for a cooking show to stand out from the
pack it really meets an angle a host
engineered for TV helps to and guy's
grocery games combines multiple angles
here's what you don't know about Guy
Fieri's successful shopping and cooking
show if you're a chef who wants to put
their cooking skills and creativity to
the test on national TV by running
around flavortown to potentially collect
$20,000 be prepared to jump through a
few hoops Guy Fieri doesn't just let
anybody play his grocery games and
producers of the show put contestants
through a pretty rigorous vetting
process sometimes producers track
particular chefs down and other times
chefs reach out to the show Keith
Clinton the chef de cuisine at Memphis's
erling Jensen the restaurant got a call
while at work from the show's producers
he told the Memphis flyer they just
called the restaurant and said I see
you're doing some interesting things on
Instagram and Facebook
we're just wondering who's the chef
there and what's going on chefs
interested in being on the show are
asked to submit photos of their best
dishes and have several Skype and phone
interviews with the show's producers AJ
a New Jersey firefighter who went up
against other firefighters on the show
recalled while it was a long process it
was totally worth it in the end the one
thing contestants won't be required to
do during the casting process has come
up with a signature catchphrase
contestant Tracy Shep owes Jenna meet
old delish they leave that TV magic to
theity being a contestant on guy's
grocery games and walking away with a
wad of cash is a major win but being a
judge isn't too shabby either
judge melissa d'Arabian says that
filming the show is basically quote like
going to summer camp only with way
better food judges are made welcome by
Fiat before they even step on the set
and the grocery games host makes sure to
include a little flavor from his
hometown and show filming location of
Santa Rosa California judge brandy
Malloy told pop sugar about her first
experience as a judge when I arrived to
my hotel there was a handwritten note
from guy with wine and a basket of fruit
welcoming me to the show I get chills
just thinking about it
talk about feeling welcome the show's
coordinators also makes sure to pamper
the judges when they arrive on set by
stocking their trailers with their
favorite foods
said that she casually mentioned her
liking of gummy bears and when she
showed up there were all sorts of gummy
bear varieties waiting for her when you
consider the opportunity to eat meals
prepared by creative chefs and a
personal trailer with all of your
favorite foods being a judge on the show
sounds almost as good as winning grocery
games guy's grocery games is all about
speed from being able to fire off fast
answers during the show's culinary quiz
game to running around the store for
ingredients to whipping up the dish
contestants have to move fast when it
comes down to it contestants actually
spend very little time over the burner
cooking factor in the lengthy shooting
days and actually cooking is just a
small part of the experience a single
episode can take up to 12 hours to shoot
those who aren't early birds need not
apply
because the day begins as early as 5:00
a.m. former contestant Deanna Germano
told Syracuse calm the three rounds each
consist of 30 minutes so the chefs are
cooking for only about an hour and a
half so what do the other ten and a half
hours of the day look like a lot of it
is waiting around for the judging
process and conducting interviews with
the producers to relay to show what sort
of pressure the chefs are under Tracy
chef OHS tsunami said after you compete
you sit down and do interviews which can
last two or three hours cooking up a
tasty meal becomes a lot trickier when
you're forced to only use ingredients
that come from a can we can only use
canned food frozen food and we can only
use seven items
ah what seperates guy's grocery games
from similar cooking shows is a little
bit of control over their ingredients
contestants have the games portion of
the show really tests the culinary
prowess of the chefs and often results
in some creative dishes take the ABC
game for example contestants are tasked
with cooking up a meal where every
ingredient will start with the same one
or two letters judge G Garvin said I
love the possibility of pulling out a
letter that could really throw you but
makes you think about what you really
get other games might force competitors
to shop using tiny bags instead of carts
or bowl over bottles to ensure they
don't have to use undesirable
ingredients these games really force the
contestants to think outside the box
judge bhowmick millon told Food Network
it's just amazing because the beauty of
being a chef is the ability I think to
really adapt and overcome and when
you've set your mind to something chefs
commit to that a big part of what makes
guy's grocery games work is the
fantastic set the man behind that
creation is set designer Scott's story
story has been designing TV sets for
several decades now reality blurred
reports that besides grocery games he's
created sets for the show's Big Brother
and RuPaul's Drag Race a similar show
that older guys grocery games fans might
remember is the now-defunct game show
supermarket sweep story was the set
mastermind on that too but the set of
supermarket sweep wasn't as
sophisticated as grocery games story
recalled buying fake meat was too
expensive so the production company
would just buy real meat it would sit
there
unrefrigerated for a week everything was
just rotten because there's no
refrigeration
it's just scenery story knew that he
didn't want that to be the case when
designing the set for guy's grocery
games he only had four weeks to build
the set and vendors told him it couldn't
be done but he not only succeeded in
creating a near-perfect replica of a
functioning grocery store but did it so
well that even food vendors were fooled
once a potato-chip delivery guy showed
up to the set and couldn't help but
marvel at the set before remarking no
one will shop here there's no parking
the chefs who appear on the show and the
judges that ultimately decide a
contestants fate say that Guy Fieri is
genuinely
about each chef who appears Deanna
Germano told Syracuse calm that her
interactions with fee Eddie were a great
experience and described him as not just
down-to-earth but more chef-like than
people might give him credit for former
contestant Tracey Shep owes to Nami had
a lot of praise for not only Fayette EES
welcoming Manor
but how helpful the host was to her and
the other chefs she told the lish before
the show guy gathered the contestants to
remind us we're there to have fun and to
show the world who we are as chefs his
role if you take advantage of it
is to help you in certain ways I think I
asked him to open up a jar the helpful
advice and hands that feed a lens to the
contestants are all part of him quote
sincerely wanting each person to do
their absolute best grocery games judge
Brandi Malloy told pop sugar how does
one prepare themselves for the onslaught
of shopping challenges that await them
on guy's grocery games well aside from
running around a local supermarket with
a stopwatch preparation is futile petty
explained that it's not only the
pressure of the TV lights and cameras
but the trials and tribulations of the
show can really wreak havoc on a
contestant Fieri said such challenges
such as cooking steak and potatoes using
only frozen foods really throw a chef
off their game for a lot of chefs
including myself I wouldn't know what to
go get out of the frozen food section
and make steak and potatoes he can't
just get a Swanson hungry man and cook
it up and go steak and potatoes grocery
games winner Lindsay Porter told the
Edmonton Journal that she had to prepare
a noodle dish using frozen chicken-fried
steak and said the challenge was
absolutely awful probably one of the
worst things I've dealt with while being
a highly capable chef is always part of
the winning formula going into the game
with a plan just isn't possible two-time
winner Nicholas Moulton told the
Berkshire Eagle you can't really plan
what you do you have to completely blank
out everything because you don't know
what they're going to ask you to do P
Eddy often sees contestants fall victim
to the same mistakes and some of those
mistakes are the same ones that trip
contestants up on other cooking shows
transform the candy cigarettes she just
stuck it in the ice cream along with
some real cigarettes P Eddie told Food
Network that he sees chefs routinely get
eliminated for things like poor
seasoning or adding frivolous garnishes
that work against the main dish arguably
one of the biggest mistakes that can
sink contestants is playing it too safe
using your imagination and being open to
completely challenged what defines a
dish is a survival skill that both
theity and winning chef Tracy chef oz
tanaami agree on tsunami told the daily
meal you have to make quick culinary
decisions and commit to an idea and then
execute that idea with little or no time
or opportunity to change it guy's
grocery games made its TV debut in an
actual working grocery store the
original location of flavortown was
fields Market in West Hills California
which carried an impressive 25,000
different items for contestants to use
North Bay Business Journal reports
however by the end of the first season
the show was in need of a new home
closer to Fayette ease home base the
production company took over a massive
industrial area in Santa Rosa California
and built a 15,000 square foot grocery
store that has all the bells and
whistles a chef could want petit said
the aisles are wider the lighting is
better so it makes it easier for the
chef's to shop and see what's on the
shelves going along with the shelves the
culinary team has stocked and set them
up so they're far more shopper friendly
the set does have five thousand items
fewer than the original fields market
location but it has larger kitchens that
were built to mimic the feel of a
commercial kitchen an added perk is that
chefs can also run over to equipment
rope for any tool that they might need
that's not already in their station
every single item you could want as a
chef most likely will be here the food
at flavortown supermarket is logged and
bar coded in the same way as it would be
at any real grocery store according to
set designer Scott's story but there are
some minor differences from a working
supermarket in flavortown
while there are checkout lanes shoppers
on the guy's grocery games set won't
find any aisles with pet food and story
notes
there's no baby care section the
flavortown supermarkets shelves also
differ from those you'd find in a
regular store the shelves themselves
have light
attached to them to make things easier
for the crew story said this is
primarily quote because the contestants
stand looking at the shelves you can't
light them so we built lighting into all
the shelves flavortown may have an
impressive selection of food but what
happens to all that food after the show
the chef's on guy's grocery games don't
even come close to making a dent in the
store's massive food selection over the
course of an episode and thankfully it
doesn't go in a dumpster out back moving
the show's shooting location to Santa
Rosa was a blessing for the community
because all that food finds its way to
different food programs in the area just
like a normal grocery store staff combed
through the aisles each week to mark
what food has been damaged or could be
nearing the end of its shelf life at the
end of the season non perishables are
simply covered with plastic until
shooting picks back up the selected
items are then polled and divided up to
go to different food programs in the
community food that's not fit for human
consumption often finds its way to farms
to be fed to livestock in total Food
Network says nearly 30,000 pounds of
food ends up being donated every season
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