Updated September 23, 2021 6.4k votes 1.6k voters 161k views
List Rules
Vote up the most bizarre stories about the celebrity restaurateur.
In the traditionally sedate world of cooking shows and celebrity chefs, Guy Fieri has always stood out. With his bleach-blond hair, goatee, wraparound shades, and trademark "Donkey Sauce," it's hardly surprising that there is no lack of strange but true Guy Fieri stories out there. Love him or hate him, he's always marched to the beat of his own drum -Â whether in the world of television cooking shows or in the restaurant industry -Â and he's made no apologies for the unique brand of frat-boy food he's popularized.
The Guy Fieri biography starts in 1968 in Columbus, Ohio, where Fieri was born. He grew up in Northern California and graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, with a degree in hotel management. He worked in management for a few different restaurants before launching his first eatery in 1996. Ten years later, he won The Next Food Network Star. Since then, Fieri has worked his way to nothing short of TV chef superstardom, hosting a number of shows on various networks.
Read on for some weird but true facts you didn't know about Guy Fieri and vote up the most bizarre stories about the larger-than-life celebrity restaurateur.
1
517 VOTES
He Has A Large Shopping Cart, Which He Drives Around
Guy Fieri appeared in an episode of Jay Leno's Garage, where he featured his giant, mobile shopping cart, which runs on a 300-horsepower Chevy 350 engine. Fieri calls his cart the "Express Lane."
The movie Bridesmaids is unimaginable without Melissa McCarthy's brilliant performance as Megan, the accident-prone, rough-around-the-edges character who seems to have no filter and no fear. McCarthy has said that she modeled the character after Guy Fieri.
She told Conan O'Brien: "I tried for a long time to convince them to let me wear short, white, spiky hair, and they were like, 'You can’t actually be Guy Fieri. Cut it off at some point!'"
It's hardly surprising that Guy Fieri drives a bright yellow Lamborghini. What is surprising, though, is the chain of events that followed the car's theft in 2011. Max Wade, 16, was the culprit, and the car was eventually recovered a year later, hidden in Wade's storage locker.
The teen was convicted of vehicle theft and several other crimes before getting a life sentence. Take note, kids: Going after Guy Fieri's flashy toys will destroy your life. If you want the glamorous Fieri lifestyle, just bleach your hair and strap your sunglasses to the back of your head.
462 votes
4
374 VOTES
His NYC Restaurant Got One Of The Worst Reviews In The History Of The New York Times
Yes, it's true: Guy Fieri's first Times Square eatery, Guy's American Kitchen & Bar, received one of the worst restaurant reviews ever published in The New York Times. Critic Pete Wells gave the place zero stars, asking Fieri directly in the review, "When you hung that sign by the entrance that says, WELCOME TO FLAVOR TOWN! were you just messing with our heads?"
"I thought it was ridiculous," Fieri said on the Today show of the review. "I mean, I've read reviews - there's good and there's bad in the restaurant business, but that to me went so overboard, it really seemed like there was another agenda."
Guy's American Kitchen & Bar closed at the end of 2017.
At the age of 10, Fieri was thrown from and trampled by a horse. The incident caused extensive damage, including a ligament tear from his liver and bruising to his heart. He had to have emergency surgery to save his life, and he still bears a scar on his stomach from this epically close call.
Wearing a purple tuxedo, Guy Fieri helped 101 gay couples get married in Florida in February 2015. The event was organized by chef Art Smith to celebrate Florida's ended ban on same-sex marriages. As for Fieri, the event had a personal connection: His late sister was gay.
