cheers!
He basically spoke about McLuhan for maybe 5 minutes while displaying a slide, then just dropped to his desktop and went: “Have you guys seen The Honeybadger?”He showed a few more videos and then had members of the audience shout out their own faves, which he would google and project. Once in a while someone would try to get him back on topic, and be roundly booed by the rest of the audience. Fun, fun times.
Spoken like a Boomer.
Apologies, but birthyear of 1971 in this neighborhood of the Phantom Zone. I can only fit into the generation as delineated by a Mr. Douglas Copeland, Esq.
In the time of chimpanzees Bobby Flay was a monkey, butane in his veins…
He’s a winner? I thought had a show called ‘Beat Bobby Flay,’ which from the title means people come on and beat him at doing things (or perhaps with baseball bats? Never watched it). If the real purpose of that show is for people to challenge him to things and HE wins, that’s not being a winner, that’s being a narcissistic, egotistical jackass.
He’s been huge on The Food Network for a long time and I guess seems like a nice guy…?
Not a nice guy. Ask his three ex-wives.
I’m on the X/Millenial cusp, and I like him. He’s fun to watch and cooking competitions are also fun. Also a lot of women think he’s sexy. I’m a woman and I can see the appeal but he’s also a serial dater and apparently a bit of a cheater so the bloom is off the rose for me, but still he’s an engaging TV personality.
He’s a talented, mildly charismatic, but ultimately harmless white guy. Of course their core audience loves him.
Well now I’M leaving Food Network!
I’ve always thought a fun episode of Beat Bobby Flay would be to get his sous chefs from “Throwdown” to go head to head. So Bobby, if you’re reading this, make it happen.
There have been episodes where he competed against a protégé.
This validates my decision to not have read the previous newswire where you mentioned he was quitting.
Meanwhile, I threaten to quit my job if I don’t get a raise and receive a resounding “Well, nice working with you.”
This guy flays me, what a goof. Anyway, childhood = ruined.
So some money was better than no money?
Well thank goodness, I love Bobby Flay.
Awkward. Why’d I think Bobby Flay was dead?
It might be the bloody knife in your hand.
I was surprised and skeptical when it was announced he was leaving. They don’t have many stars bigger than Bobby Flay at Food Network, so it was strange that they would let him go. On the other hand, where else would someone who is a celebrity for food go besides Food, so it was weird that he would leave. Anyway, surprise, surprise. They worked it out.
Discovery realized Flay really was OK with walking away. They looked at what Food Network would be like with nothing but Guy Fieri shows—basically Guy cooking the same food you’ll find at your neighborhood BWW and stuffing his face in Mom & Pop eateries across the country. With that image in their collective heads, they then promptly ponied up the cash.Don’t get me wrong, there are times when pub grub is exactly what I’m looking for, but the channel needed something to balance Fieri’s uber-casual cuisine.
As with everything else he’s ever made, Bobby was holding out for Ancho chilies in his new contract….and Food Network finally relented.
Not a parent so maybe a dumb question but why are these people always shoving their kids into their careers? Sophia has been on BBF a few times and – she’s fine, I guess.
This is good news. Beat Bobby Flay is exactly my kind of dumb TV comfort food (no pun intended).
His on screen persona has mellowed a lot, he was pretty obnoxiously cocky at first. I actually enjoyed Beat Bobby Flay for a moment. But honestly, I haven’t seen him in too many shows lately anyway. I didn’t watch the Bobby and Giada show, because that omnipresent promo pic makes me want to barf. Guy Fieri is obnoxious, too, but in a much more accessible way. He’s an improvement as the everyman character that Food Network always has to have. They could have let Bobby walk and been fine.
I guess it’s good Flay’s a TV personality. He certainly doesn’t seem like much of a chef.
??