USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
Guy Fieri has been a Food Network staple for two decades, and he’s managed to build a culinary empire while serving as the host of a number of long-running shows. Now, those programs have ended up at the center of a conspiracy theory after a streamer spent hours trying to find proof he actually swallows the food he eats on them.
In 2006, Guy Fieri was named the winner of the second season of The Next Food Network Star, the reality competition that introduced the world to a man who would make a name for himself as the “Mayor of Flavortown.”
Fieri was initially a somewhat divisive figure who was considered a bit of a culinary pariah after being thrust into the spotlight. Anthony Bourdain repeatedly used him as a punching bag while mocking his signature bleached spikes and ostentatious wardrobe (he eventually admitted he was going after “low-hanging fruit”), and the restaurant he opened in Times Square ended up at the center of one of the most infamous reviews The New York Times has ever published.
However, the tides eventually turned as people learned to respect the earnestness of a Guy, who by most accounts, seemed to be a pretty good guy. He helped raise more than $20 million for hospitality workers during the pandemic, and he has routinely gone out of his way to feed firefighters battling blazes in California.
He’s also spent years drumming up publicity for the spots he’s visited on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, which was the primary focus of an investigation conducted by one man who has offered some compelling evidence to support a fairly entertaining conspiracy theory.
A YouTuber is convinced Guy Fieri doesn’t actually swallow the food he eats on his shows
The first season of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives aired in 2007, and Fieri has visited more than 1,500 restaurants while filming over 500 episodes of a show that is still going strong close to 20 years later.
The joints featured on the series usually experience a spike in business when you consider an appearance serves as a de facto endorsement from Fieri, who goes out of his way to avoid criticizing dishes that don’t strike his fancy while hyping up the ones that are “out of bounds” or the “bomb dot com.”
Every episode is filled with clips of the celebrity chef chowing down on food, but a video that was brought to my attention courtesy of Wired has raised a major question I didn’t know needed to be answered until I encountered it: Does he actually swallow any of it?
That was the matter that a streamer who goes by Doctor Spaghetti on Twitch attempted to address last month when he sat down in front of his camera and microphone and pledged to stay there until he was able to find a clip of Fieri actually swallowing food he put into his mouth.
That turned out to be much easier said than done, and he combed through a bunch of clips from Triple D while becoming increasingly exasperated after realizing every single one featured editing tricks that cut away from the host before he actually swallowed anything.
He spent nearly five hours looking for proof before finally finding some courtesy of a piece of a rib Fieri ate to completion on an episode of Guy’s Ranch Kitchen, which allowed him to bring the stream to an end.
It seems safe to assume there is some production trickery on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, and it’s easy to understand why Fieri might spit out food if he’s forced to do multiple takes (Adam Richman famously quit Man vs. Food because of the toll those eating challenges took on his body).
Wired was able to track down one man who has been on a set with Fieri: Joe Sasto, a Tournament of Champions competitor who told the outlet, “I’ve filmed plenty of shows with him. He eats EVERYTHING.” That tracks, but it’s hard to deny the theory is pretty compelling.