Scandals involving hard-living Hollywood celebrities are a dime a dozen, but the stars of The Food
Network?
No way.
Far too wholesome, right?
Think again: They might have a reputation as being from a more well-behaved TV network,
but do some digging and you'll find that's not the case at all.
From racism and harassment to chefs rebelling against the very network that made them famous,
there's a ton of dirt smeared all across the once-clean chef's whites of the Food Network.
Bobby Flay "quits" Iron Chef
There's always a chance something jaw-dropping is going to happen during live competition
shows, and Iron Chef Showdown is no different.
In 2017, long-time Food Network star Bobby Flay took off his chef's coat mid-competition
during a live taping.
Underneath was a shirt that said, "THIS IS MY LAST IRON CHEF BATTLE EVER."
Pretty stunning stuff, and Vanity Fair says the producers immediately went into damage
control mode.
Not only did no one know he was going to do it, but it was going to be a nightmare to
edit it out down the road.
When they told Flay, he answered with, "I know.
That's the point."
Flay later told People the whole thing was a joke, and he was just having some fun on
the last episode of the season.
He added he would be happy to return to Iron Chef and wasn't leaving Food Network, but
by 2018 it was clear it wasn't a joke after all.
People says he told Michael Symon his grueling schedule - which included six to eight battles
a week - was too much.
"… it crushes me, because it's 60 minutes of pure energy, creativity, and execution.
And so at some point I was like, 'I've been doing this for a long time and I want to go
out on a high note."
He also added while the Food Network didn't appreciate how he handed in his resignation,
and ultimately didn't air the stunt, he stood by his belief it was just good TV.
Geoffrey Zakarian is sued into bankruptcy
Geoffrey Zakarian, a staple on The Food Network, was sent into bankruptcy in 2011, after a
shocking class action lawsuit was filed against him by his former employees at his now-shuttered
restaurant, Country.
According to the lawsuit, Zakarian shorted his staff on overtime pay, falsified pay records,
and docked their paychecks for meals the staff never received.
The former employees asked for $1 million in damages and an extra $250,000 in penalties.
Adding insult to injury, The New York Times reported Zakarian's former business partners
stood on the side of the workers, filing court documents claiming Zakarian had, indeed, violated
labor laws.
While his partners also claimed shady business practices (including charging personal expenses
on the restaurant's credit) were to blame for the restaurant closing, Zakarian denied
all of the allegations and insisted he had done nothing wrong.
At the same time, his publicist said he just didn't have the money to fight the accusations,
and was forced into bankruptcy by the suit.
Michael Symon gets up close and personal
In 2014, Michael Symon participated in a beach volleyball tournament held to benefit the
Armed Forces Foundation.
Celebrity chefs teamed up with each other and with some Sports Illustrated swimsuit
models for the event, held as part of the South Beach Wine and Food Festival.
How could such a noble cause create a scandal?
Exactly how you'd expect.
Symon posted pictures from the event that included one with Chrissy Teigen sitting on
his lap, and fans were outraged on behalf of his wife.
With some questioning just how faithful he was, others rallied to support him.
The single photo got hundreds and hundreds of Facebook comments, mostly from people arguing
over the relationship between people they'd never met.
Symon brushed off the controversy after responding with:
"wow some ppl have 2 chill a bit…in [South Beach] for wine & food event…doing a photo
shoot…liz is WITH me..& chrissy is a friend."
Paula Deen's diabetic crisis
Paula Deen's food has always been more delicious than healthy, and when she announced she had
been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, not many people were surprised.
Problems started after she admitted her official 2012 announcement came three years after her
diagnosis, and when they asked her about the delay, she responded,
"I wanted to wait until I had something to bring to the table."
What she was bringing to the table was a deal with Novo Nordisk, the pharmaceutical company
behind a non-insulin injectable diabetes medication.
Deen and her sons were the new faces of a major drug campaign, and that just added to
the scandal.
ABC News says many condemned her for hiding her diagnosis as long as she did, continuing
to promote an unhealthy cooking style that's heavy on the butter, sugar, and portion sizes.
Food Network was quick to distance themselves and say they knew nothing about the diagnosis,
while other celebrities were just as quick to either condemn or support the hypocrisy,
the shadiness of the deal, or both.
Anthony Bourdain summed up the whole thing pretty well when he tweeted, "Thinking of
getting into the leg-breaking business, so I can profitably sell crutches later."
Giada De Laurentiis's rumored cheating
Giada De Laurentiis announced she and husband Todd Thompson were splitting after 11 years
of marriage in a 2014 announcement that came just after he officially filed for divorce
due to irreconcilable differences.
The rumor mill started churning, and it wasn't long before the chef was forced to make public
claims about a private matter.
De Laurentiis said repeatedly that she had never cheated on her husband, but accusations
just kept coming about flings with Matt Lauer, John Mayer, and Bobby Flay.
Rumors about a fling with Mayer started way back in 2010 (and she denied them then, too).
But, when her divorce almost coincided with Flay's divorce from Stephanie March, tabloids
thought that was a smoking gun.
She repeatedly denied it all, saying, "Well, we're very good friends… but I don't think
that's ever going to happen because I'm smarter than that."
After the dust settled, Meredith Vieira asked her how she had gotten through it, and she
had some inspiring words.
"I started to realize like, I know why I fell in love with cooking.
Because it makes me happy, and because it's the place that I feel the strongest, the most
empowered, the most creative.
It's where I can stand on my own two feet."
Sandra Lee's questionable Kwanzaa Cake
When Sandra Lee made a Kwanzaa Cake in 2009, AV Club described it as "a pile of ridiculousness
slathered in despair and sprinkled with nonsense nuggets."
And that's not even the cruelest comment.
The ever-honest Anthony Bourdain said,
"The most terrifying thing I've ever seen is [Lee] making a Kwanzaa cake.
Watch that clip and tell me your eyeballs don't burst into flames.
It's a war crime on television."
So, what was it?
An angel food cake topped with store-bought frosting, pumpkin seeds, and corn nuts she
kept calling acorns, filled with apple pie filling.
It was terrible, but terrible food isn't a scandal.
What was scandalous is the offense she caused by declaring her train wreck of a dessert
a celebration of Kwanzaa.
With the help of Queens College professor and cookbook author Jessica Harris, Salon
confirmed it was as non-authentic as you can probably guess.
No punches were pulled either, as Harris condemned the entire project as being made by someone
who didn't have "the first clue."
Graham Elliot sued by employees
Former Iron Chef contestant Graham Elliot stirred up some controversy when he was accused
of mishandling tips by his employees.
Thirteen former waiters at his restaurant, the self-named Graham Elliot in Chicago, eventually
joined in the lawsuit originally filed by former waiter Gregory Curtis in 2012.
According to Curtis, the wait staff was forced to pool their tips, which would then be redistributed
among the all the staff.
Curtis said food runners and cooks should not have been entitled to a share of the tips,
as federal law says tip pooling is only allowed if the money is distributed among people who
typically receive tips.
That's a category that does not include food runners and cooks, so wait staff sued for
the wages that were lost as a result of the tip pooling.
Elliot didn't contest the claims, and ended up settling with his former waiters for an
undisclosed amount.
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