You think you know all the ingredients that make up Giada De Laurentiis and Bobby Flay's
friendly and enduring relationship? Think again. Here's what we know.
Before Flay and De Laurentiis met at a food expo in Philadelphia,
Flay already knew she was talented. He explained to The New York Times
in a joint video interview with De Laurentiis that a producer had asked
his opinion of her before Everyday Italian premiered on the Food Network in 2003.
When Flay saw a video of De Laurentiis hosting the show, he said he thought De Laurentiis was
"really confident [and] very pretty," noting that the network didn't have many Italian chefs
at that time. When the producer asked Flay if he thought De Laurentiis was different enough
from their other chefs, Flay said "absolutely." It's no wonder why the two became friends — it
looks like Flay helped play a role in securing De Laurentiis' career on the Food Network.
De Laurentiis and Flay are two of the greatest TV chefs of all time, but they have different
views on what it takes to do what they do. In their joint interview with The New York Times,
the chefs disagreed on what makes a successful Food Network host. They are experts, after all,
having hosted Food Network Star for 14 seasons, as well as numerous other successful cooking shows.
Flay explained that he believes someone's ability to cook takes precedence over star power. He said,
"My simple philosophy is [...] if you're a really good cook,
then I can teach you to do television over time."
However, De Laurentiis believes the exact opposite. She explained,
"I don't think you can teach someone to be dynamic on television.
You can polish them to be better at their craft. [...] I don't think you can teach it."
Even so, De Laurentiis added that a future celebrity chef
must have basic cooking skills under their belt.
For as close as De Laurentiis and Flay are, even they have needed a break from each other.
According to People magazine, the chefs hit a rocky bump early on in their relationship
and didn't speak to each other for eight months.
De Laurentiis shared on the podcast Beyond the Plate
that the "point of contention" came after she teamed up with Flay for the 2006
Iron Chef America against Rachael Ray and Mario Batali. De Laurentiis explained,
"We lost and [Bobby] thought it was funny. He didn't think it was any big deal that we
lost. I did not talk to him for eight months eight months! I did not. Nothing. Silence."
What caused De Laurentiis to doubt their friendship was the fact that Flay didn't
take the competition seriously and didn't even apologize to her. She went on to say,
"He just like walked away and I thought,
you're a jerk and I'm never — I never want to be around you again."
Luckily the friends recovered from that epic loss.
Flay and De Laurentiis know each other's cooking secrets well — so well that one time Flay shared
a chef secret of his own that was really De Laurentiis' during a cooking segment
on the Today show. The secret was about how to make sauce stick better to pasta,
as De Laurentiis explained during their New York Times interview. She recalled,
"[Bobby] and I do Rachael Ray together and I show a secret,
a tip, that my grandfather taught me about making pasta."
"I toss the pasta with fresh parmesan cheese before I toss it with the sauce,
right? So that way the sauce sticks to the cheese that sticks to the pasta."
Following the segment, De Laurentiis recalled watching Today and hearing her friend
share the same exact tip, but claiming it as his own. De Laurentiis added,
"That's his Italian little tip that he just learned from his
Italian little buddy Giada last week, only he didn't say that."
And Flay didn't deny it. He admitted,
"It's a true story. But I'm just gonna start telling people I taught you it."
"I'm going to start making southwestern food...okay."
De Laurentiis and Flay's on-camera chemistry is undeniable, which is
probably why they've been a target of romance rumors over the years.
It didn't help matters when the two were spotted back in 2014 enjoying a couple of
drinks right before De Laurentiis announced she was splitting from her hubby, Todd Thompson.
According to Page Six, De Laurentiis and Flay were seen eating and drinking together at an exclusive
Miami eatery. At the time, Flay was married to actress Stephanie March, but they later split in
2015, according to People magazine. Flay quickly denied a romance between him and his longtime
friend by telling Page Six it was just a friendly meal between "two colleagues and old friends."
But the rumors persisted after De Laurentiis and Flay were spotted
reportedly holding hands and looking cozy at another restaurant in 2015,
according to Radar Online. That year, De Laurentiis denied any romantic involvement
on Watch What Happens Live. She said that she'd never date another chef, and added,
"Well, we're very good friends. We've worked for many years together."
"But I don't think that's ever going to happen."
"Yeah, he's like your brother."
"And I'm smarter than that."
Following the success of Food Network Star, De Laurentiis and Flay had plans
to co-host a talk show together, according to The New York Times. Those plans fell through,
but De Laurentiis found love with what would've been her and Flay's producer,
Shane Farley. In an interview with People magazine in 2018,
De Laurentiis couldn't stop saying enough great things about her man. She gushed,
"Shane's a lot of fun. He's very spontaneous and
loves to laugh. It's one of my favorite things about our relationship."
De Laurentiis decided to pursue a relationship with Farley following her split from designer
Todd Thompson in 2014. She and Thompson had been together for 25 years. She admitted,
"After I got divorced, I spent about a year and a half alone, not dating, just figuring
things out. Once I got settled, [Shane and I] reconnected and I felt like a kid again."
Though fans were probably disappointed De Laurentiis and Flay didn't become an item,
it looks like the two are happy just being friends. They're combining their zest for life,
food, and friendship in Bobby and Giada in Italy,
a TV travelogue series that debuted on discovery+ in 2021.
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