Guy Fieri’s new Food Network deal is one expensive dish
Guy Fieri continues reign as highest-paid Food Network star with new $100 million deal
Aux News Guy Fieri
Guy Fieri first graced television screens on Food Network Star in 2006, and the title of that show may never have been more accurate than when it applied to Fieri as the winner of the second season. Since that time, he’s created lots of shows for the network—Guy Off The Hook, Guy Fieri’s Road Show, Guy’s Family Road Trip, Guy & Hunter’s European Vacation, Guy’s Ranch Kitchen, etc.—and become a complete cultural phenomenon in his own right. The Food Network obviously knows a good thing when they see it, which is why it struck a new deal with Fieri valued at over $100 million, per Variety.
Fieri keeps his crown as the highest-paid Food Network star (his previous deal, struck in 2021, was around $80 million, according to Variety). On top of this big pay day, the network has ordered more episodes of Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives, Guy’s Grocery Games, and Tournament Of Champions. He’ll also continue to develop new programming under his Knuckle Sandwich production banner.
“Recognized everywhere he goes, there is only one Guy Fieri,” Warner Bros. Discovery head of food content Betsy Ayala said, quite accurately, in a statement. “Guy’s love of food, restaurants, and the chefs behind the dishes, combined with his extraordinary passion for crafting series with stories that resonate make extending this partnership a clear choice in our mission to deliver to viewers more of what they love.”
In his own statement, Fieri said, “For nearly two decades, Food Network has been my home and continuing to create great TV within the Warner Bros. Discovery universe is exactly where I want to be. Food is our most universal language so being able to unite people through highlighting chefs, restaurateurs and the folks dishing out incredible meals all over this country and world is a privilege and responsibility that I don’t take lightly.”
45 Comments
He’d might as well be walking on the sun.
He’s getting paid like an All-Star!
Yeah ok whatever, I wanna know what HUNTER Fieri’s contract looks like
He seems to be around a lot whenever I watch Food Network these days*. I think there’s been a real big ‘Hunter wants to host’ push from the Guy Fieri camp.
*see AV Club’s recent article about Shark Tank and hotel TV habits
Yeah he fulfills the extremely essential “anodyne postgame interview” role in all the competition shows. Basically just another way to boost up the idea that all these chefs and judges are once-in-a-millennium geniuses
I’m guessing Hunter shows up when Guy’s production company (Knuckle Sandwich, as mentioned in the article) is involved: why overpay some other talking head to do the job, when Hunter can just nepo baby it for the same amount?
The leftwing media is trying to cover up news about Hunter Fieri’s laptop.
“I BET HE’S GOT SO MANY RECIPES FOR CHICKEN KIEV ON IT!!11!”
I have nothing against Hunter, he seems like a nice enough kid. But man oh man is he ever the epitome of what people look at as the “bad” kind of nepotism baby. He’s only on camera because of who is dad is. And as nice of a kid he seems to be, and while Guy isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, Hunter doesn’t have a tenth of his dad’s charisma and on-camera ability. It always feels awkward when Hunter is shoehorned in. He’s just not natural on TV.
You’re 100% right. The hardest scenes to watch are when Hunter is a judge for food competitions judging accomplished chefs. It’s rough. Why didn’t he just get a cushy producer job off camera?
Yeah. Like, I know Hunter went to college for all of the same stuff Guy did, and I believe he’s trained as a chef. But it absolutely does not come across in any way. Again, he seems like a good dude. But he just doesn’t have his dad’s natural charm on camera.
You’re right. We have to help Hunter.
I assume you mean, like, an intervention. “Hunter, I don’t know how to tell you this. But… you’re addicted to riding your dad’s coattails. Just enjoy the riches and stop trying to be him, because you’re not.”
He does seem like a good kid. But it’s been at least 5 years, and he’s shown nothing in terms of presenting or on screen charisma. It’s time for Guy to acknowledge that Hunter is never going to happen.
Yeah I mean even if you hate Guy Fieri (I honestly can’t make up my mind about him–his aesthetics are so repulsive to me, but he seems like a genuinely nice person), you have to admit he’s got a certain charisma that clearly is not genetic.
“his aesthetics are so repulsive to me”
I hope you get that this is a you problem and not a Guy Fieri problem…
I am ecstatic to be living in enough of a cultural bubble that I will never understand the appeal of this guy or have any idea who the hell does.
Honestly? He deserves whatever they choose to pay him. Like or hate Guy, he’s the primary reason a lot of people watch Food Network. It used to be Guy and Bobby as the two driving forces but at this point, it’s almost entirely a Guy-driven network (for better or worse).
Yeah at this point Guy is almost single handedly holding up the Food Network.
I sincerely hope he shows us how to cook some of his most famous recipes, even if we home cooks can’t get a Sammy Hagar lookalike or a bidet full of Velveeta that plays Smash Mouth. I really want to learn how to endanger a mozzarella ball with shaved lamb and pork.
lol I had never seen that, but to be honest I have never had any desire to eat any food he actually made, I mean Donkey Sauce FFS, but I do dig DDD. And from everything I have heard he is supposedly a really nice guy.
That was a fake menu a guy did up when he realised http://www.guysamericankitchenandbar.com hadn’t been bought back in 2013.
Funny I didn’t even know, but what little I know of his restaurants that menu would not have surprised me.
Because you’re a fucking moron?
And they are going to develop 17 new shows he will host so the network with more than get their money’s worth.
Put that contract on a flip flop. I’ll still sign it.
“he’s the primary reason a lot of people watch Food Network.”Is he? Is he?? I need to see some numbers on this. WHO LIKES THIS DUDE??? Who are these people?
“This bathroom is the bomb. You should fry some bologna in here”
That would put the shamalama in the ding-dong.
when will women get paid like a Guy?
I feel like Guy Fieri has become the Dolly Parton of food. He’s over the top but also beloved by people all over the political spectrum. He somehow manages to feature Kid Rock (though perhaps in his pre-over-the-top-toxic phase) and small immigrant businesses and make it all feel like part of a coherent whole.
Guy Fieri is a metaphor for America.
I’m surprised a cable network in 2023 even has that much money at its disposal.
Food Network is just a money laundering operation for the international counterfeit olive oil syndicate. They got deep pockets.
I fucking knew Giada DeLaurentis was up to something. Her and Rachel Ray were running that racket. Ray was high on her own supply with that “E-V-Oh-Oh” bit
Food network has tons of avenues of income. The network itself is basically just advertisement for their other stuff.
Last time Guy got an enormous contract, didn’t Bobby Flay threaten to quit unless Food Network gave him an even bigger one? Hopefully the network won’t make the same mistake of giving in this time. Flay can suck it up and admit that he’s much less of a draw than Guy is, or he can flounce and we’ll be free of him.
I still like Bobby Flay, but admittedly I don’t watch Food Network as much as I used to in the past. I might still catch some Brunch at Bobby’s (which is The Cooking Channel, actually) or some Beat Bobby Flay, but mostly what I watch on FN is Holiday/Spring/Summer Baking Championship and Christmas Cookie Challenge. I don’t watch much of the host-driven stuff at all anymore.
I only know Fieri from various people doing impressions of him. I take it he’s some kind of cook or something?
Some kind.
I’m not gonna lie. I have heard the reports that he’s nice to his staff and I guess is a generally decent guy, but I can’t imagine spending any amount of money to see more of him on my screen. If I happen to leave the TV on and he pops up, I recoil physically and scramble for the remote. Who is watching this dude?
I don’t mind Guy – his on-screen personality is basically just a goofy dude who rarely has a bad thing to say about restaurants or dishes he covers and wants to spend time with his kids.And I like the concepts of a lot of his shows – I like that DDD covers small mom and pop type places (and have visited a few and always been happy), I like that Tournament of Champions is basically just a chance to see Top Chef alums do battle, and I like that all of the other hosts / judges on Food Network are always at more ease and having more fun when on shows like Grocery Games.
Chopped is my favorite Food Network show and Top Chef is my overall favorite cooking-related show but Guy provides good counter programming to that type of serious competition.
“I don’t mind Guy – his on-screen personality is basically just a goofy dude who rarely has a bad thing to say about restaurants or dishes he covers and wants to spend time with his kids.”The worst thing I’ve seen him do is NOT take a second bite of something called “cheeseburger fried rice”, leading me to believe that it must have been pretty bad.
I’m clearly missing the charm. I’m glad he works for somebody!
Okay so Warner Bros Discovery is so broke that it deletes whole ass movies AFTER they have been made, and cuts out beloved shows from several channels. But magically there’s $100M for Guy Fieri and even more for that bungling loser David Zaslav’s bonus?