On this week’s episode of Food Network Obsessed, host Jaymee Sire plays a fun game in honor of guest Guy Fieri. He joins the podcast to talk all things Tournament of Champions and who actually is in charge of the diabolical randomizer. They discuss the cutthroat, sports-style bracket challenges and how they developed the show to stand out from the rest with blind taste testing. Guy then talks about his philanthropy, raising millions of dollars this past year for the Restaurant Employee Relief Fund, and the resilience of the restaurant industry. He also tells the story of the audition tape that got him on the network and showing up to the set of Food Network Star in a yellow leather jacket and flip flops.
On this week’s episode of Food Network Obsessed, host Jaymee Sire plays a fun game in honor of guest Guy Fieri. He joins the podcast to talk all things Tournament of Champions and who actually is in charge of the diabolical randomizer. They discuss the cutthroat, sports-style bracket challenges and how they developed the show to stand out from the rest with blind taste testing. Guy then talks about his philanthropy, raising millions of dollars this past year for the Restaurant Employee Relief Fund, and the resilience of the restaurant industry. He also tells the story of the audition tape that got him on the network and showing up to the set of Food Network Star in a yellow leather jacket and flip flops.
Connect with the podcast: https://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/food-network-obsessed-the-official-podcast-of-food-network
Follow Food Network on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foodnetwork
Follow Jaymee on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaymeesire
Follow Guy on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/guyfieri/
Learn more about Tournament of Champions: https://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/tournament-of-champions
Start Your Free Trial of discovery+: https://www.discoveryplus.com/foodobsessed
Find episode transcript here: https://food-network-obsessed.simplecast.com/episodes/guy-fieri-talks-his-first-audition-tape-tournament-of-champions
[MUSIC PLAYING] JAYMEE SIRE: Happy Friday, everyone. And welcome to Food Network Obsessed, the podcast where we dish on all things Food Network with your favorite Food Network stars. I am your host Jaymee Sire. And today, I am so pumped. We're talking to a guy that you all know very well. You might have guessed that already.
We have Guy Fieri on Food Network Obsessed today. We talk all about Tournament of Champions, his work with the Restaurant Employee Relief Fund, and so much more. But before we get into it with Guy, I thought in honor of TOC, we would play a little game.
If you watched Tournament of Champions before, then you are very familiar with the randomizer. And I'm pretty sure this is the thing that chefs maybe have nightmares about from competing on this show. Because essentially, what happens is it randomly chooses what they are going to make in these head-to-head challenges.
Guy gets up there, spins this huge wheel. It lands on a protein, a produce, equipment, style of dish, and the time that they have to make it-- super challenging. It's completely different every single time he spins.
So we are bringing the randomizer to the podcast today. And what we're going to do is our producers are going to, quote, unquote, "spin" the randomizer a couple of times. Each time, I'm going to tell you what I would make if I was competing which I never would be because I would be terrible at this game. But we thought it'd be fun, I don't know, challenging. I don't know what the right word for it is. I don't know why I'm doing this myself, but here we go.
Spin number 1. So protein, we've got salmon. Produce, pomegranate. Equipment, microwave. What? Style, smoky. And time, 35 minutes. OK, guys, this is just mean and cruel and wrong. Because everybody knows the number one rule in any office, no fish in the microwave. I think I've actually heard you can steam fish in the microwave, but I just don't know if I could bring myself to do it.
I actually read recently that you can get more juice out of a citrus like a lemon by popping it in the microwave for 30 seconds. They're easier to juice. So maybe I would do that. I don't know if the judges would count me off some points for not using it for the whole dish, but that's what I'm going with.
I love Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce for a nice smoky component. It adds that really quickly. So maybe I would combine that with the pomegranate like some sort of sauce. And that would go over the salmon. And of course, we would use the citrus that I got from the microwave, but I'm pan frying the salmon. I can't put that in the microwave, guys.
All right. Nothing could be worse than that. So let's go with spin number 2. Protein, we've got a flank and short rib. Produce, avocado, all right. Equipment, a mandolin. Style is sweet. And I've got 45 minutes. Sweet is throwing me off. I believe flank and short ribs, those are those the Korean style short ribs, cut across the bones. But making them sweet, that's maybe like a Mexican like mole sauce because that is a sweeter sauce. It's got the chilies. It's got chocolate in there.
For the avocado, I mean, avocado would go with that. But I feel like if you wanted to maybe get a little creative, I feel like I saw somewhere recently that you could dry out the pit and grate it. And that adds a nutty component. I feel like maybe I would get some bonus points for that. Mandolin, I think maybe just thinly slice some radishes or some vegetables to make a little salad on top-- a little freshness, a little crunchiness.
Yeah, I don't know what I'm doing with the short ribs. I mean, I'm braising them with this mole sauce. So I think that sounds actually pretty good. And 45 minutes, that's good that I have a little bit extra time.
What is a spin number 3? We've got shrimp for our protein, carrots for the produce, a meat grinder for our equipment. And the style is Caribbean. And I've got 30 minutes to make this happen. OK. OK, actually, I know what I'm going to do. I made some salmon burgers over the weekend. I actually used a food processor for that, but I think I could use a meat grinder to maybe grind up the shrimp and the carrots with that and make some sort of burger patty out of the shrimp and carrots.
That sounds good, right? Maybe some Caribbean seasonings or sauces of some sort and we make a Caribbean shrimp burger patty. I could do that in 30 minutes. I feel that was a little easier, so I appreciate you guys ending on a positive note there.
That was super fun. If you haven't seen Tournament of Champions yet, not to worry, you've only missed one episode. So get caught up and start tuning in because it is a lot of fun. That randomizer is savage. I mean, you just saw me try to stumble my way through it, and I'm not even actually cooking anything. I'm just thinking of dishes on the spot.
OK, so let's get to it. You've seen him cruising across the country in a 67 red Camaro for Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. He is the host of Guy's Grocery Games. And now, he's back hosting season two of Tournament of Champions. He is the real deal. It's Guy Fieri.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Guy, welcome to the pod. For starters, I have to say you certainly know how to butter up the host of the show. I know our listeners can't see this at home, but I am wearing my new Flavortown Kitchen hoodie. And your team sent over a mountain of food to try yesterday. So thank you.
GUY FIERI: Well, mountain is what we do, so I'm glad that you recognize it as mountain. No, my team's been working really hard to get Flavortown Kitchen up and running nationwide. And I figured if we were going to get a chance to talk with you all, at least, you had a chance to enjoy Flavortown Kitchen, have a chance to reflect.
And now, we can speak to each other without you going through super crunchy fries and queso dip and the chicken guy sandwich and the bacon mac and cheese burger and the pig poppers.
JAYMEE SIRE: And the fried pickles and the Cuban sandwich.
GUY FIERI: Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Continue on. Maybe I forgot some other things.
JAYMEE SIRE: Well, I appreciate that. And I appreciate you taking the time. I know you are a very busy guy these days. And let's start with Flavortown Kitchen and talk a little bit more about that. Where did that concept come from? Because now, people across the country can literally go to Flavortown from the comfort of their own home.
GUY FIERI: And we've been talking about this mysterious place of Flavortown for a long time. And it never was started as an idea that it really was going to become something. I think there was a gigantic pizza one time we were shooting the DDD joint. And I said, look at this. It looks like a manhole cover in the streets of Flavortown. That was it.
JAYMEE SIRE: That was it?
GUY FIERI: And a few weeks later, I think I said something. We had a big plate of pasta. And I said, it looks like the steering wheel on a bus driving to Flavortown. That was it. So then, I would run into people. Fans on the street or at the airport or something, they'd go, man, I'm going to Flavortown or I'm a resident of Flavortown.
I'm like, OK. And I look at our director of photography, Chico. And he goes, remember you were talking about the Flavortown, the bus or the thing? And I'm like, really? So then, of course, now that we think it's funny, so now I start saying it more. And it evolved.
Anyhow, what happened? Where did this restaurant come from? So of course, our industry, our restaurant industry has just been clobbered. I mean, that's not even a right term. I mean, it's been taken out at the knees. It's been the good, the bad, and the ugly. And what is happening is we've got a lot of restaurants that are down to 25% capacity. We have a lot of folks are finally catching on to the concept of delivery and to-go.
And I'm one of those folks because I was never a delivery guy. I never get anything delivered. And in the delivery, I give all the credit in the world that these delivery companies have really upped their game. And restaurants have learned how to package food correctly for delivery-- up, up, up, up, up.
All these things have fallen into place. So I thought, well, here's a great opportunity. I have 75 restaurants. And we really enjoy the way we do them and the way we make food and the style of food in which I do it-- and scratch made and simple food. What you see is what you get-- bacon mac and cheese burger. You're going to make a mac and cheese burger? It better be damn good mac and cheese. It better be really great beef on and on.
And so we said, let's try this. So what the program is restaurants are already open. They already have staff cooking. They already have the lights, on the heat on, the insurance paid. And they've got these big kitchens. And they're only doing 25% of the business they were doing on the front of the house. And they're doing some delivery.
Why don't we come in and bring a new concept in, bring some new packaging in, and make it a virtual kitchen? And they can only order online. And it can only be served by delivery and see if this works. We have 165 of those locations currently in 30 states.
JAYMEE SIRE: Wow.
GUY FIERI: And hopefully, by the end of two more weeks, we'll be almost to 200.
JAYMEE SIRE: That's very impressive. And no, I love the idea of it. Because like you said, it's just a creative way to really continue to use these spaces, these ghost kitchens, these virtual kitchens, and also delivering food to people who need it and maybe don't feel comfortable going to restaurants.
And again, we thank you for the food that you sent over. It was essentially like a big game spread which I think is very fitting because given my sports background, your love of sports. And of course, we are talking Tournament of Champions which is super exciting.
GUY FIERI: Nice segue, nice. Do you see that? That's how a pro does it, folks. OK? I mean, she got way out there. She circled.
JAYMEE SIRE: I circled back.
GUY FIERI: I should have seen that freight train coming, but I didn't. It whipped right in his face. Well done. Well done.
JAYMEE SIRE: Well, I appreciate it. I appreciate that very much. I pride myself on the transition. So speaking of which, Tournament of Champions, it's back. It premiered on Sunday. I'm curious if there's anything that fans might be expecting this season that they didn't see last season.
GUY FIERI: No. If you like to see people completely lose their shit and you want to see people get yelled at screens, if you want to see people cross my name off their Christmas card list--
JAYMEE SIRE: No.
GUY FIERI: And no, I'm telling you. This randomizer is worse than what it was last year.
JAYMEE SIRE: Really? How is that possible?
GUY FIERI: I don't know, man. All I know is this. And I love how everybody thinks that I'm the one that comes up with all these diabolical problems in the Guy's Grocery Games. Perhaps I have a hand in them, but I have an amazing-- and I stress to you-- amazing team that produces Guy's Grocery Games with me and which happens to be coincidentally the same crazies that make Tournament of Champions.
So when we start looking at things of different types of equipment that we're going to challenge them to use or different types of proteins or vegetables or styles of cooking, you can be assured that I have a percentage of the problem, percentage of the input.
JAYMEE SIRE: OK.
GUY FIERI: But I have real wackos.
JAYMEE SIRE: [LAUGHS]
GUY FIERI: I mean, people that need to be probably checked at the door before they're allowed to come in. They probably can't get on a lot of flights, if you know what I mean. But no, it's just hell-- that show and what these chefs go through. And I know all these chefs very well.
And I'll tell you, this year when we shot the show and when I watched them cook and then I see the plates get put in front of the judges and then I listened to the judges talk about them, then before I read off the answer, read off the winner-- I don't even know who the winner.
Oh, by the way, I don't ever want to know who the winner is. I have zero interest in knowing who's win. Just give me the damn piece of paper. And when I read it, then we'll see it on the screen. But I always say to myself or one of my producers who I think is going to win this round.
JAYMEE SIRE: OK. And how often are you right?
GUY FIERI: This year? Let me just say this. I would be doing this podcast out of a tent if I bet the house on it, OK?
JAYMEE SIRE: [LAUGHS]
GUY FIERI: Upset city is all I can tell you. People coming in, dishes look great, and judges blowing people out of water. And remember, the judges have no idea who's competing.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yes. It's completely blind, right?
GUY FIERI: And the competitors have no idea who's judging.
JAYMEE SIRE: I want to talk more about this randomizer because I did see last week's randomizer. It did seem pretty tough. And that's just week one. What would you be most scared of if you were standing there, awaiting your fate from the randomizer?
GUY FIERI: All of it. All of it. It's all. And what is even more difficult to it is it's like having this something on your shoulder because someone is talking in your ear, getting in your head because the chef that's over there cooking in the other station who wants to take you down and wants to win and go forward.
And you know this is not just like some walk off the street kind of regular Schmo, regular chef. You're talking about a full blown culinary assassin is coming in to battle with you. Hey, that sounds fun. Let me get this stupid big wheel to spin me these ridiculous ingredients and give me no time to do it. And all of a sudden, that guy said go. And I've got 30 minutes to either make it or break it. I mean, this is the kind of stuff we should give free counseling like a coupon like, here you go.
It's crazy. I'm joking around, but I'm going to tell you something. I tell all the chefs, go home in the first round or win the whole thing, I have the same amount of respect because it is crazy. And you have to be strong. And there's just no telling it. There's no telling how it's going to go down.
And that's the reason that this is such an amazing competition because the variables are unbelievable. And you'll never see the same battle twice ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever.
JAYMEE SIRE: No, I think that's really cool. We keep talking and comparing it to sports and college basketball and that kind of thing. And it really is because you can have these Cinderella stories. And this year, you guys have the equivalent of a playing game reminiscent of the college hoops bracket that we all love and watch in March as well. Is that where that idea came from? And what kind of element does that add to the chefs that are already in?
GUY FIERI: Well, you're too young to remember--
JAYMEE SIRE: I don't know about that.
GUY FIERI: --who won the NCAA in 1990.
JAYMEE SIRE: Well, I can't remember what happened yesterday.
GUY FIERI: OK, yes. And you were born in '90 so--
JAYMEE SIRE: '80 but yeah.
GUY FIERI: OK. OK. OK. 1990, I graduated UNLV. And the greatest team, my favorite team, the Runnin' Rebels, won the NCAA. And it was one of the greatest things-- to be a senior in college and have your team win and the whole town explodes.
And we're tiny. It was a pretty small school at the time. So I've always been a fan of the tournament. And I love brackets. And it really makes you-- you're going for a team. Then they're taken out. OK, now, who are you going to follow? And you start to learn so much about the teams. And the more time they spend on TV, the more you learn about them and on they go.
And so I've always had in my mind. And I'm going, OK, so where's the big gauntlet culinary competition? I think we do a good job on Guy's Grocery Games, but I wanted to even take it up another level. Where are we going to get this? So I came up with this idea of Tournament of Champions. And we didn't call it Tournament of Champions. I don't know what we called it. It had all kinds of terrible names because we wanted to scare people about coming to it.
I'm an investor in the UFC. And I'm a big fan. And I wanted to create an environment that gave the battle-hardened warriors that want to compete, the environment to go and get their shot. And so we came up with this. And as we went through it, I had to take the things. And I have a great partner in crime, this guy Brian Lando, who is unbelievable. We had to take it step by step.
OK, first thing, eliminations. Bracket has to be total sports orientation. Boom, boom, boom. Second, how do we pick who's going to go against who? It's got to be a seeding. You've got to have-- you got a look at these things. How much they compete? When did they last compete? What have they won? Bump, up, up, up, up. And there's a lot of people that weigh in on the seeding by the way of including fans.
And we started going through this. OK, well, how do we pick it? Well, one of the things we learned in Guy's Grocery Games is that we really, really like the impromptuness when we'd roll the dice or we'd spin a wheel a spin. It's been one of the simple wheels.
And I said, well, that's got to be the kickoff to it. We've got to make it so no two games could ever be like. Because otherwise, if they know what's going to be these three proteins potentially and these three vegetables potentially, they could go and start to conjure these images in their head.
Well, once you start to take those variables and diversify them, and then you take equipment and diversify that, and then you take style on top of that, I mean, now, all preparation is out the window-- completely out the window. So putting it all together, it was the intention of creating that pandemonium and the excitement and the fan interaction that makes Tournament of Champions what it is. And one of the last things that came down about the tournament was the blind tasting.
And everybody is like, we can't have blind tasting. I mean, the judges have to see what's going on. I said, no, no, no, no, no. I've got that figured out. We're going to have two people stand there and work as the ombudsman for the chef, so they're going to be able to explain. So the chef isn't there to answer where do they put the macadamia nut.
They're going to have a guy there that says they put the macadamia nut in the crust. And they also blended it into the sauce. And they're going to have somebody there to work on their behalf not as a salesman, just to report the information.
And all of a sudden, it was like, oh, shocks. We can do this with a blind tasting. Well, that changes the world because I don't care who you are, how straight up the middle, how tight you are about something. There's no way that you could have a chef make you something and you know that their discipline of cooking is that genre, that era, that style, that method, that ingredient.
And it would not weigh in on you in their favor or against them. There's no way that can happen. We're human. OK, so let's do this. Let's just take all of that out of it. And let's just have the chef. Let's have the dish judged simply by itself.
And I'm going to tell you what. That's what cuts this. That's what cuts this competition from every other competition that's ever existed. It is the fact that it's blind tasting. And then little other things like live audience and so forth. I'm so overwhelmingly proud of this and not for me per se, but for what my team does and for what it does and what it generates for these chefs because this is some breakout stuff here.
This is some stuff that when these chefs come in and win, lose, whatever, this is a chance for them to show their true grit. And this is a chance for the world to see more about these chefs than they probably ever would have ever seen before. So it serves a lot of wonderful opportunities during its painful experience.
JAYMEE SIRE: Tournament of Champions isn't all fun and games, though. There's a greater purpose this season. And we're going to dive into that when we come back.
Absolutely, no, I think it's brilliant. And like you said, it is the only show out there that has a completely blind taste test during that judging portion. And another thing that you guys did implement this year that I'm sure you are also very, very proud of and puts even more on the line for these chefs is the fact that the show is donating $10,000 in their name to whatever restaurant they choose.
And I think that is just such a cool thing that you guys are doing, especially in these times that we're living in. And you talked about it at the top and how brutal it's been for the restaurant industry. How important was that piece to you for this season?
GUY FIERI: So Courtney White is our president at the Food Network. She's a fantastic leader. Because fantastic leaders, in my opinion, listen and evaluate and consider especially when one of their field generals comes to them and says, I got a problem. And we're getting ready to go into the studio.
And there were some problems going down in LA where some restaurants were really getting some bad, bad shakedowns and weren't able to open and other people were and all this kind of stuff was taking place. And I called. I said, I really feel terrible to go in and do this show knowing that we've got restaurants that are basically being shuttered because they can't do their service and on and on and on.
And I've got chefs who have restaurants that are being shuttered. I said, how about we give some money to some restaurants? I said, how about when a chef goes to play, they get to talk about a restaurant that they want to recognize and honor? And if they win that round, first, we said, when they play, we'll give $5,000 from each chef.
That's fun, but it's also a little more exciting to get 10,000. So why don't we make it the winning chef? So this chef would say, I'm playing for this restaurant. This chef, I'm playing for this restaurant. And they go and they battle.
So they're not just playing for themselves anymore. They know that they're playing. And if they win, that restaurant that they just talked about that we do a nice little cover piece on, which is a nice little advertisement, you get advertised on the Food Network. You get a little DDD effect, as we call it. People gobble. People pay attention. Oh, Antonia Lofaso said that? I'm going to go.
So we put that out there. And these restaurants, by the end of this, we'll give over a quarter million dollars in donations to restaurants in need. And on top of it, more importantly, raise awareness that we need to get out and help restaurants. So yeah, so the donation but that's the Food Network.
That's a president that when you go to her with a concern and you need support and you need support now, I need this now. We've got to do this now. Tomorrow, we start to shoot. And how do you put that? How do you write that into the big program that we're getting ready to do? And everybody's getting a call Sunday evening. Hey, just so you know, we're getting $10,000 anybody that wins. Oh my God. How do we? And you see smoke coming out of people's ears.
And by the time, I arrive, it's like, OK, how does this sound when we explain this to the audience? So again, a lot of great people, a lot of great people sharing vision. And there's a common. The thing about us as chefs and as fans of food and all this kind of stuff, this has been the most trying time, heartbreaking time, unfair, you name it. I considered and cried about it forever.
But I will tell you what. It sure is great to see humanity come back to the table and everybody get involved. And not that it's been gone, but not everybody's exercised in it. And it's really been amazing. I mean, I've seen the greatest things out of people in this last year. And I think that when you watch TOC, you'll see these chefs talk about these restaurants.
And just last week, just last night when Nyesha won, she could barely get it out. And I'm sitting there looking at her. And I'm emotional about this. I mean, this is my friends too. And she started to talk about it. I'm like, yeah, keep it together. Keep it together. Let's not start crying because I'll probably cry. It's pretty amazing.
JAYMEE SIRE: No, it's incredible. I mean, this is nothing new for you. I mean, you are a philanthropist like through and through. I mean, you were helping out our first responders on the front line way before the pandemic even started. But then over the course of this last year, I mean, you've raised millions of dollars for the Restaurant Employee Relief Fund.
And this is an initiative that helps restaurant workers with grants. And I mean, it's incredible just to see the stories coming out of that and how many lives you've really touched. I mean, what has that been like for you as you reflect back on the last year?
GUY FIERI: I didn't do it for any-- I did it because I was pissed. I was just doing it and doing an interview saying, why did you do it? And so I was really mad. I was standing here in the kitchen. Actually, I walked outside on the porch because they're in the front steps. And I was talking to a friend of mine that knew what was coming down.
There was a lot of speculation. Oh, things are going to get closed. And he said, no, they're going to shut restaurants down tonight. You have restaurant owners that have walk-ins full of food, $5,000 to $20,000 worth of inventory. You can't shut them down tonight. Give them a window. Or maybe they gave them a day or two. But whatever it was, what it was going to do? It's basically going to shut off the lifeline.
And you have employees that live paycheck to paycheck. You got single parents. You got college students. You have retirees. There's so many people. Most people that work in the restaurant business have more than one restaurant job. And you have these people that are just going to get the carpet ripped out from underneath them.
And so I was trying to really come up with a way to, how do you help? How do you help on a national level? It sounds like a ton of money. $25 million is a ton of money when you start dispersing that and you give out 43,000 checks for $500. It's a ton when you think that at the peak of the pandemic with 15 million restaurant workers without jobs, 100,000 restaurants closed.
It just makes you go, oh my gosh. We're going to need a bigger fundraiser. But part of it was to let everybody know we did care and that the industry cared. And that's what people say to me. I ran in a lot of them, a lot of team members that got the check and fortunately we're back working when that happened. When they came up and said, thank you, I got that check, I'm like, that's awesome. And they're like, it was just so neat that people cared about us.
Because what does the restaurant industry do for everybody? It takes care of everybody. You go into a restaurant. They take care of your needs. They get you your hot water. They make your dish the way you want. They get you seated. They let you sit there. They cater to you. They say hello to you when you come to the door. That's what people in the red, that's what we do. So it was neat to see that the restaurant industry was getting its respectful recognition and especially from the big corporations because that's where I went to get the money.
I sent all these personal videos out to these presidents of these companies that all had a direct correlation with the restaurant business. I said, heads up, restaurant business has been taking care of you for a long time. Could you come help? And it was awesome, awesome.
And the National Restaurant Association, awesome people. Awesome people that just said, get the money, and we'll get it distributed. I mean, you could think. What is it? I mean, if you did the math of what it takes to calculate, what it takes to just take a name, put it on a check, put the check and verify that the person's really the person, put it in an envelope and mail it. Do that 43,000 times in two weeks, three weeks. It's crazy.
JAYMEE SIRE: No, it was crazy. And we also kind of saw, I guess, like a more intimate look at that and how for specific restaurants, friends of yours, were really affected by this and how they handled this. And this was all documented in your documentary Restaurant Hustle 2020, All on the Line.
I mean, especially knowing these people personally, I mean, it's obviously such a huge deal to hand out these checks to just people in need. But then to really get in there and see how these restaurants are struggling and how they're making it work, what was your biggest takeaway from that project?
GUY FIERI: Not knowing what we were facing, but knowing that it was coming is, in retrospect, it's even more ridiculous than it was when I was asking them. I knew it was going to be tough. You'd never think it's going to get as bad as it got and as bad as it's been.
And basically, what I asked four of my friends to do was, hey, I'm going to send you some cameras. It'll be the equivalent of saying to somebody, hey, listen, I'm going to throw you this notebook. Could you jot down some journal entries as the ship is sinking?
JAYMEE SIRE: [LAUGHS] Take some pictures. Take some video.
GUY FIERI: And make sure you get back to me. And so we have this talk. And I said, here's what we're trying to do. They're such bad asses. They are such. I mean, I already loved them and was already a fan of them and admired them and have them on my shows. And we have this great camaraderie, but I couldn't be any more enamored with them after this because they were just stoic stand in the line of fire right on the edge on the precipice of the whole meltdown. And they're just, today--
And they're picking up their phone. And they're sending me a video of horribleness. I just had to pay all my staff in chicken. We had a bunch of charges. I gave all my team that works for me everything out of the walk in, so they had food to take home.
JAYMEE SIRE: Wow.
GUY FIERI: So Maneet Chauhan, Marcus Samuelsson, Antonia Lofaso, and Christian Petroni. And they are warriors. They are givers. And what we did-- and this is what's so important. This is what's more important about the documentary than anything. It's that we got to chronicle it. And we got to share with people what happened. And maybe it can be used as a learning tool in the future because not everything worked, but we adapt and overcome in the restaurant business.
That's what we do. To be a restaurant owner, to be really to do it, you got to be everything short of an electrician, plumber, accountant, marketing director, a security officer--
JAYMEE SIRE: Social media expert.
GUY FIERI: Thank you very much. Counselor, legal advisor. You've got to do it all. And these four took the time. I mean, I'm telling you. I don't know if you saw it, but it is-- I can't. I mean, I've watched it 100 times. And I can't. I know when I'm going to get the--
JAYMEE SIRE: The tears.
GUY FIERI: I know what I'm going to get the little choked up.
JAYMEE SIRE: The onions, is somebody cutting onions?
GUY FIERI: Yeah. Was because of onions. It was because of onions.
JAYMEE SIRE: No, it was powerful stuff.
GUY FIERI: You guys are-- I appreciate the podcast. And I appreciate that you're giving people this insight because we're so thirsty for information, especially about in the Food Network world and what goes on. And it really is the most unbelievable network of what goes on, and how we do it, and what we do, and how we change things, and how we educate people and all this other stuff. So I think the fact that you guys have tapped into that and are giving people an insider's view of it is really smart and really strong.
JAYMEE SIRE: All right. Well, I appreciate that because it has been a lot of fun. And I do just peeling back what we see on TV. We see this larger than life personality. We see all the things, obviously, that you were doing and the community that we just touched on. But I do love to also hear people's origin stories and their evolution.
And you certainly have one of those because we go all the way back to Food Network Star and to what we see now, I mean, I guess give me the cliff notes. I mean, how did you get from there to what we see now on Tournament of Champions, on DDD, on Guy's Grocery Games, and out in the community doing all this good for the restaurant industry?
GUY FIERI: Do you ever Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure?
JAYMEE SIRE: I do, yes.
GUY FIERI: I got that same telephone booth.
JAYMEE SIRE: You did?
GUY FIERI: That's what happened. I don't know how this happened. I mean, all I know is 15 years ago, there was a show. And I'd never watched the Food Network. I mean, I can't watch the Food Network. I owned my own restaurants. I think I had three restaurants at the time and had eight-year-old kid, Hunter, pregnant with another son on the way.
And everybody's like, you got to go do this show on the Food Network called the Food Network Star. And I'm like, OK, what's this about? I think it's like American Idol meets food. I'm like, I can't sing like no dummy. And they said, you got to do it. And I dodged the bullet a billion times with my friend saying, you've got to do it, man. You've got to do it. We're going to sign you up. You've got to do it.
We had to send a video in, so I delayed sending the video in. I didn't want to do the video. And finally, one of my buddies named Mustard, Matt, but we called him Mustard. And Matt and another buddy by the name Rob said, you come down to here. It was restaurant I had called Tex Wasabi's. And they said, you come down here. We're going to shoot this intro. Have you ever seen the intro? Have you ever seen my demo?
JAYMEE SIRE: I haven't. I need to look that up.
GUY FIERI: You have got.
JAYMEE SIRE: Does it live on the internet somewhere?
GUY FIERI: I don't know where it lives, but I'm going to tell you what. You'll see 100% smart-ass.
JAYMEE SIRE: [LAUGHS]
GUY FIERI: So I sit there. And I do this intro. I totally do it on the premise of not being accepted because it's 100%, I said, hi, my name is Guy Fieri. And I'm here in the wine country. And today I'm going to make a delicious sausage and tofu stuffed terrine--
JAYMEE SIRE: [LAUGHS]
GUY FIERI: Yeah. And I'm going to serve that-- because we're in the wine country-- on a bed of Grape-Nuts with a mildly poached ostrich egg. And I'll be topping that off with a delicious pickled herring mousse.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yum.
GUY FIERI: And I say it straight-faced. I say it straight face right into the camera all mellow and calm. And then, I start to laugh. And I go, what's going on with you guys at the Food Network? I said, my name's Guy Fieri. I've been making real food for real people and da-da-da-da. And then I go and cook a dish.
I have to write it down. I have to actually put it down on paper at some point in time because what transpired from there to me getting on the show is nothing short of some level of intervention somewhere. I send in a DVD. They couldn't play the DVD at the Food Network.
JAYMEE SIRE: Oh my gosh.
GUY FIERI: The casting director took it home with her. It happened to fall out of her bag to remind her to watch it at home.
JAYMEE SIRE: Wow.
GUY FIERI: She watched it at home. It worked on her DVD player. She took her DVD player out of her home stereo unit back to the Food Network and said, come watch this. And they see the beginning 20 seconds of me being the complete smart ass. You know this low talking voice thing. And they're looking at her like. And she's like, just wait for it, wait for it. And then, I blow up. And they go like--
JAYMEE SIRE: [LAUGHS]
GUY FIERI: --where is this wacko? Go get him. And they'd already cast the whole show. The show was cast ready to go.
JAYMEE SIRE: Wow.
GUY FIERI: Anyhow, so the opportunity was there. And I never had any idea in the world. I wasn't going to win this thing. I mean, I showed up. I showed up in New York. I'd never been to New York. I'm a California guy. I go to New York for being the city. I showed up November. I think it was 19. It was my dad's birthday, I think. Lori's at home, eight months pregnant with Ryder. I got three restaurants, a young son. And I show up in New York in shorts with flip-flops and a yellow leather jacket.
JAYMEE SIRE: In November?
GUY FIERI: In November in this much six inches of snow when I get out of the cab. Oh, yeah. I'm way fish out of water. I walked into the meeting where everybody's standing there. And everybody's lined up in their white chef coats standing there-- all the contestants. And I'm like, hey, what's going on? You guys had a party for me? And all of a sudden, I'm miked.
And everybody talks about where they're from and what they do. And I'm like, I am so in the wrong place. And I'm like, well, screw it. I'll just have a good time. I'll just make-- I'll learn something. I'll meet some cool people. And I'll have this great experience. And little by little as I went through the competition, I continued to make my way through the competition. I ended up winning.
And even when I came back after winning, my business partner at the time said, so what are we going to do about you? You're going to be this TV star now. And I'm going to be here. I said, listen, that ain't going to happen. I got a cooking show, six episodes, called Guy's Big Bite. You've seen it. It's Saturday mornings at 7:00 AM.
JAYMEE SIRE: Prime time.
GUY FIERI: They got everybody they need. They don't need me. But it's been an amazing ride. When you get this much opportunity, I try not to squander it. And I try to make sure that I get to do something with it. And so what my interest is always I love to help people. I love to volunteer in community, shine the light on other people. I get a lot of light coming my direction.
And now, what I really try to do is make sure that with Guy's Grocery Games, with Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, with Guy's Ranch Kitchen, if you get these opportunities, why not share them? And that's really the blessing of this whole thing. So it's been great. I love it. I mean, I never saw it coming. I didn't ever.
People said, is this a dream come true? And no, it wasn't a dream come true because I could never have dreamed this up. I mean, this is way out there, folks. This is all I wanted to be. I really want to do is just own my own restaurant. I just wanted to own my own restaurant. That was going to be because it was great.
And I did great when I owned my three restaurants. My buddy and I, we were crushing it. I had a great life and great lifestyle. I owned the house and had a hot rod. That's changed a little bit. I might have a couple of other things now.
JAYMEE SIRE: But still the same guy, it sounds like.
GUY FIERI: That's what all my friends will tell. Maybe a little bit more eccentric, a little more whacked out. But no, it's really great to be able to go to the network that you have such a great relationship with and say, I want to make a show. And I want to shine the light on superstars that need the time and attention and the awareness of the world. And I want to see this happen. And it's going to be the most engaging thing that we've ever done on the network.
And have people look at you and go, you've been not getting a lot of sleep, aren't you? You need some. And I go, no, no, no, I'm serious. This is really going to be awesome. And they laugh at you for a couple of years. Go on vacation, Guy. And I'm like, this is going to be awesome. And then, of course, as soon as it aired, we knocked it out of the park last year. And then this year, TOC 2 is just listen. I produced it, filmed it, edited it, just been to there for all of it.
JAYMEE SIRE: Hosted it.
GUY FIERI: And hosted. Oh, yeah. And I also had that hosting thing.
JAYMEE SIRE: By the way.
GUY FIERI: Don't forget that piece. I sat here with my family and watched the damn show as tuned in to it as anybody was. And I knew what was going on. So that's how great it is. And again, I give all that so much of that credit to my team, particularly Brian Lando who's an amazing guy. You want to talk about amazing guy.
So surround yourself with good people like you guys are doing. I mean, you look at this. You've got to put this together and do your research and get your insight and all this. It's not easy. People think podcasts are-- and I've done some bad podcasts where I'm talking to someone. I'm like, do you even know who's on the other end of this?
You guys, if you're going to be great at it, you've got to play hard. And you've got to do your work. And you've got to be ready to go. And as you guys are in continued success. So I'm very happy for you.
JAYMEE SIRE: Well, I appreciate that very much. And we do appreciate you taking the time. Before we let you go, one final question that we ask all of our guests here on Food Network Obsessed. And I'm excited to hear your answer to this.
GUY FIERI: Black licorice.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yeah, no. I'm actually not asking that one.
GUY FIERI: I'm not a big sweets fan, but black licorice is my jam.
JAYMEE SIRE: OK. Well, the question is your perfect food day-- breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert. So maybe black licorice is your dessert, but what's breakfast, lunch, and dinner on your perfect food day?
GUY FIERI: So I'm not a breakfast guy.
JAYMEE SIRE: OK.
GUY FIERI: I never have been.
JAYMEE SIRE: I heard you hate eggs, right?
GUY FIERI: Yeah.
JAYMEE SIRE: No eggs for you?
GUY FIERI: I like eggs. Eggs are very, of course, essential in cooking. I'm just not an egg on the plate kind of guy-- dressings. But the sunny side up game, not so much.
JAYMEE SIRE: Not so much, OK.
GUY FIERI: If I do eat breakfast, there's one thing I will eat for breakfast. And that is grits, stone-ground grits and ham and red-eye gravy.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yum.
GUY FIERI: And that is my-- and maybe avocado toast.
JAYMEE SIRE: OK. I mean, you're a California guy. We got to get the avocado in there.
GUY FIERI: Avocado toast is my jam. I mean, listen. If carbs weren't the worst thing in the world for me, but I love avocado toast or some sourdough bread. I mean, you'd have to. Yeah. So lunch, I'm a huge, huge fan of hot Italian beef with a spicy giardiniera on top of it like you get it when you go to Chicago.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yup.
GUY FIERI: I'm starving right now also. It doesn't look like it, but I am starving. I'm hungry. So when I said that, my mouth just started to--
JAYMEE SIRE: You get that little salivate in the back, yeah?
GUY FIERI: No, it's not little. It's not little salivating. It's like someone opened up the Hoover Dam. So I think that would be one of my favorites. I love all Asian food, all Asian food-- so sushi, miso soup, wakame salad, anything sashimi, anything spicy, anything Thai, Chinese, Korean, Filipino.
I mean, the whole deal. I mean, all of it, but I love all food. I mean, I wake up every day thinking about food. I mean, I think about food. I mean, I think about food. In my family, the negotiation for what's for dinner typically starts right about breakfast time.
JAYMEE SIRE: [LAUGHS]
GUY FIERI: No, I'm really serious. It's a real thing.
JAYMEE SIRE: I like that.
GUY FIERI: It's a real thing in this house. And there were people who go to bed mad around here when the food thing doesn't go down their way. There's been several times when it'll be three different meals sitting on a table because people will hold their ground about what they want. Fine, make it yourself.
And I'm not a real dessert person, although I really do have an appreciation for chocolate gelato-- or not chocolate, coffee. I really like coffee, like odd-flavored things. Have you ever had Fernet, the liqueur Fernet?
JAYMEE SIRE: Yes, I love Fernet. Yes. I lived in San Francisco for five years. So yes, I'm very familiar with Fernet.
GUY FIERI: Then I'm a big Fernet fan.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yes.
GUY FIERI: I'm a big tequila fan. I'm big red wine fan. There's not many things I don't like. I like just about everything.
JAYMEE SIRE: Everything's on the table. Well, that sounds like a delightful food day. And it's been a delight speaking with you. And so much congratulations to you and the team on Tournament of Champions. Such a massive production and pulling it off in a pandemic, no less. You guys should be really proud. And we appreciate you taking the time.
GUY FIERI: Well, you got to come next season when we do this again. You guys should rally up and bring your team and go live.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yes.
GUY FIERI: Because I'll tell you something. Some of the things you hear from these chefs-- and that's what I really love. I think the edit shows it this year. You see them. I mean, stuff goes down.
JAYMEE SIRE: Let's do it. Let's do like a after-dark, Tournament of Champions After-dark. Like after people get eliminated, after they win, we'll do live podcasts right on the spot.
GUY FIERI: Go talk with the bar.
JAYMEE SIRE: Yeah, there you go.
GUY FIERI: Yeah, take your microphone and go to the bar and talk to them after a few beverages.
JAYMEE SIRE: That's where we'll get the real stories.
GUY FIERI: Oh, you'll get more than real stories. You have to have extra mics. All right. Well, thank you guys for having me. Again, continued success. And let me know any time. I'd be more than happy to come back.
JAYMEE SIRE: All right. We appreciate that. Thank you so much.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Wow. That was awesome. Perfect way to ring in our 10th episode. Such a milestone for us. And to have Guy on, talking all things Tournament of Champions and really his evolution from Food Network Star to what we see now. I need to get a hold of that audition tape, though. I definitely want to see that at some point.
But needless to say, the mayor of Flavortown did not disappoint. You can catch Guy on Tournament of Champions on Sunday at 8:00/7:00 Central, on Guy's Grocery Games on Wednesdays at 9:00/8:00 Central, and on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives Fridays at 9:00/8:00 Central. All of it is also streaming on Discovery+.
As always, thank you so much for listening. And if you do want to celebrate our 10th episode with us, it's a party. Make sure you hit that subscribe button if you haven't already. And if you enjoyed today's episode or maybe you've been enjoying it all along, please, please rate and review. We do love when you do that. I read every single one of them. I'm not even kidding. That's it for now. We will catch you, foodies, next Friday on Food Network Obsessed.
[MUSIC PLAYING]