Guy Fieri

American television personality (born 1968)

Guy Ramsay Fieri (/US//f//i//'//ɛ//d//i/, ˈfjɛːri; né Ferry; born January 22, 1968) is an American restaurateur, author, and an Emmy Award winning television presenter. He co owned three now defunct restaurants in California. He licenses his name to restaurants in cities all over the world, and is known for hosting various television series on the Food Network. By 2010, The New York Times reported that Fieri had become the "face of the network", bringing an "element of rowdy, mass market culture to American food television" and that his "prime time shows attract more male viewers than any others on the network".

Fieri was born Guy Ramsay Ferry on January 22, 1968, the son of Penelope Anne (née Price) and Lewis James Ferry. He grew up in Ferndale in rural Humboldt County, California. During high school, he was a foreign exchange student in France, where he developed his interest in food and cooking.

Fieri began his association with food in grade school in Ferndale, by selling pretzels from his "Awesome Pretzel" cart and washing dishes to finance his trip to France to study. On his return to the United States, he worked at the restaurant at the Red Lion Inn in Eureka, California, until he went to Las Vegas for college. The restaurant's location in the highly trafficked Times Square enabled it to appear on Restaurant Business's list of the top 100 independent restaurants as ranked by sales for four years in a row. It closed at the end of 2017. In 2011, Fieri partnered with Carnival Cruise lines to create Guy's Burger Joint to sell Fieri's burgers fleet wide. As of October 2017, there were 19 restaurants on Carnival's cruise ships, including some serving beer and BBQ, Guy's Pig & Anchor Smokehouse Brewhouse. In April 2014, Guy Fieri's Vegas Kitchen and Bar opened in Las Vegas. In 2015, Guy Fieri's Baltimore Kitchen & Bar opened in Baltimore's Horseshoe Casino. In 2018, Fieri collaborated with Planet Hollywood founder Robert Earl to open fast food chicken sandwich shop Chicken Guy! at Disney Springs in Walt Disney World. In 2021, Fieri opened Guy Fieri's Flavortown Kitchen, a delivery only restaurant.

After winning the second season of The Next Food Network Star on April 23, 2006, Fieri was awarded a six episode commitment for his own cooking show on Food Network. Guy's Big Bite premiered on June 25, 2006, with the most recent episode airing on November 16, 2016. Diners, Drive Ins and Dives, his second series, premiered in April 2007 (a one hour special aired in November 2006), with Fieri traveling the country visiting local eateries. The New York Times called the series "not a cooking show as much as a carefully engineered reality show". On May 13, 2012, NBC announced that the game show would not be renewed for a third season, citing high production costs and low ratings. In January 2012, Fieri was one of the two team captains (along with Rachael Ray) in the Food Network reality series Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook Off. A second season of Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook Off began airing on Food Network on January 6, 2013. A chef challenge show, Guy's Grocery Games, started on October 27, 2013, on the Food Network. It features four cooks who battle through three rounds, and are judged by three judges. His series, Guy's Family Road Trip, was chosen as the 2017 lead out show from season 13 of Food Network Star. It previewed on August 13 of that year. In May 2021, Fieri signed a three year contract with Food Network worth an estimated $80 million. In 2008 and 2009, he was the spokesperson for T. G. I. Friday's. In 2010, he appeared in a commercial for Aflac named "Spicy".

In 2009, Fieri began touring with the Guy Fieri Roadshow, a multi state food tour that featured some of his fellow Food Network personalities. He also appeared in regional Food Network events, such as the 2012 Atlantic City Food and Wine Festival and the 2012 South Beach Food and Wine Festival, where he officiated at 101 gay weddings. In 2015, Fieri officiated at the wedding of celebrity chef Art Smith at Miami Beach. The wedding, which included 101 same sex couples, was held to celebrate Florida's Supreme Court lifting the state ban on same sex marriage. Fieri officiated the weddings in honor of his late sister who was a lesbian. Fieri owns a vineyard and sells his wine under the label Hunt & Ryde, named after his sons Hunter and Ryder. In response to the COVID 19 pandemic's effect on the restaurant industry in 2020, Fieri teamed up with the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation to raise money for unemployed restaurant workers through newly created Restaurant Employee Relief Fund. In under two months over US$20 million was raised. Fieri is currently producing the off Broadway run of The Life and Slimes of Marc Summers, starring his friend and former Food Network co host.