Giada Didn't Speak to Bobby Flay for Nearly a Year
Giada De Laurentiis and Bobby Flay are now friendly colleagues, cohosting the show Food Network Star. But back in their early Food Network days, the two celebrity chefs definitely did not get along, People reports. During an interview on the podcast Beyond the Plate, De Laurentiis said that even though she’s friends with Flay now, their friendship almost never got off the ground because of Iron Chef.
They teamed up on an episode of Iron Chef, and faced off against Rachael Ray and Mario Batali. Flay and De Laurentiis ended up losing, and though De Laurentiis was devastated, Flay wasn’t that bothered about it. “We lost, and he thought it was funny, he didn’t think it was any big deal that we lost,” De Laurentiis said.
And that didn’t sit well with her, and because of Flay's attitude, she gave him the silent treatment for nearly a year. Here’s what she said:
“I did not talk to him for eight months. Eight months! Nothing. Silence. Because I thought, you know, I took this very seriously. It was a very big show, especially at that time. And I’ve cooked, I’ve gone to culinary school, I worked on my own dish, all by myself, and I felt like he just sort of half-assed it. He didn’t really care, it was just TV. I took it very seriously. I think Rachael took it very seriously. And I was really disappointed. And I think that more than the loss, which I was really upset about, I was upset that he didn’t seem to care. It didn’t seem to faze him that we lost. He didn’t say, ‘Hey, I’m sorry we lost,’ or ‘Hey, we’ll do it again. Nothing! He’s just like, and he walked away. And I thought, you’re a jerk, and I never want to be around you again.”
But their feud didn’t last. “Now, of course, we’re best buddies and we hang out,” De Laurentiis said. “He takes some things, like his friendship and his family, very seriously, but he takes other things like TV a little less seriously.” And she said he gave her the advice to only focus on your work, and not focus too much on public perception, and that’s a lesson she’s taken to heart.
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