Guy Fieri already raised more than $25 million for the pandemic-ravaged restaurant industry, and now the Mayor of Flavortown is bolstering his own bank account with a blockbuster new Food Network deal.
Fieri just signed a new contract for his popular Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives and Guy’s Grocery Games shows that will pay the celebrity chef $80 million over three years, a whopping $50 million raise from his prior agreement, reports Forbes.
The eight-figure deal makes the 53-year-old the top-paid chef on cable TV. His longest-running show Diners, Drive Ins and Dives, which has been on air since 2006, generated more than $230 million in 2020 ad revenue for the Food Network, according to data analytics firm Kantar.
“I got a chance of a lifetime,” Fieri recently told The Hollywood Reporter, stressing that his allegiance lies with specific Food Network executives and not its parent company, Discovery Networks. “I think I played it good.”
The wealth-obsessed media outlet points out that Fieri’s new TV deal eclipses even Gordon Ramsay, though the British superchef makes most of his money through restaurants and licensing deals.
Gordon Ramsay, meanwhile, earned around $20 million in a year from his Fox shows like Masterchef, according to Forbes 2020 estimates, which account for more than 75 hours of programming and more than $150 million yearly in ad sales for Fox.
Last year Ramsay earned $70 million overall, but more than two-thirds comes from his 35 restaurants worldwide and other deals, not his TV appearances. In 2020 it made him the 19th top-earning celebrity in America. Fieri has never appeared on the Forbes top celebrities earners list.
Still, Fieri’s super lucrative new deal is pretty amazing for the spiky-haired everyman chef whose best-known dish may be his signature “Donkey Sauce.”