Food Network stars may seem innocuous, warm, and inviting,
but some of them have gotten themselves into trouble and their dirty laundry has gone public.
From uttering racial slurs to serious abuse, these are Food Network's biggest scandals ever.
Paula Deen was among Food Network's most magnetic personalities. On her show Paula's Home Cooking,
the Georgia-based cook and caterer joked around as she made sugar-filled and butter-loaded
dishes in a traditional Southern style. She also operated some food businesses,
including the Savannah restaurant Uncle Bubba's Seafood and Oyster House.
But then in 2013, Deen's world started to unravel. She was sued by former Uncle Bubba's manager Lisa
Jackson, who alleged that Deen fostered a work environment full of inappropriate racial comments.
When asked if she'd ever used the N-word, Deen admitted that she had, although not recently.
She also owned up to planning a wedding for which she floated the idea of hiring Black men
to dress like slaves so as to reportedly add some old-time Southern authenticity.
Shortly after the deposition went public, Food Network released a statement saying,
"The Food Network does not tolerate any form of discrimination and is a strong
proponent of diversity and inclusion. We will continue to monitor the situation."
Deen cancelled an appearance on NBC's Today and then released a YouTube video to apologize and
beg for forgiveness. That same day, Food Network announced that it would not renew
its contract with Deen, essentially firing her after 11 years together.
"I can truthfully say in my life, I have never with any intention
hurt anybody on purpose, and I never would."
As the host of Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten has been one of Food Network's most high-profile
personalities for years, as she's cooked expensive dinner party food for high-profile guests and
humble fare for her devoted husband Jeffrey. Among Garten's many fans is a boy named Enzo Pereda.
At the age of three, Pereda was diagnosed with leukemia, and while homebound in bed
he started watching Barefoot Contessa. When the Make-A-Wish Foundation reached out to him,
he had just one request: to meet Garten and make a meal with her. Garten was initially noncommittal,
citing too many obligations over a book tour. Undeterred,
Pereda asked again in early 2011, but Garten expressly said no that time.
After Pereda's mother blogged about Garten's refusal, the story went viral,
prompting Garten to walk back her rejection and invite Pereda to the
Barefoot Contessa set. As her team explained in a statement,
"Ina receives approximately 100 requests a month to support charitable causes [...] Sadly,
it's of course not possible to do them all."
But this time, it was somebody else's turn to say no. As Enzo's father Adrian told ABC News,
"We're not going to do it. I don't want my son
to go through any other stress. We just want to go on with our life."
After her blog about life on a cattle ranch became extremely popular, Food Network gave Ree Drummond
her own show, The Pioneer Woman. The series wears its old-fashioned American vibe on its sleeve,
but unfortunately that can come at the expense of other cultures. In a Season 2 episode called "The
Big Game," Drummond made football snacks for her husband and two of his college buddies, including
a tray of "Asian hot wings." The men in her home appeared confused, with one of them asking,
"Where's the real ones?"
And another saying,
"I don't trust 'em."
Drummond eventually responded,
"I'm just kidding guys, I wouldn't do that to you."
And then she presented a tray of familiar Buffalo wings. Following this episode, a website about
Asian-American issues called "Thick Dumpling Skin" tweeted a clip of the scene and called
out Food Network for "anti-Asian sentiment." They expanded their thoughts on their site by asking,
"Why must we watch non-Asian cooks who can't pronounce 'Sriracha' and don't
have a chopstick drawer show us how to make our own dishes? And how come,
when they do, we have to watch as their entire family mocks it?"
Despite the outcry, Food Network did not heed the calls to remove the episode from circulation.
Debuting in 2007, Dinner: Impossible is one of Food Network's most audacious shows,
tasking high-energy chef Robert Irvine with incredibly difficult assignments. These include
executing a meal for 200 wedding guests in 10 hours, or cooking for food historians using only
ingredients and tools available in 18th-century Virginia. But Irvine was well-prepared for these
challenges thanks to his extensive life experience, like owning a Scottish castle,
cooking for four American presidents, and baking Princess Diana's wedding cake,
all of which he claimed culminated in a friendship with Prince Charles and a knighthood.
But then in 2008, the Tampa Bay Times reported that Irvine had lied about most of those
impressive feats. In response to his false claim about the knighthood, Irvine admitted,
"It was like trying to keep up with the Joneses.
I was sitting in a bar one night and that came out. It was stupid."
Reporters also unpacked the other falsehoods on Irvine's resume: he never had a castle,
he only helped pick the fruit used in Princess Diana's wedding cake, and he didn't cook for
four presidents so much as he prepared food for the United States Navy at the White House.
Irvine lost his job as Dinner Impossible host, although he was eventually reinstated.
Food Network had a big hit in the late 2000s with Down Home with the Neelys,
in which husband-and-wife duo Pat and Gina Neely unlocked the secrets of traditional
Southern cuisine. They taped it from their own kitchen in Tennessee and took plenty of
spontaneous breaks to hug and kiss each other. Considering their casual warmth
and open affection, it was a huge shock when they announced in 2014
that they were divorcing after 20 years of marriage. As they explained in a statement,
"Moving forward our focus will be on our individual brands and
we are optimistic about our respective future."
Two years later, Gina Neely revealed details from her marriage that cast the show in a new,
sad light. As she explained during an appearance on OWN's Where Are They Now?,
"We went to therapy 12 times. I tried to leave five times and I
just didn't have the strength but the fifth time I held on to that."
"And I knew I wasn't happy."
Nevertheless, Pat Neely was surprised by his wife leaving.
Ultimately, their divorce proceedings took just six hours to complete.
"I never wanted to do that show. I never wanted to live my life quite out loud like that."
Anne Burrell hasn't exactly been demure during the hundreds of hours she's spent on the Food
Network. Instead, she's brought a frank and boisterous energy to such shows as Secrets
of a Restaurant Chef, The Worst Cooks in America, and Chef Wanted. But in 2009,
she ran into a bit of trouble, as Centro Vinoteca,
the New York restaurant where she'd worked as an executive chef, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
In the aftermath, restaurant industry blogger Abbe Diaz reported that a group of former
Centro Vinoteca employees sued Burrell, the restaurant, and its owners for discrimination.
According to the filing, Burrell allegedly frequently uttered insulting, profane, and
off-color language. She also reportedly commented about an employee's body and inappropriately
inquired about another employee's love life. After entering complaints against Burrell,
the plaintiffs also claimed that they were fired in retaliation. The case never went to trial,
but the allegations certainly did no favors to Burrell's reputation.
On Good Eats, Alton Brown explores the science of food with comedy bits and experiments,
but his whimsical nature hasn't prevented him from getting into trouble.
In 2020, food writer Allison Robicelli tweeted about how in one of his books,
Brown stated his enduring love of The Frugal Gourmet, written by PBS food
personality Jeff Smith, who was accused of multiple acts of assault. As Brown wrote,
"I don't care what he does or did in his personal life."
Social media backlash followed, as Twitter users uncovered a blog post recounting a
2011 event in Iowa where Brown held up a cookbook about the South and reportedly said,
"It's got a few things in it that might be kind of foreign and exotic to you Iowans."
He then reportedly pointed to a picture of a Black man and said,
"Look! A real live Negro!"
Brown was met with silence, which was also the response when he singled out a child in
the audience for having two parents of the same sex. He then reportedly said,
"Man, If that guy next to you is your other daddy, I'm in the wrong state."
All this went down in the middle of another social media snafu,
as Brown jokingly tweeted on Election night,
"Do you think the camp uniforms will be striped,
like the ones at Auschwitz or will plaid be in vogue?"
He later deleted that tweet and apologized for making light of the Holocaust.
No-nonsense New York chef Bobby Flay has been the virtual face of Food Network for
more than 20 years. He's headlined a long list of shows for the channel,
including Iron Chef and Beat Bobby Flay. On many of these series, Flay occasionally
allows viewers a glimpse into his personal life, which accounts for the frequent guest-star
appearances of his former wife, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit actor Stephanie March.
Flay and March's seemingly stable marriage fell apart in 2015 when Flay filed for divorce after
their relationship had, quote, "broken down irretrievably," as he wrote in legal documents
obtained by TMZ. But the true impetus for the split may have been infidelity on Flay's part.
As Page Six reported, around Thanksgiving 2014, March learned that Flay had been secretly meeting
up for three years with Elyse Tirrell, a hostess at one of his restaurants who then became his
personal assistant. While the divorce and other legal issues were argued in court,
Flay became the first celebrity chef to be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame. During his acceptance speech, an airplane flew overhead with a banner reading "CHEATER."
"Originally, we were told Bobby Flay would be speaking to the media,
but abruptly, we were just informed that he would not be doing any interviews."
Mario Batali was one of the earliest stars on the Food Network. After establishing
the beginnings of a restaurant empire, he started hosting the Italian cooking show
Molto Mario in 1996. He parted ways with the network in 2007, save for the
occasional Iron Chef appearance. Then in 2017, the channel produced a revival of Molto Mario.
But those episodes never aired, and Batali also lost his job as co-host of the ABC daytime talk
show The Chew. Those decisions came in the wake of an exposé published by Eater in which
four women accused Batali of inappropriate touching and
groping in incidents at his restaurants that stretched back more than 20 years.
"It felt like a situation that I was responsible for getting myself out of as quickly as possible."
Batali apologized for his behavior via his email newsletter, explaining,
"I have made many mistakes and I am so sorry that I have disappointed my friends, my family,
my fans, and my team. My behavior was wrong and there are no excuses. I take full responsibility."
Then he included a postscript with a recipe for Pizza Dough Cinnamon Rolls that many
considered to be tone-deaf. And those events reportedly weren't the only time that Batali
behaved improperly at his restaurants. In 2012, he and his business partners settled a lawsuit in
which they paid out $5.25 million after being accused of tip-skimming by former employees.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault,
help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact
RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
The long-running Food Network series The Worst Cooks in America offers a funny and roundabout
presentation of food prep instruction. It brings in admittedly bad-at-cooking recruits
for a kitchen-based boot camp, where they compete in a season's worth of challenges
to win money and improve their skills to the point that they can prepare a restaurant-quality meal.
In August 2020, South Carolina-based cook Ariel Robinson was declared the victor of
the 20th season, which netted her a bunch of kitchen gadgets and $25,000.
But as her story demonstrates, there are worse things a person can be than an inept cook. Six
months after achieving reality show fame, Robinson and her husband Jerry were arrested and charged
with homicide by child abuse. Three-year-old foster child Victoria Smith died while in the
Robinsons' care, with Jerry alleging that Ariel would frequently physically abuse the child,
aligning with a coroner's assessment that Smith died of "blunt-force injuries." Robinson claimed
that the child died after over-ingestion of water. In response to the tragedy, Food Network pulled
Robinson's entire season of The Worst Cooks in America from Hulu, YouTube, and Discovery+.
If you or someone you know may be the victim of child abuse,
please contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child
(1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.