Up next in 10
Guy Fieri Talks 'Tournament of Champions' and Season 35 of 'Diners Drive-Ins and Dives'
Mar 4, 2022
Tournament of Champions III is back in a major way. The popular cooking challenge has increased its participants to 32 (!!!) of the greatest culinary masterminds in the world, all competing for $100,000. Guy Fieri caught up with Sway In The morning to talk about this show and an unbelievable season 35 of his other popular show, Diner's DriveIns and Dives.
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Guy Fieri Talks 'Tournament of Champions' and Season 35 of 'Diners Drive-Ins and Dives'
https://youtu.be/90lDuTtqUKk
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0:00
[Applause]
0:00
man that voice right there this guy is
0:02
no stranger very celebrated in the
0:05
culinary industry we love him in
0:07
northern california they love him in
0:09
florida everywhere he goes he's made
0:13
cooking an event
0:15
in so many ways on so many levels and he
0:17
made a lot of us believe that we too can
0:20
be chefs but it's not just about cooking
0:22
it's about the experience it's about
0:25
culture and it's just about really
0:27
bringing people together through food
0:29
he's back ladies and gentlemen give it
0:31
up for the one and only guy fieri ladies
0:33
and gentlemen
0:36
that's our guy
0:37
[Applause]
0:40
a long overdue reunion and thank you for
0:43
having me always love coming to new york
0:44
and hanging out with you guys in the
0:46
studio
0:46
and like i tell everybody the energy i
0:48
don't want to leave i hate that's the
0:50
only thing i don't like about coming to
0:51
the show is that eventually i have to go
0:53
either i'm going to pull out you guys
0:55
have more guests coming in but so you'd
0:57
always make me feel good i couldn't sit
0:59
over here you could stay longer but
1:01
energy you're you're a great team it's
1:03
very interesting to see you all in
1:04
different spots now and not everybody
1:06
locked down in the in the glass fishbowl
1:08
but uh does that ever happen right
1:11
it uh it will we we just came back from
1:14
la in our la offices we did an entire
1:16
week out there they almost couldn't get
1:18
us to return back to new york that's how
1:20
great it was but uh the offices in new
1:22
york could be opening up real soon so
1:24
you'll be able to come in there real
1:25
soon we wasn't we were in la for the
1:28
super bowl and if i'm not mistaken did i
1:30
see you in a super bowl commercial
1:33
that might have happened
1:35
right
1:36
that are a really good imposter i mean
1:38
it could have been somebody that was
1:39
that was looking about no i i got a call
1:41
from the bud light seltzer hard soda
1:43
team
1:44
um back in october and they said
1:47
would the mayor of flavortown like to be
1:49
in a commercial that that shows where
1:51
flavortown is and i'm like
1:54
somebody punking me if i'm getting punks
1:56
we're gonna have a real don't mess with
1:57
my emotions
1:59
um and and we did the most to me it was
2:01
the greatest commercial i've ever been
2:02
in and the greatest collaborative and
2:05
they really were over the top we went to
2:07
atlanta and shot it in a cg studio a
2:11
movie studio i mean it was it was next
2:14
level everything i've never seen
2:15
anything like it i told people it wasn't
2:16
a commercial it was a 60-second movie
2:19
wow
2:20
was that and then how much input did you
2:23
have on the creative
2:25
100
2:26
everything 100 i got i mean we had we
2:29
had more meetings with that my my
2:31
manager reed who is my right-hand man he
2:34
said people don't put this much time and
2:36
energy into a presidential campaign they
2:38
said you know
2:40
i'm not kidding you three four five
2:41
meetings a day creative being bounced
2:44
back and forth drawing scripts
2:46
uh storyboards the whole thing and when
2:49
i got there they made a mid it was a
2:51
movie set the way they built that out so
2:53
when we're going through this villa i
2:54
mean it's just it was overwhelming and
2:56
and here's the thing the people you know
2:58
by selling charts or they put so much
3:00
money into making their product
3:02
they backed it up with the way they made
3:04
the commercial and when they played the
3:05
commercial and how much they played it
3:07
so it was uh it was really an honor i'm
3:09
a huge sports fan huge super bowl fan go
3:11
every year yeah and to have that uh to
3:14
be put on that stage i i said it was my
3:16
first round draft pick so
3:18
yeah man awesome you look big man guy
3:20
fieri is here we talking about the
3:21
season three a tournament of champions
3:24
hey guy have you ever had a situation uh
3:26
which is on sundays on the food network
3:28
um have you ever had a situation like
3:31
while i'm thinking about this commercial
3:32
i've been asked to do a commercial
3:34
commercials in the past that i really
3:36
wanted to do because the paycheck was
3:37
right
3:38
but the concept wasn't right you know
3:40
what i mean it wasn't a lie
3:42
how about you've had that happen
3:45
you got to stay true to who you are and
3:47
i mean you do it great you you've been
3:49
consistent that's what your fans love
3:51
about you that's what we all appreciate
3:52
about you in the industry is you stay
3:54
true to who you are doesn't mean you
3:56
don't diversify that you don't have an
3:58
open mind to trying things but if it
3:59
doesn't feel good if it doesn't look
4:01
good if it's not on point with who you
4:03
are then i gotta say you make the pass
4:06
and i was just i just received an award
4:08
in uh florida this weekend uh at the
4:11
south beach wine food festival and i was
4:14
thanking everybody and i was thanking my
4:16
agent i had the greatest agent in the
4:17
world got him jason hodus with wme and
4:19
jason told me early on and jason's
4:22
younger than me so it's interesting to
4:24
be listening but he knows the business
4:25
and he said if it doesn't feel like a
4:27
million bucks pass because there's power
4:29
in the past
4:31
[Music]
4:32
you're not if you don't need the money
4:34
so bad
4:36
be true to you and be true to what
4:37
you're about and what you what you
4:39
believe in and so i've been a rolling
4:41
commercial one time
4:42
and everybody's like
4:43
you did a roll age course wasn't that
4:45
kind of like anti in the food world like
4:47
because it's heartburn i said no because
4:48
i have heartburn and i eat roblox
4:52
so it's not a stretch it's not a
4:54
no-brainer no it worked out but no
4:56
there's a power in the past and and we
4:58
got to remember that uh you know if you
5:01
don't feel a hundred percent about it i
5:02
really believe that it'll convey across
5:04
the uh the airwaves so keep it real but
5:07
know that that bud light seltzer thing
5:08
before i took the deal i said send me
5:10
some bloodline shelter you know send me
5:11
200 cases let me try them with my best
5:13
friends
5:16
you would win either way but listen guy
5:18
on the subject of money okay because
5:20
when you get a super bowl commercial
5:22
people see you as an icon but people
5:24
also say okay guy fieri that was another
5:27
big ass check that he just collected and
5:29
listen guy i don't know the exact number
5:31
for your net worth but i do recall buddy
5:34
a couple years ago seeing an article say
5:36
that you are the highest paid
5:37
personality on the food network and i
5:40
wonder
5:41
does that like when people do start to
5:44
get ideas of what your bank account
5:46
might look like is that a proud moment
5:49
for you or is that concerning since so
5:51
many people
5:52
now know exactly what you're working
5:54
with
5:56
well
5:57
i never grew up with it with money so i
5:59
was not a money-oriented person and
6:02
quite frankly never has been the way
6:04
i've let me run my life it's in this
6:06
it's a necessity in one aspect and it's
6:08
a opportunity in the other but by no
6:11
means does it ever define me and so i
6:14
was a little disappointed actually i was
6:16
a lot disappointed when the news broke
6:17
of what my new contract was with the
6:19
food network because
6:21
that hurts some feelings there's some
6:22
other chefs that have been on longer
6:24
that think they should be making more
6:25
there's people that think they should be
6:26
making more because they're a different
6:29
so it's just nothing i i would never
6:31
flaunt it i would never say it i would
6:33
never push it on people it's just it's
6:35
not it's not worth it
6:37
um
6:38
but what i do think is is important is
6:40
just again go back to that common theme
6:42
that we're just saying again a moment
6:44
ago
6:44
just be true to who you are i mean i
6:46
still i'm wearing tennis shoes and a
6:48
t-shirt and you know i granted i live i
6:50
got a house in florida but it's not you
6:52
know it's
6:53
it's being the same person you are just
6:54
maybe in a little bit different setting
6:56
but just staying grounded to what it was
6:59
all about you know i do a lot of
7:00
philanthropy and a lot of charity and
7:02
and that's what i really am so excited
7:04
about in this you know next chapter of
7:06
my career i'm not going away on tv but i
7:08
don't do as much
7:09
because i want i got a chance to help so
7:11
many other people it's like why i do
7:13
tournament champions you know that show
7:14
i invented that show
7:16
simply because
7:18
my brothers and sisters that are in the
7:19
industry
7:21
work get i don't think they get enough
7:22
exposure
7:23
some do really well but there are so
7:25
many great chefs from all different
7:27
backgrounds all different walks of life
7:29
that need to be that needed to get the
7:32
the lights shown on them they need to
7:33
have this opportunity to to explain to
7:36
the world who they are so when i brought
7:38
the show to the network like i don't
7:39
know what's going to make it different i
7:41
said well two things are going to make a
7:42
difference one we have blind tasting no
7:45
no judge will know who's competing and
7:47
no competitor will know who's judging
7:49
okay so that takes out any chance to say
7:52
that someone cooked knowing that this
7:55
chef like this or this chef used to work
7:57
with that chef or this chef has
7:58
animosity with that chef so that doesn't
8:00
happen second thing is the randomizer we
8:02
created this
8:03
horrible wheel
8:05
of uh situations that you know from the
8:08
protein to the veg to the style to the
8:09
equipment
8:10
to the time that really sets it aside
8:13
apart that no two competitions will ever
8:15
be the same so the chefs can't can't
8:17
gear up for it so they really have to
8:19
come in and cook from the gut but that
8:21
to me is that that's where the majority
8:23
of my focus is now is just making sure
8:25
that my that you know all my brothers
8:26
and sisters get the recognition very
8:28
similar to what you do on your show i
8:29
mean again that same parallel probably
8:32
that's why we all got along so well is
8:35
man we have so much we can do to make
8:36
this world a better place and and so
8:38
much more uh gives so much more love it
8:40
does have to always be just about what
8:42
we're doing and who we are it's about
8:44
you know recognizing others
8:47
and you look that man is not just giving
8:48
you lip service i mean i know you teamed
8:50
up with the national restaurant
8:52
association educational foundation and
8:54
you raise money for unemployed
8:56
restaurant workers
8:58
uh the newly created restaurant employee
9:00
relief fund you guys raised 20 million
9:03
dollars
9:04
come on man and you know that's keeping
9:06
food on people's tables that's you know
9:09
keeping money in their accounts keeping
9:10
their kids in school so salute to you
9:13
when you say philanthropy there needs to
9:14
be another word for what it is you do so
9:17
thank you sir right come on that's true
9:20
i appreciate it i'll tell you
9:22
that's the only time that i think i've
9:23
really
9:24
uh had to throw weight around and i
9:27
don't like to use that term for weight
9:28
round but i had to i had to lean in on
9:29
some focus kind of hard
9:31
something harder than others but what i
9:32
did is i got the names and the phone
9:35
numbers and the email addresses of 43 of
9:37
the big executives around the country
9:40
that all profit from the restaurant
9:41
industry
9:42
and on a sunday night very similar to
9:44
what i'm doing here put the computer up
9:46
and made individual 45 second videos
9:49
that i sent to each individual president
9:52
of these companies
9:54
and said i know who you i know you you
9:57
know me
9:58
we know that we love the industry we
9:59
know that your company profits from it
10:01
now we need to get some money together
10:03
we're closing restaurants by the by the
10:06
tens of thousands
10:07
can i get some money from you please
10:09
because i'm gonna put a fund together
10:10
and give money to employees that
10:12
tomorrow think they're going to work but
10:14
they're not and they need money because
10:16
they're counting on their tips or
10:18
they're counting on their paycheck
10:19
and everybody looked at me i mean even
10:21
my family you are losing it you can't
10:23
take on the world in the middle of the
10:25
panda at the beginning it was the
10:26
beginning of the pandemic i said
10:28
i i'm sorry but i said i
10:30
absolutely am going to do something
10:32
about this i'm not going to stand here
10:34
so i sent the messages out
10:36
and the next day i'm driving to my ranch
10:39
and my manager calls and says
10:41
did you send a message to pepsi i said
10:44
yeah what about he goes well they're on
10:45
the phone right now they want to give
10:46
you a million dollars i'm like yes wow i
10:49
knew him
10:50
and we started banking we 25 million
10:53
bucks that's how much we have uh at the
10:54
end of end that's how much we raised was
10:56
25 million dollars we gave out over 43
10:59
000 grants to restaurant employees and
11:01
that was a drop in the bucket but you
11:02
know what it did say it said to
11:04
everybody
11:06
you can do things doesn't mean that it's
11:07
going to affect everybody but you can do
11:09
things to improve this world if you just
11:11
do something and and we made it pretty
11:13
good i think we made a pretty good hit
11:16
yes guys
11:17
here man come on uh
11:19
i see you not in your head have the
11:21
beast started a mentorship program
11:23
through her platform um you know and
11:26
that's that's an example of just doing
11:28
something one person at a time and i
11:30
honestly feel like heather b could have
11:31
been at in the tournament of champions
11:34
oh yeah did y'all reach out hb did he
11:36
reach out to you
11:38
i wanted when the next time i see my
11:40
buddy guy i'ma hug him and pinch him at
11:42
the same time so one of the last times
11:44
he came to the show i made him some
11:46
collard greens so guy
11:48
that's me yes so he jumps on air and he
11:52
goes this is the collard green queen
11:54
well guess what that did every
11:57
thanksgiving no matter whose house i'm
11:59
going to they calling me to ask me to
12:01
make the collard greens i'm like where's
12:03
that door going guy fieri in this
12:05
kitchen right now helping me chop up all
12:07
these greens so thank you guy like i got
12:09
her own personal nickname from guy fieri
12:12
there you go i think i i think you need
12:14
to run the collard green queen and take
12:17
it another step because here's the thing
12:19
people don't know about collard greens i
12:21
grew up in northern california and my
12:22
mom was from georgia north carolina area
12:25
um and so i was raised eating grits and
12:28
collard greens
12:30
and people are telling us like they're
12:31
crazy but if you haven't had them and
12:33
you don't know how amazing they are and
12:35
especially the way you made them you
12:37
crushed them um there's so many
12:39
different ways to do it people are doing
12:40
them vegetarian people are doing them
12:42
with pork people with smoked turkey i
12:44
mean there's so many different styles
12:45
that are going on i think you need to
12:48
get your own little i think you need to
12:49
take your game to one more level and
12:51
really embrace the braised greens game
12:54
because there it i make i make a braised
12:56
green called utica greens up in utica
12:59
new york there was a casino
13:01
and they made these greens um that has
13:03
like salami and some peppers and onions
13:05
and garlic in it but there's really a
13:07
game in the brace in the braised greens
13:09
game and you right now i think hold the
13:11
belt so go next level
13:14
come on man guys thank you thank you
13:16
thank you also i wanted to ask you too i
13:19
saw you recently online um and pictures
13:22
with like marcus samuelson and so many
13:24
of the other chefs out there and i was
13:26
wondering um because there's so many
13:29
different levels like i'm a home cook
13:31
yet there's trained chefs and all these
13:34
different things what is the chef
13:36
industry like do you guys just like hang
13:38
out paddle around is there just a
13:40
genuine love for each other or sometimes
13:42
is it like that little bit of animosity
13:44
because some people have i know i see it
13:47
let me start with me i see it where they
13:49
feel like you're getting a lot of
13:50
attention and you didn't even graduate
13:53
from culinary school so to speak you
13:55
have all these followers versus someone
13:57
who's badass trained and they're still
14:00
trying to be a food network star if you
14:03
will uh can you talk about that
14:05
some of my favorite chefs that i cook
14:08
with on a regular basis didn't go to
14:09
culinary school i didn't go to college
14:11
i worked in the industry my whole life
14:14
so then there's the other side of it
14:15
somebody's saying well you went to
14:16
culinary school you've only been in the
14:18
industry for 10 years but you really
14:19
never
14:20
washed dishes and went through the you
14:22
know the trouble the pain that i went
14:23
through i don't i think that stuff's
14:25
over there was a there was a time maybe
14:27
years ago maybe 10 years ago when there
14:29
was some of that smack that was going on
14:32
being one of the
14:34
guys that's been around for a while i'm
14:36
not into judgment i am not into judgment
14:38
i'm not into prejudice i'm not into i
14:40
beat you
14:41
be the best person you can be cook the
14:44
food you like to cook i don't care if
14:45
it's can't
14:47
cheese out of a can if somebody's eating
14:49
it and they're paying you to do it amen
14:52
to that you know
14:54
i think the judgment game has really
14:56
taken a turn and i think the pandemic
14:58
had something to do with i think people
14:59
kind of woke up and said like i mean
15:00
don't we have some other stuff that we
15:01
should be focusing on versus who went to
15:04
what school or who who wears what when
15:06
they go to work i mean that's that's a
15:07
silliness but i will tell you that the
15:10
um
15:11
that the brotherhood brothers sisterhood
15:14
again one of those reasons i made toc
15:16
but we were just in uh miami this
15:18
weekend for the south beach food wine
15:19
and every year a chef gets honored and i
15:22
think this is well this was the 21st
15:23
year of the festival and this was my
15:25
year to be honored so i have
15:28
you know 10 chefs
15:29
there cooking for my dinner of 900
15:32
people but i also have marcus samuelson
15:34
robert irvine duff goldman i've got
15:37
brooke williams i got all my i mean it
15:39
gives me goosebumps right now yeah but i
15:42
had yes
15:43
i had all of these chefs there
15:45
celebrating my night so i think if
15:47
there's ever been a question of where
15:49
the division is inside of the industry
15:52
i think that maybe there was some stuff
15:53
that used to go on but i think now man
15:55
it's such good energy and such good
15:57
harmony and balance and support that uh
15:59
that's what's important and we're all
16:01
good and the funny thing is is we're all
16:02
cooking the thing we all love we all
16:04
love you guys yes yes
16:06
okay so i got to do i know you got to do
16:08
some more interviews real quick we got
16:10
brandon on the live from nevada rides
16:12
and grind brandon hey brandon
16:15
hey play everyone uh long time first
16:18
time but had to call to give guy a shout
16:20
out and thank him for all the work he's
16:22
done for the firefighters out here
16:25
over the last several years saw the
16:27
wildfires raging guys a constant
16:31
person there on the scene helping all
16:33
the firefighters and just want to give
16:35
him his props
16:39
did you deploy did your department
16:41
deploy out um did you get drug into that
16:45
uh not me personally i have family and
16:47
neighbors that are involved in you know
16:49
uh southern south lake tahoe northern
16:52
california right impacts uh
16:55
the world here and uh you know you're a
16:57
great advocate philanthropic and uh
17:00
there needs to be more guy fieries in
17:01
this world there you go just take that
17:04
guy go ahead and go ahead guys thank you
17:06
brandon you're a citizen
17:08
brandon you're awesome buddy i
17:09
appreciate you see that's the thing
17:10
right there so he's not even the
17:11
firefighter that's doing it but he's
17:13
thanking somebody that's supporting and
17:15
see that's what i tell people all the
17:16
time it doesn't matter you know that
17:17
doesn't have to be about money you know
17:20
good energy is good energy love is love
17:23
support
17:24
pat on the back thank you how about we
17:26
tweet and text more positive as opposed
17:28
to hating on somebody i mean
17:31
it just it's you know it's just barbaric
17:32
i mean what are we really creating but
17:34
the jet what just what brandon just said
17:37
is these firefighters we go out are my
17:39
foundation it's called guy fieri
17:40
foundation and our foundation's about
17:43
uh first responders military women and
17:46
children that's what the foundation does
17:48
all groups that i feel are very
17:50
underserved
17:51
and so we do have a reading advocacy
17:53
program we have a
17:56
culinary support program but when we
17:58
have disasters we go out with this 48
18:00
foot long rescue trailer and we feed
18:02
people
18:03
but we don't feed people because they
18:05
don't have food there's there's groups
18:07
that are there feeding the necessities
18:09
we go there
18:11
just to give support and love we go feed
18:13
these firefighters they got drug out of
18:16
their firehouse in henderson nevada and
18:18
get stuck on this wildfire in northern
18:20
california in this crazy situation and
18:23
all we do is come in to feed them
18:24
something different and just say you
18:26
know what hey there's a lot of people
18:28
that love you and appreciate you and
18:29
here you go and it's it's it
18:31
we just do it for good energy
18:33
man love it
18:35
guy fiati ladies and gentlemen come on
18:37
man and congratulations season 35 of
18:40
diners drive-ins
18:42
[Applause]
18:49
[Applause]
19:01
[Music]
19:02
all right we could broadcast we should
19:04
broadcast from guys groceries games
19:07
that's my favorite
19:11
we'll be in studio in april and we'll be
19:13
in studio in september so sway you still
19:16
have my number right i still got your
19:17
info yeah yeah
19:19
it's still the same number hit me up but
19:21
i'm serious
19:22
okay hold on
19:25
that would be amazing we could we could
19:27
uh broadcast and judge at the guy's
19:30
grocery game that show is so addictive
19:32
and fun and fire and i just want to run
19:35
around that grocery store with a cart
19:37
okay all right a joyride and i make and
19:40
i make people when they come to the show
19:43
and they tell me that they're fans i'm
19:44
like okay you ready here we go
19:46
three two one go go grab that cart start
19:48
running and be like wow
19:54
is the last four of yours oh seven four
19:56
nine
19:58
okay that's an old one i just sent you
20:00
something that's right did you get a
20:02
text did you get a text
20:04
five six four four hang on sticking yeah
20:06
that's it that's me five six four four
20:08
take that over i got to get rid of that
20:10
oh that other one that's somebody else's
20:11
number so if you
20:14
they don't matter so many people coming
20:16
down they're like words
20:20
you guys know how it is you start
20:22
getting in with people and then you go
20:24
and you send them a text like hey man
20:25
i'm cheating well it's guy and then you
20:26
get some of that guy fieri is just
20:28
really like nope click goodbye
20:31
hey guy congratulations once again man
20:33
it's good to see your face brother send
20:35
our love to the family yeah as well okay
20:38
thank you guys
20:40
miss you too sunday's 8 p.m on the food
20:43
network tournament of champions and
20:44
diners drive-ins and dives this friday
20:46
at 00 pm celebrating 35th season come on
20:50
guy and then
20:51
this year we're going to talk about it i
20:53
want to come broadcast where you are we
20:55
all want to come down we'll figure that
20:56
out all right we're going to put this
20:58
together miss you guys
21:00
miss you too take care guys
21:16
you
#Arts & Entertainment