The 3 Words That Changed Guy Fieri's Life
Guy Fieri can attribute his entire career to three words. And no, it's not "dye hair blonde" or "drive red Camaro" - though those have certainly become part of the Diners, Drive-Ins, And Dives host's signature look. In fact, to most people, the words wouldn't even make sense. But to Fieri, in the moment, they meant everything. And they've stuck with him ever since.
"Never burn tape," Fieri says over the phone, emphasizing each word. "Rachael Ray told me that the first time we met. It was the best advice of my life."
He met the 30 Minute Meals chef while filming Food Network Star, back in 2006. She was serving as a mentor on the show; he was competing for his chance to, well, be the next Rachael Ray. He absorbed everything she said, and to this day, it's the advice he passes on to anyone who wants a show of their own. So what did the phrase mean?
"Keep going. Even when your mic falls off, or the lights go out, or you think nobody's watching, you don't give up," he explains. "'We've got a job to do,' she told me, 'so you've got to stick with it and be involved.'"
That advice exemplifies everything Ray does. "She's one of the hardest-working people I've ever known," he adds. "I really attribute my success in life to the people around me at the beginning of my career."
Fieri's success has led to all kinds of projects - multiple Food Network shows; restaurants all over the country, including 19 on Carnival cruise ships; even opening his own winery - but recently, the decade of being a household name has made him more introspective. Not navel-gazing, woo-woo; just a little more grown-up, Haley Joel Osment in Pay-It-Forward-ish.
"I'm getting to that point in my life that I'm focusing more on some of those personal projects that - how do I put it? I feel responsibility," he says. "I was given such a great opportunity. I was really happy with my life and where things were going, and then the opportunity with Food Network came up."
"Keep going. Even when your mic falls off, or the lights go out, or you think nobody's watching, you don't give up."
It's what made him drop everything and change his plans to cook 5,000 meals a day for wildfire evacuees and volunteers in California. And what inspires him to invite a Make-A-Wish families to his Food Network show tapings. It's also why he's been devoting his energy to yet another new show, Guy's Big Project, a series where he guides eight people through the basics of hosting a TV show.
"We got about 8,000 or 9,000 applications and narrowed it down to eight," he says. "We start at my ranch, and give them one-on-ones, then I take them all over the country, watching and listening to them, so I can help them achieve their goal of getting a pilot, hopefully a series."
He describes it as "culinary TV bootcamp," and while it sounds a lot like Food Network Star, Fieri says the big difference is that it's not a competition. But some people will still go home.
"We can only focus on the ones with the greatest potential," he explains. "It's blood, sweat, and tears, and people get put through the ringer to see if they can handle the schedule, and the travel."
Hopefully they know better than to burn tape then.
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