Bobby Flay is one of the most popular celebrity chefs around. But when he received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one major hater ruined the whole ceremony. Why?
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00:00Bobby Flay is one of the most popular celebrity chefs around, but when he received his star
00:04on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one major hater ruined the whole ceremony.
00:08Why?
00:09When Bobby Flay was 17, he dropped out of school.
00:12He wasn't angry or bored, he told CBS Sunday Morning in an exclusive interview.
00:16He just wasn't interested.
00:17You went to Catholic school?
00:18Yeah.
00:19I can't imagine you went to Catholic school.
00:20I went to every Catholic school.
00:21Every Catholic school?
00:22Every Catholic school in Manhattan.
00:23Why'd you get thrown out of all of them?
00:24I just like to meet a lot of the different saints.
00:26Flay's father secured him a job as a busboy in a restaurant kitchen, which he loved.
00:30He said,
00:31"'I remember waking up in the morning, laying in my bed staring at the ceiling and saying
00:34to myself, I can't wait to go to work today.
00:36I didn't have to open a book.
00:38I was learning in a practical manner.'"
00:39Flay did eventually seek a higher education in cooking, graduating from New York's Institute
00:44of Culinary Education in 1984.
00:46By 26, he had opened his first New York City restaurant, Mesa Grill, and he worked hard.
00:51But during that time, Flay also put on a lot of weight.
00:54He told Men's Journal,
00:55"'I would work until 11.30 p.m. and then get dinner, with a bunch of other cooks.
00:58Our routine was to go to Blue Ribbon Brasserie and eat four courses and drink a few bottles
01:03of wine.
01:04That's, like, a really bad idea to do for a long time.'"
01:06By 1999, Flay was in his mid-30s, could no longer fit into his clothes, and his health
01:10was out of control, so he decided to rein it in.
01:13He started by taking control of his diet and eating at home rather than at a restaurant.
01:17He now even prepares his meals when he travels.
01:19He also runs five times a week, and when he's not running, you'll find him cycling, swimming,
01:24or in his spin class.
01:25He told Men's Journal,
01:26"'I look and feel healthier now.'"
01:28Flay may be one of the most successful chefs in America, but he hasn't found the same level
01:32of success with romance, as all three of his marriages have ended in divorce.
01:36When Flay met his first wife, Deborah Ponczek, they were both rising stars.
01:40He was 25 and was chefing at an East Village restaurant called Miracle Grill.
01:43Ponczek was at the top of her game, too, working at a French restaurant called Mon Rocher.
01:48The two met at a Meals on Wheels charity event and hit it off, embarking on a whirlwind romance.
01:52Just a few weeks after meeting, Flay proposed over lunch at An American Place in Manhattan's
01:57Murray Hill neighborhood.
01:58They were married in 1991.
02:00In an unusual twist, both husband and wife were nominated for the prestigious James Beard
02:04Award in 1992, in the same category, Rising Star Chef.
02:08Flay tried to withdraw his name, but it was too late.
02:11He needn't have bothered, because Ponczek won the award that year anyway.
02:14Shortly after tying the knot, Flay opened Mesa Grill, the southwestern restaurant that
02:18established his reputation in New York City.
02:20In an interview with The New York Times, Ponczek mentioned that their split was largely due
02:24to Flay's demanding work schedule, which kept him away from home more than she had hoped.
02:28Their marriage was brief, lasting only two years, before they divorced in 1993.
02:32Flay then met Kate Connelly when he appeared as a guest on Robin Leach Talking Food, which
02:37Connelly was co-hosting.
02:38They were immediately attracted to one another and started dating shortly after.
02:42Their magnetic connection led to marriage in 1995.
02:45Connelly, at the time, was a single mother.
02:47Flay embraced fatherhood and became a stepfather to her son.
02:50The couple also welcomed their own daughter, Sophie Flay, in 1996.
02:53Their marriage didn't last, however, and the couple separated in 1998, before eventually
02:58divorcing.
02:59Despite the breakup, they seemed to part amicably and continued co-parenting their daughter,
03:03who has grown up to pursue her own career in the media.
03:05Flay's adventures in divorce weren't over yet, though, and the third one would prove
03:09to be the bitterest.
03:11Flay met Law & Order SVU actor Stephanie March through mutual friends in 2000.
03:15Their first date was at Nobu.
03:16March told CNN in 2008,
03:18I know it's a cliché, but I remember thinking, oh my gosh, this is the rest of my life.
03:22Flay proposed to her in 2003 with a princess-cut diamond ring while ice skating at Rockefeller
03:27Center.
03:28But not all that glitters is gold.
03:29In their divorce documents, March accused Flay of cheating on her multiple times during
03:33their 10-year marriage.
03:34It was such a messy divorce that the Daily Beast called it,
03:37"...Throwdown with Bobby Flay and Stephanie March," a cheeky nod to his cooking show of
03:41a similar name.
03:42Flay cut March's access to her credit card, which she used for living expenses and pet
03:46food.
03:47March accused Flay of having three affairs, one long-term with his assistant, Elise.
03:50In 2010, the gossip sites also picked up on an encounter between Flay and Mad Men star
03:55January Jones, who called him for help when her car broke down.
03:58The third woman is still a mystery.
04:00Their bitter divorce spilled over memorably during Flay's Walk of Fame ceremony in 2015,
04:05which took an unexpected turn during his speech when a plane flew overhead, trailing a banner
04:09with the word,
04:10"...cheater."
04:11Rumors quickly swirled that March was responsible for the banner.
04:13Despite the dramatic display, Flay kept his composure and continued with the ceremony.
04:17He was going to take media interviews afterward, but abruptly left.
04:20The banner became a hot topic, overshadowing the star he received.
04:23A few weeks after the event, Flay's divorce from March was finalized.
04:28Bobby Flay's intense work ethic has been both the foundation of his culinary success and
04:32a challenge in his personal life.
04:33His dedication to building a culinary empire — opening numerous restaurants, hosting
04:37TV shows, and writing cookbooks — has made him a household name.
04:41However, the demanding nature of his career has taken a toll on his relationships.
04:44His relentless focus on work often left little time for personal commitments, contributing
04:48to the strain in his marriages.
04:50In a tell-all interview on Ina Garten's show Be My Guest, Flay talked about the early days
04:55of his career and revealed that his first Food Network TV show, Grillin' and Chillin',
04:59caused him to miss a key formative period in his young daughter's life.
05:02Flay said,
05:03"...I know when that show was shot, because my daughter Sophie, who's 27, was 10 days
05:06old.
05:07We shot 42 shows in seven days."
05:09The new dad's busy schedule not only kept him away from his wife and newborn daughter,
05:13it also gave him anxiety at night when, instead of thinking about his new child, he'd be worrying
05:17about what they'd have to accomplish the next day, as they filmed six episodes a day.
05:21"...It's insane."
05:23Despite his long and illustrious career and openly admitting that he's more into being
05:27a chef than making TV shows, Flay couldn't hold onto the Michelin star his Las Vegas
05:31restaurant Mesa Grill earned in 2008.
05:34In 2009, they didn't win the star back, and by 2010, Michelin was no longer publishing
05:38a Las Vegas guide, so Mesa Grill was off the Michelin map.
05:41The Caesars Palace establishment was the sister restaurant of Mesa Grill in New York City,
05:45the darling of Bobby Flay's enterprise.
05:48According to the Michelin guide, having a star shows that a restaurant, quote,
05:51"...uses the finest ingredients, has dishes with distinct flavors, and a consistently
05:55high standard."
05:56Another hard day for Flay was when Mesa Grill in New York, which had two stars in The New
06:00York Times review, also lost a star.
06:02On a visit to the restaurant in 2008, food critic Frank Bruni dropped the restaurant's
06:06rating down from two stars to one.
06:09Flay told CBS Sunday Morning,
06:10"...I was in a taxi when I found out he was taking a star from me.
06:12It was a long day.
06:13I got really drunk that night."
06:15Flay ultimately closed the New York City location in 2013.
06:19In 2011, Flay invested in America's Next Great Restaurant, a reality TV competition aimed
06:24at discovering the next big fast-casual dining concept.
06:28Alongside fellow celebrity chefs and investors, Flay served as a judge, helping contestants
06:32develop their restaurant ideas.
06:33The winning concept, Soul Daddy, focused on soul food with a healthier twist.
06:37Despite the show's high hopes, though, the venture struggled to gain traction.
06:41After the series ended, Soul Daddy opened in three locations — New York, Los Angeles,
06:45and Minneapolis.
06:46Within just a few weeks, however, two of the locations were forced to close due to low
06:50customer demand.
06:51The last remaining location in Minneapolis followed suit shortly after.
06:55Flay and the other investors had envisioned a hit, but the rapid collapse of the restaurants
06:58highlighted the difficulty of translating TV success into real-world business longevity.
07:03The show was then canceled.
07:04A press release said,
07:05This was a difficult decision for us, as we wanted to see Soul Daddy succeed, but the
07:09restaurant simply was not performing as we had hoped.
07:12Beat Bobby Flay has been on TV screens since 2013, but some fans have accused the cooking
07:17competition of being rigged because they don't understand how Flay wins so much.
07:20In the Food Network series, two cooks go head-to-head, creating a dish of their choosing using a
07:24secret ingredient chosen by Flay.
07:26Whoever wins that round then competes against Flay, and they get to choose the signature
07:30dish they'll both be making.
07:31This means the challenger should usually have the upper hand, unless they happen to randomly
07:35choose a dish Flay excels at.
07:36Despite this, though, Flay wins more often than he loses, with his win rate hovering
07:40around 62 percent.
07:42And the winner is…
07:44Mr. Bobby Flavor.
07:49This has caused some fans to accuse the show of rigging the judging in Flay's favor.
07:53One Redditor wrote of the blind tastings,
07:55"[Bobby wins like 90 percent of the time, and while I believe that Bobby has the experience
07:59and resume to cook just about anything well, I find it hard to believe that he can universally
08:03cook dishes that at least two out of three judges will prefer in a blind tasting."
08:08Flay became a household name in part due to his high-profile gig on the hit Iron Chef
08:12franchise.
08:13So it was a shock to everyone, including the show's producers, when he suddenly quit on
08:16air via a bizarre stunt.
08:18After appearing in over 100 episodes of the series and its spinoffs, Flay showed up in
08:22front of the camera for an episode of Iron Chef Showdown, wearing a T-shirt under his
08:26chef whites that had,
08:27"'This is my last Iron Chef battle ever' scribbled on it."
08:30Flay hadn't told the Food Network executives that he was quitting, leaving them upset and
08:34frustrated, especially since there was no way to edit around Flay's message, which is
08:38exactly what he wanted.
08:40"'Definitely edit that.
08:41Wait, where's the edit button?'
08:43"'No, no, no, you can't control what we air.'"
08:46So why did Flay do it?
08:47He told an audience at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival in 2018,
08:50"'I wanted everyone to know that this is my last Iron Chef battle.
08:53My objective, though — it was probably not the best idea — was that that's what would
08:57be filmed.
08:58When the camera's on you, that's what the viewer would see.
09:00So I did it.'"
09:01Flay later backpedaled, saying that he was just having a bit of fun and would be open
09:04to returning to the show in the future.
09:06Given that Flay is still with Food Network, it seems they were able to smooth over the
09:09ruffled feathers.
09:11Flay is known for his grilling, Southwestern cuisine, and bold flavors.
09:14But if you want to beat Flay in the kitchen — or on one of his competition shows — baking
09:18is his kryptonite.
09:19It turns out the formidable chef struggles with pastries and cakes.
09:22He told Delish that his Achilles' heel is, quote,
09:24"'Anything with butter, flour, sugar, and eggs.'
09:26A particular cake he really struggled to master, and that still haunts him today, was
09:30a wedding cake for an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay.
09:33He was up against a New York pastry chef, and Flay's German chocolate wedding cake was
09:37rather naive.
09:38The person I went up against made this spectacular, gorgeous wedding cake.
09:42Mine was, uh, very country-style.
09:44It was very uneven, but it tasted really good."
09:47"'For originality, Bobby, you got originality.'"
09:53Needless to say, that was one challenge he didn't win.
09:56So maybe that judging isn't rigged after all.
09:58Sorry, Reddit.