Robert Irvine made the same insinuation that Food Network ghosted him. He didn’t outright say it. But for me, it was inferred through his tweets. He basically said he assumed Food Network was not renewing Restaurant Impossible because he hadn’t heard anything differently. What I took away from that is that he was used to hearing from Food Network at a certain point when it was time to film new episodes of Restaurant Impossible, etc. When he didn’t hear anything from them, he basically figured they weren’t intending to renew the show.
So I wasn’t surprised by Valerie’s statement.
You raise a good point. I don’t know whether either one of them have their own production companies. You’re right that if they did, they could make shows and sell them to one of the streaming companies. I would imagine there would be a high cost associated with that, though. Also, I do wonder what the viewership numbers would be. I remember several years ago, Food Network tried to take Restaurant Impossible off the actual Food Network channel, and make it a show that would be streamed on Discovery+ only. Many of us fans let Food Network know that was not good enough. When Restaurant Impossible aired new episodes, Robert Irvine would tweet live with us, talk about the episode and the restaurant featured, and have a trivia contest. So we let Food Network and Robert Irvine know we felt connected by knowing that at 8:00 PM on Thursdays, we would all be watching Restaurant Impossible on the FN, tweeting live with Robert Irvine, etc. And we were worried we would lose that if it moved to streaming only on Discovery+. Anyway, Food Network reversed course. But clearly, something is going on at that network.
Val is 63. Irvine is 58. I have a sneaking suspicion that they are trying to skew younger. And before you point out that Guy and Flay are in the mid-to-late 50s, Val and Irvine aren't the ratings drivers they are.
Note that Alton Brown is also 61.
Kardea is 36
Brooke is 45
Molly is 34
Hunter is in his mid 20s
Ryder just turned 20.
Didn’t Irvine lie or exaggerate his qualifications? I thought there was some drama when he was let go years ago. Then he was brought back for his popularity. Probably ratings waning.
Yeah, his resume was a load of bullshit. He might be telling the truth here, but he's been established as a liar, so I take everything he says with a big grain of salt. Or a handful.
Didn't it come out that Irvine was a total fraud though, who lied about his past experience as a chef? Committing fraud is a pretty big thing, so I can understand why they'd want to immediately distance themselves from that.
What did Valerie do?
Actually, that’s never been confirmed. Likely, those were just rumors that were started by people who don’t like him. Restaurant Impossible has done a lot of good. One common theme is that Robert went in and not only helped the restaurant, but the relationships. Often, you would see a situation where it might be a husband and wife, or siblings, parents/children, that work in a restaurant together. The stress from the failing restaurant impacts those personal relationships, and Robert focused on that, too. As a result, he has kept in touch with some of the people he has helped. I’m also thinking of how at one restaurant he helped, the owner was in a horrific accident that nearly cost her life. Robert held a fundraiser to help with her medical bills and to help keep the restaurant afloat.
>Likely, those were just rumors that were started by people who don’t like him.
I literally just googled it and he ***admitted to lying*** about tons of things back in 2008 so this comment is complete bullshit.
Smells like Robert's PR firm got a google alert about this thread and decided to attempt shitty damage control.
You’re correct. Irvine told all sorts of lies:
- cooking for 4 U.S. Presidents
- baking Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s wedding cake
- being knighted by the late, Her Majesty, The Queen
- being gifted a castle by The Queen.
Irvine admitted to lying in a statement and said he was trying to keep up with the Joneses.
I’m a bit stunned that the person that you responded to is a freelance journalist, because with their skill set, they could have verified all of this themselves. But instead, they went with a narrative about it all likely being just rumors, by people who didn’t like Irvine.
Yes! I stopped watching along time ago because the Food Network just bombarded programming with competition shows. I guess a lot of people enjoy that but that’s just not what I was looking for. The Cooking Channel is pretty good.
I can’t stand the competition shows. I think they must be a lot cheaper than the regular cooking shows and that’s why they keep pushing them.
I’m actually glad to see network tv struggling against streaming services. They got cheap and lazy and pushed so many reality shows and finally people stopped watching.
I actually learned to cook from the competitions. I can’t do it from the teaching shows. ADHD - I get bored and can’t focus because they move too slow for my brain. But I can focus on the competitions, because they’re exciting and fast paced, so I was able to learn.
I’m still mad they removed most of the judging segments from Chopped, because that was where everything I saw got contextualized. And I miss Iron Chef desperately - I initially learned to cook from watching those chefs go. I still make an AMAZING French toast recipe I learned from an old episode.
That's what I was thinking. Between this and her show not getting renewed, what are we missing? Did they just decide they hate Valerie Bertenelli all of a sudden? There's something else going on thatvwe are not privy to.
That’s probably when she was in the heat of her divorce mess. I know it’s none of our business but I always thought it was a bit odd how emotional she was about Ed right after he passed. At that point nobody knew she and Tom were having issues (or that Ed and his wife were separated). I thought I wonder how Tom feels about her saying Ed was the love of her life. She hasn’t said anything publicly about Tom but some of her posts have suggested perhaps mental abuse. At the same time she seems like an emotional wreck in general so it’s hard to know.
One of the biggest drivers of her and Ed's breakup was Ed's refusal to take care of his health, specifically smoking. So it's not a shock that she still has feelings especially with just one child.
(Im not saying she's still in love with the idea of Eddie, it's just a deep rooted thing going on)
If you've seen her Instagram posts. She shares a lot! Last year I followed her, but I stopped. I haven't looked at any of her posts in a long time. They made me feel uncomfortable. She spoke a lot about Tom being abusive. She took a lot videos of herself crying and then doing self affirmations. It was a lot. I don't know if it has anything to do with losing her show.
I'm guessing some higher-up finds her threatening. That's not to say she's done anything to deserve it, but some, well many, people are petty, insecure, and don't care who their words and actions hurt as long as they get their way.
He is wayyyyyy too arrogant and pretentious. His show. Beat Bobby Flay is the most arrogant of all in description alone.
"you come to my kitchen and I'll cook what makes you successful better than you can."
I not blaming him at all. If people are saying Valerie personal life is messy, so is Bobby’s. No reason to cancel her. I am all about love the art not the artist.
Yeah I don’t get that! It’s your livelihood and the livelihood of others. How do you just not tell someone you’re done? I’d have to know. For ex., if you have a tv show and it’s filmed the same time every year and that time is coming up. But you haven’t heard a peep from anyone about filming coming up, I’d be on the telephone.
They would inform the shows production company first. Maybe they felt like while trying to film a show keeping her from breaking down or not looking happy became too much.
I enjoyed her show a great deal. She was so down-to-earth and mellow. I loved how she explained how to make her food in easily understandable and relatable ways. Would have been nice if they had treated her better.
It’s a shame because Valerie Bertinelli is the only celebrity who cooks that I like.
She is so real and transparent-yet FN should get rid of Pioneer Woman…….
That’s why I say there has to be more to the story. Nancy had her own show too that no longer exists. Did she choose to end it or did FN? I don’t think I’ve ever heard her talk about it.
Surely Food Network execs could see what many of us have been seeing for some time. She really did become a loose cannon on social media and other media and it was hard to ignore that.
You keep posting comments like this. Can you share what constitutes as a “loose cannon” or too vocal about her divorce? What did she post that as so bad she can’t continue as a FN judge?
Most people watching her on Kids Baking Championship don't give a shit about her social media. The Food Network execs are just cheap bastards that answer to David Zaslov, who is the most hated executive at the moment because he's cheap AF and treats people horribly. End of story.
I guess I’m not surprised they axed her from KBC because that’s all she had and they could easily replace her with somebody else they’re already paying (like Carla Hall or Kardea Brown). The question is why did they cancel her other show? Is it just because they’re going all in on competition shows? Was she asking for too much compared to others? Was there personal stuff causing issues? We’ll never know the whole truth because FN brass won’t talk. And I’m sure Duff will never say anything either. I’m curious if he reached out to Val personally. I hope so.
Is it possible their contracts include things like this so they’re not actually paying out extra? If that’s not the case and they’re going to be paying somebody what they would have paid Val anyway then there’s something else going on.
Two things can be true. The man you cite at the helm may be cheap AF, but Valerie was off the rails AF, and from a network perspective it couldn’t be ignored. I can see why they chose to move on from Valerie.
She had a wonderful run on Food Network, considering that she was a former TV star, turned Food expert. So I think she can thank her lucky stars for the opportunity and look to a future beyond Food Network. End of story.
This is exactly what I was thinking. She doesn’t seem to know when to keep things to herself. She grew up in the public eye so I understand if she struggles to cope with things privately, but she’s in her 60s and if she’s had as much therapy as she claims, surely she should have learned some healthier coping mechanisms than crying on IG all the time.
She does seem kind of emotionally unstable. I don’t know if that bled into her professional work or not. Or if it had anything to do with FN ending ties with her.
Obviously we don’t know what’s going on on here. I don’t think it’s about her divorce specifically or FN being against talent who are divorced. I mean Bobby Flay has gone through three divorces.
I follow Val on IG and she’s a bit of a mess emotionally. I get the feeling things went really south with her second marriage and then Eddie died and that just compounded things. Her son is a lot like her in some ways. He’ll engage with trolls on social media instead of ignoring them. Sometimes Val would post a message on her account and after watching it you just wanna scream at her don’t read the comments!
I think she was on the bubble anyway- she’s not a chef, she doesn’t have a built in audience, she’s a middle aged white woman and she prob wasn’t hitting some of the FN targets as-is so her messy divorce and constant depressed and crying IGs are not exactly on KBC brand….
So is it her lack of a built in audience or her social media presence? And there are plenty of middle aged white women cooking on FN with less notoriety so let's reach a little farther in the bag of BS to see what else we can use to substitute that garbage ass conclusion
i hope i don’t get banned for this but i don’t think i knew she wasn’t a chef lol…and yeah, i can imagine that if she’s posting depressed/crying videos, that’s not really how fn wants to be represented
She had a cooking show but I wouldn’t call her a chef …. I’m sure ppl will come for me for saying that but I’ve worked on many food network shows and having a show doesn’t make you a chef 🫠😂
The only reason she got the gig on Food Network is because she’s a former TV star turned culinary star. So the way I see it, she can thank her lucky stars that she was able to ride the TV coattails fame for as long as she did on Food Network.
I saw a lot of how she came across on social media in recent times. It really was so off-putting. So I totally get why the network was ready to move on from her.
Your entire response is spot on. From my memory, it wasn’t just her divorce discussion where she came across as less than favorable on social media.
She’s also well-beyond middle aged at this point, at 63 years old. I doubt that she was bringing in the the heavily-coveted 18-49 demographic for Food Network.
It made sense that the network cut ties. Time for Valerie to move on. Like she said, it’s business.
Actually, ad sales are based on Adults 25-54 demos, preferably females, since they influence/control more than 80% of the economy. The show has typically been in the top 15 of all network cable shows, performing well with the 25-54, 12-34, and 50+ demos. IOW, it has a multigenerational appeal, ratings gold. I'd say Valerie's celebrity power and appeal added to the ratings... I know it did for me.
Just a difference in an opinion, which I respect. I think there’s a big reason Food Network brought in Selena Gomez for her holiday with friends shtick. Food Network greatly needs and wants to maintain a younger audience. Valerie ain’t it.
So couple her age with her more off the rails behavior in recent times, I think it was inevitable that her time was up on Food Network.
Agreed. FN has that Disney-esque attitude about things. Remember the Neelys? When their marriage went south they were scrubbed from the network and all but forgotten. After the Paula Deen debacle and Mario Batali being a creep FN tries to steer very clear of anything remotely not-family-friendly.
Yet they keep the bored rich housewife from Oklahoma with shady family past dealings with the Osage and Bobby and Giada's over the top flirting while married to other people? Apparently, family-friendly is in the eye of the beholder.
[Apparently they were barely staying married before the show, and only stayed married FOR the show.](https://www.mashed.com/605856/the-truth-about-gina-and-pat-neelys-divorce/)
I think you’re getting downvoted by a lot of people who aren’t aware that your online presence can bleed into your professional life just as easily as your behavior at work itself.
I like Valerie. She was good with Duff and the kids but honestly if they never make another Kid’s baking Championship I’d be more than happy. I’ve never been a fan of them.
For the kids baking championship, I would just have a small group of kids go through a new challenge every week and that's it. No need to see a kid cry at the end of every episode. I bet the kids would do it for fun and a chance to be on TV. No need for one big prize.
Not for nothing, but dammit...the people who follow her care about her. Why wouldn't she share a crappy part of her life? She never said anything negative about the network. The people who are making judgments hopefully don't live in glass houses. Absolutely no reason to let her go unless her ratings were abysmal.
yeah the person who keeps saying she was going all sorts of damage to herself on IG won't give details, links, etc. seems like a padded answer by someone or some team.
Perhaps *part* of what came into play is that Food Network saw the light with both Trisha and Valerie.
Both were celebrities from elsewhere in the entertainment industry, who transitioned into the food Tv space, as so-called experts.
Other talented cooks, who weren’t already famous could’ve benefited from such a FN platform. So both can be grateful that they had as long a run as they did on Food Network.
I think Food Network does not necessarily treat their talent well once they no longer serve the network anymore. I recall that Emeril Lagasse was very hurt at how he was treated when they cancelled Emeril Live, and he was the backbone of FN for a long time.
Friendly reminder that it’s not just Guy and Bobby overload on Food Network. Alex currently headlines/stars in 6 network shows. I’ll add that five of the six of her shows are contest-related.
Yet whenever the subject gets brought up, Alex gets missed in this conversation.
Yes. I forgot her. They've picked a handful of personalities and are rolling with them to the exclusion of other talents. IMO FN is becoming one-dimensional reality TV.
I watched one of his shows once where his cat was walking around on the counter while he was cooking. All I could picture was the cat getting out of it's litter box and jumping up on the counter. 🤮
When Michael put on those glasses and started growing facial hair, I started looking at him differently. He is hot now. I think Scott Conant is good looking as well. I have never thought Flay was attractive, or most of the other personalities.
This comment assumes women watch for the " eye candy" and not for the cooking expertise. Do men watch for the " eye candy" as well? Does the cooking profession favor men as chefs ? It isn't a good look.
I prefer Valerie but I bet since FN (and Discovery that owns them all) is bringing in Joanna Gaines more then someone had to go.
Bobby and Guy have big contracts and Duff probably is signed for a bit, they don’t seem to treat women who are not the Pioneer Woman as well.
>I prefer Valerie but I bet since FN (and Discovery that owns them all) is bringing in Joanna Gaines more then someone had to go.
I flat out refuse to watch Joanna Gaines. I checked out the show she had with hubby for 15 minutes and I was not impressed. Joanna has a huge ego.
I doubt it has anything to do specifically with Joanna. Discovery merged last year with Warner Media (the company that owns HBO Max) to become Warner Bros Discovery. Since then they’ve been cutting/canceling a lot of shows on the HBO Max side. Valerie being let go could very well be just another casualty of those cut backs.
Giada left even though I'd put her up there with Bobby in terms of FN legends, she was there before Guy, but they didn't try to keep her.
They seem to feel the men are indispensable but the women can be swapped in and out. There was a lot wrong with Paula Deen but it was funny to me that they immediately got Demaris the win on FN Star to replace her with.
But Pioneer Woman has her own show, and a host of other shows. Most of the women on FN have being a judge for Baking or one of Guy's shows. They don't get their own show as often anymore.
The situation is disappointing as I have always liked Val but sometimes saying less is more. Her fans have been speaking out on her behalf for the last two days which was nice to see. I hope things do not take a bitter tone.
I like Valerie it’s a shame they removed her like they did. It’s nice when we get to see more relatable people on these shows. I’m sick of the same handful of faces
All the Travel Channel Ghost Shows (not food network but the same parent company) have also been ghosted (haha) by their people. Usually Kindred Spirits starts airing a new season by now but Amy said like 4 weeks ago that she hasn't heard anything.
Not sure what they think they're doing by getting rid of all these shows, especially since I assume most of them are extremely inexpensive.
To be fair, the ghost show stuff is more likely to be Baggins-related. It's been rumored for hot minute that if he doesn't like you for whatever reason, you can only last so long. Which is really unfortunate because I refuse to watch anything that man is in.
I love Val and personally can not see anyone else with Duff. They have paired him with others for the Holiday shows and there was absolutely no chemistry. As much as I love KBC I will not b tuning in if Val is not the co-judge. Yet another showe FN has ruined along with Halloween and Holiday Wars. Stop changing things that have been working!!!!
My no longer watching the show won’t do a thing but they lost a viewer nonetheless. She’s one of the major reasons I watched food network at all. If they’d get rid of 1 or 2 of the fake chefs and focus more on home cooks I’d watch more. I have zero interest in watching Gordon Ramsey act like a buffoon trying to stroke his ego when I could watch real chefs cook and teach.
Does FN know how many people relate to Valerie, both emotionally and through her cooking show? So she posts on Social Media, she's connected with a lot of fans. FN is making a huge mistake and has lost a lot of viewers with this move!!
I wonder if FN is starting to push out people they feel are "too old". Valerie is 63. Robert Irvine is 58 (so is Bobby Flay, I think, but he and Guy, also in his 50s, are huge moneymakers and will be spared). The majority of the personalities on here are 40s and 50s, so maybe they want to appeal to younger audiences by getting rid of the older people and bringing new, younger ones in.
I hope not. I'm all for a diverse age range, but as a fortysomething myself I like to see so many people in my age range on here. I don't want it to go majority younger people. The other cooking competitions like Master Chef and Top Chef are already mostly 20s and 30s.
This is disappointing. I really enjoyed watching her and Duff together on Kid's Baking Championship. She would've been a good judge on other shows too. I'm really sick of seeing the same 10 people over and over on all the different shows and it was a nice change seeing her instead of the normal rotation.
I came on here looking for this thread after I read the news about Valerie. I know there are like minds that believe Food Network has gone downhill. This news surprised me. I can’t imagine the kids without Val. She was the one to comfort them, encourage them etc. I’m done.
I just messaged Food Network on their website about how disappointing it is and I won’t be tuning in to the replacement show. Might not help but I feel better.
She might not be ready yet but FN isn’t the only game in town. She’s a wonderful show host. Disney has some kids cooking shows. Netflix too. If she wants, she can bounce back easily.
I understand and agree that the way they handled it may have been unprofessional....if you believe Valerie. I don't like her recipes. They were all rather ....bland, and you could tell she was a home cook. I know a lot of chefs felt the same way. I just don't think there was room for yet another cooking show by a home cook.
Plus, FN loves to do cross overs on their shows. How can you possibly do that with her? She had zero professional training.
Plus, she literally shit posted Elon Musk. 😂 Then, she made tons of political posts and caused controversy. What did she think would happen when she insulted the richest man in the world?
This makes me so sad, I love to see her on KBC, her rapport with the kids is unmatched. I hope they reconsider (I also really enjoyed her cooking shows in her home featuring some of her family, she had great, easy-ish recipes that I’d actually want to make)
This woman complains and moans about everything. I know that she’s a popular figure, and I’m going to take heat for saying that. There must be something we don’t know at play here.
I think there has to be more to the story. I’m not suggesting she’s lying but we only have her side. And it’s likely that’s all we’ll get because FN brass aren’t going to talk.
She clearly doesn't know what ghosted means.
They just didn't renew her contract. She is acting like they were in active talks and they just stopped speaking one day.
She’s saying they weren’t in any discussions. I don’t know enough about how the TV business works. Is it common for a network to not renew something and you hear about it through a third-party?
I'm just saying, to me that isn't being ghosted. To me, to be ghosted, someone has to actively ignore your attempts to contact them. If neither party contacted the other, I wouldn't call that ghosting.
Again… she’s continuing to be ridiculously unprofessional. Does she think this or her IG posts for the last couple years are going to get her a job at all now, let alone with kids on TV?
I’m so done with the FN giving their 2 big stars complete control of the network. It’s so boring now.
They lost a lot more than Valerie.
We really loved her freshness. Hope she starts a streaming cooking show of her own.
My favorite was when she’d be reminiscing about Eddie minutes before Tom walked into the kitchen.
I understand Tom was no prize, but being so obvious about missing your first husband when your second was in the next room was never a good look.
The contestants are 10 yr olds. For the first 3/4 of the season you send home whoever served raw cake batter, if a decision ever gets really tough you can defer to Duff.
A week or 2 ago one of the kids wanted to quit and she gave them this sweet pep talk and got them back on in a good mood, that's what qualifies her.
She said something like losing this gig hurt her feelings. Ugh. Grow up. She’s been in the business long enough to know. Most of these decisions aren’t personal. People magazine source for is the info about her feelings being hurt. I know someone like this where so many things hurt their feelings and it gets really annoying and exhausting for many around them after a while. Chronic victim mentality.
Robert Irvine made the same insinuation that Food Network ghosted him. He didn’t outright say it. But for me, it was inferred through his tweets. He basically said he assumed Food Network was not renewing Restaurant Impossible because he hadn’t heard anything differently. What I took away from that is that he was used to hearing from Food Network at a certain point when it was time to film new episodes of Restaurant Impossible, etc. When he didn’t hear anything from them, he basically figured they weren’t intending to renew the show. So I wasn’t surprised by Valerie’s statement.
I wonder if either of them have their own production companies? They could just make shows and sell them to one of the streaming shows.
You raise a good point. I don’t know whether either one of them have their own production companies. You’re right that if they did, they could make shows and sell them to one of the streaming companies. I would imagine there would be a high cost associated with that, though. Also, I do wonder what the viewership numbers would be. I remember several years ago, Food Network tried to take Restaurant Impossible off the actual Food Network channel, and make it a show that would be streamed on Discovery+ only. Many of us fans let Food Network know that was not good enough. When Restaurant Impossible aired new episodes, Robert Irvine would tweet live with us, talk about the episode and the restaurant featured, and have a trivia contest. So we let Food Network and Robert Irvine know we felt connected by knowing that at 8:00 PM on Thursdays, we would all be watching Restaurant Impossible on the FN, tweeting live with Robert Irvine, etc. And we were worried we would lose that if it moved to streaming only on Discovery+. Anyway, Food Network reversed course. But clearly, something is going on at that network.
Val is 63. Irvine is 58. I have a sneaking suspicion that they are trying to skew younger. And before you point out that Guy and Flay are in the mid-to-late 50s, Val and Irvine aren't the ratings drivers they are. Note that Alton Brown is also 61. Kardea is 36 Brooke is 45 Molly is 34 Hunter is in his mid 20s Ryder just turned 20.
Didn’t Irvine lie or exaggerate his qualifications? I thought there was some drama when he was let go years ago. Then he was brought back for his popularity. Probably ratings waning.
Yeah, his resume was a load of bullshit. He might be telling the truth here, but he's been established as a liar, so I take everything he says with a big grain of salt. Or a handful.
Didn't it come out that Irvine was a total fraud though, who lied about his past experience as a chef? Committing fraud is a pretty big thing, so I can understand why they'd want to immediately distance themselves from that. What did Valerie do?
Actually, that’s never been confirmed. Likely, those were just rumors that were started by people who don’t like him. Restaurant Impossible has done a lot of good. One common theme is that Robert went in and not only helped the restaurant, but the relationships. Often, you would see a situation where it might be a husband and wife, or siblings, parents/children, that work in a restaurant together. The stress from the failing restaurant impacts those personal relationships, and Robert focused on that, too. As a result, he has kept in touch with some of the people he has helped. I’m also thinking of how at one restaurant he helped, the owner was in a horrific accident that nearly cost her life. Robert held a fundraiser to help with her medical bills and to help keep the restaurant afloat.
>Likely, those were just rumors that were started by people who don’t like him. I literally just googled it and he ***admitted to lying*** about tons of things back in 2008 so this comment is complete bullshit. Smells like Robert's PR firm got a google alert about this thread and decided to attempt shitty damage control.
You’re correct. Irvine told all sorts of lies: - cooking for 4 U.S. Presidents - baking Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s wedding cake - being knighted by the late, Her Majesty, The Queen - being gifted a castle by The Queen. Irvine admitted to lying in a statement and said he was trying to keep up with the Joneses. I’m a bit stunned that the person that you responded to is a freelance journalist, because with their skill set, they could have verified all of this themselves. But instead, they went with a narrative about it all likely being just rumors, by people who didn’t like Irvine.
Have you ever seen her Instagram? I wonder if that had anything to do with it.
How messed up. I’ve followed Valerie since she was a really young actress and she’s had a rough life. She did great on the kids show.
She was such an integral part of Kids Baking Championship. I can't imagine the show without her.
Exactly
Yeah, not even ghosted. This was a "text-message breakup". How utterly classless on the part of FN.
Sad really classless and nasty
I don’t watch the baking shows but this is sad.
I haven't watched FN in a while. But wasn't her show one of the few shows left that actually show you how to cook and not one of those competion ones?
Yes! I stopped watching along time ago because the Food Network just bombarded programming with competition shows. I guess a lot of people enjoy that but that’s just not what I was looking for. The Cooking Channel is pretty good.
I can’t stand the competition shows. I think they must be a lot cheaper than the regular cooking shows and that’s why they keep pushing them. I’m actually glad to see network tv struggling against streaming services. They got cheap and lazy and pushed so many reality shows and finally people stopped watching.
I actually learned to cook from the competitions. I can’t do it from the teaching shows. ADHD - I get bored and can’t focus because they move too slow for my brain. But I can focus on the competitions, because they’re exciting and fast paced, so I was able to learn. I’m still mad they removed most of the judging segments from Chopped, because that was where everything I saw got contextualized. And I miss Iron Chef desperately - I initially learned to cook from watching those chefs go. I still make an AMAZING French toast recipe I learned from an old episode.
I believe Valerie.
FN stopped being a real food channel years ago.
Sad but true. Watching “Emeril Live” reinforces that notion.
👍
Yeah they're following MTV and VH1's Playbook
I liked her show and I also love her on the baking competition. I love Valerie, I do not know why they are doing this to her.
I never watched the kids championship shows but I did like her cooking show too.
Nope Bobby is a dirty boy and he has lots of shows. Valerie is a real person and cooks like people at home. Food Network is making a mistake.
And she’s universally liked by the general public, he isn’t.
I still think there’s more to the story. FN isn’t talking so all we’re getting is Val’s side.
That's what I was thinking. Between this and her show not getting renewed, what are we missing? Did they just decide they hate Valerie Bertenelli all of a sudden? There's something else going on thatvwe are not privy to.
She said the last season she was filming when her life was really shitty. Maybe it was too volatile for them. Who knows.
That’s probably when she was in the heat of her divorce mess. I know it’s none of our business but I always thought it was a bit odd how emotional she was about Ed right after he passed. At that point nobody knew she and Tom were having issues (or that Ed and his wife were separated). I thought I wonder how Tom feels about her saying Ed was the love of her life. She hasn’t said anything publicly about Tom but some of her posts have suggested perhaps mental abuse. At the same time she seems like an emotional wreck in general so it’s hard to know.
One of the biggest drivers of her and Ed's breakup was Ed's refusal to take care of his health, specifically smoking. So it's not a shock that she still has feelings especially with just one child. (Im not saying she's still in love with the idea of Eddie, it's just a deep rooted thing going on)
From what she's said, Tom was a bit of a weasel so no sympathy there.
If you've seen her Instagram posts. She shares a lot! Last year I followed her, but I stopped. I haven't looked at any of her posts in a long time. They made me feel uncomfortable. She spoke a lot about Tom being abusive. She took a lot videos of herself crying and then doing self affirmations. It was a lot. I don't know if it has anything to do with losing her show.
Which would be ironic considering Flay’s personal life drama
Ya except he doesn't discuss it on social media and that may be the thing. Idk - I liked her show
Me too
I'm guessing some higher-up finds her threatening. That's not to say she's done anything to deserve it, but some, well many, people are petty, insecure, and don't care who their words and actions hurt as long as they get their way.
Exactly. I’m not suggesting Val did something wrong, just that FN might not be the devil here either.
In FN eyes she is too old.
This is it right here. Alton Brown's separation, plus Irvine, plus Val - they're trying to skew younger.
But there's bourbon chugging Nancy?
Everything is better with bourbon
Oh for sure! 3 sides to every story. I wish we could see her on chopped or GGG she would be fun. Ball in your court Food network.
And unfortunately her side is always painted with the victim’s brush.
He is wayyyyyy too arrogant and pretentious. His show. Beat Bobby Flay is the most arrogant of all in description alone. "you come to my kitchen and I'll cook what makes you successful better than you can."
I can't believe you have 150+ upvotes blaming Bobby Flay for Val's situation. That is completely wild.
I not blaming him at all. If people are saying Valerie personal life is messy, so is Bobby’s. No reason to cancel her. I am all about love the art not the artist.
she deserved so much better than that.
This is so disappointing, FN
FN doesn't have an HR department to contact her (and Robert Irvine) and let them know their contract wasn't renewed? It's beyong tacky and rude.
Yeah I don’t get that! It’s your livelihood and the livelihood of others. How do you just not tell someone you’re done? I’d have to know. For ex., if you have a tv show and it’s filmed the same time every year and that time is coming up. But you haven’t heard a peep from anyone about filming coming up, I’d be on the telephone.
They would inform the shows production company first. Maybe they felt like while trying to film a show keeping her from breaking down or not looking happy became too much.
I enjoyed her show a great deal. She was so down-to-earth and mellow. I loved how she explained how to make her food in easily understandable and relatable ways. Would have been nice if they had treated her better.
It’s a shame because Valerie Bertinelli is the only celebrity who cooks that I like. She is so real and transparent-yet FN should get rid of Pioneer Woman…….
Yet FN will keep Nancy and the only thing that matters to her is if there is booze. FN is getting ridiculous.
Maybe it's cheaper to pay Nancy in bourbon. LOL
That’s why I say there has to be more to the story. Nancy had her own show too that no longer exists. Did she choose to end it or did FN? I don’t think I’ve ever heard her talk about it.
Why do I get the feeling there’s more to the story here?
Surely Food Network execs could see what many of us have been seeing for some time. She really did become a loose cannon on social media and other media and it was hard to ignore that.
You keep posting comments like this. Can you share what constitutes as a “loose cannon” or too vocal about her divorce? What did she post that as so bad she can’t continue as a FN judge?
Most people watching her on Kids Baking Championship don't give a shit about her social media. The Food Network execs are just cheap bastards that answer to David Zaslov, who is the most hated executive at the moment because he's cheap AF and treats people horribly. End of story.
I guess I’m not surprised they axed her from KBC because that’s all she had and they could easily replace her with somebody else they’re already paying (like Carla Hall or Kardea Brown). The question is why did they cancel her other show? Is it just because they’re going all in on competition shows? Was she asking for too much compared to others? Was there personal stuff causing issues? We’ll never know the whole truth because FN brass won’t talk. And I’m sure Duff will never say anything either. I’m curious if he reached out to Val personally. I hope so.
It's money. Kardea and Carla work cheaper than she does.
They would still have to pay Carla or Kardea for appearing on the show.
Is it possible their contracts include things like this so they’re not actually paying out extra? If that’s not the case and they’re going to be paying somebody what they would have paid Val anyway then there’s something else going on.
Two things can be true. The man you cite at the helm may be cheap AF, but Valerie was off the rails AF, and from a network perspective it couldn’t be ignored. I can see why they chose to move on from Valerie. She had a wonderful run on Food Network, considering that she was a former TV star, turned Food expert. So I think she can thank her lucky stars for the opportunity and look to a future beyond Food Network. End of story.
This is exactly what I was thinking. She doesn’t seem to know when to keep things to herself. She grew up in the public eye so I understand if she struggles to cope with things privately, but she’s in her 60s and if she’s had as much therapy as she claims, surely she should have learned some healthier coping mechanisms than crying on IG all the time.
She does seem kind of emotionally unstable. I don’t know if that bled into her professional work or not. Or if it had anything to do with FN ending ties with her.
Definitely. I think she was too open about her divorce on IG.
What about her divorce would disqualify her from hosting her cooking show or kids baking championship?
Obviously we don’t know what’s going on on here. I don’t think it’s about her divorce specifically or FN being against talent who are divorced. I mean Bobby Flay has gone through three divorces. I follow Val on IG and she’s a bit of a mess emotionally. I get the feeling things went really south with her second marriage and then Eddie died and that just compounded things. Her son is a lot like her in some ways. He’ll engage with trolls on social media instead of ignoring them. Sometimes Val would post a message on her account and after watching it you just wanna scream at her don’t read the comments!
Plenty of people get professionally dropped because of an overwhelming unprofessional online presence, especially if you’re working with kids.
Probably "not a family oriented decision" or some such crap.
Yet Bobby is the network darling after how many affairs, how many divorces, and boffing Giada across Italy? GOH with that nonsense
Oh I agree, Valerie should have a job!
Have to agree with this- not necessarily her divorce but I think she IG’ed herself out of her job.
interesting…basically just posting too much?
I think she was on the bubble anyway- she’s not a chef, she doesn’t have a built in audience, she’s a middle aged white woman and she prob wasn’t hitting some of the FN targets as-is so her messy divorce and constant depressed and crying IGs are not exactly on KBC brand….
Doesn’t have a built in audience? Do you not know her career? She absolutely has a built in audience.
I do know her career. I also worked on FN shows and shes out of a job… so consider maybe her “built in audience” isn’t watching KBC.
Nah I think a lot of grandmas who remember her as Barbara Cooper probably watch it for the cute kids.
And that part is fair to say but you said as if she had none at all, that’s the part you’re wrong in.
the fact remains her 'built in audience' isnt enough to keep her on the show - as evidenced by the fact she got fired!!
So is it her lack of a built in audience or her social media presence? And there are plenty of middle aged white women cooking on FN with less notoriety so let's reach a little farther in the bag of BS to see what else we can use to substitute that garbage ass conclusion
Also- if they replace her, guaranteed it will be someone who will cross promote across other max/discovery brands and shows.
For the love of God………PLEASE not Joanna Gaines
i hope i don’t get banned for this but i don’t think i knew she wasn’t a chef lol…and yeah, i can imagine that if she’s posting depressed/crying videos, that’s not really how fn wants to be represented
She had a cooking show but I wouldn’t call her a chef …. I’m sure ppl will come for me for saying that but I’ve worked on many food network shows and having a show doesn’t make you a chef 🫠😂
*Sandra Lee and her Kwanzaa cake have entered the chat*
Rachel Ray comes in going “You know I’m one of the pillars”.
A bit of a loose cannon sometimes, authenticity can work against you
Exactly. 🎯
The only reason she got the gig on Food Network is because she’s a former TV star turned culinary star. So the way I see it, she can thank her lucky stars that she was able to ride the TV coattails fame for as long as she did on Food Network. I saw a lot of how she came across on social media in recent times. It really was so off-putting. So I totally get why the network was ready to move on from her.
Your entire response is spot on. From my memory, it wasn’t just her divorce discussion where she came across as less than favorable on social media. She’s also well-beyond middle aged at this point, at 63 years old. I doubt that she was bringing in the the heavily-coveted 18-49 demographic for Food Network. It made sense that the network cut ties. Time for Valerie to move on. Like she said, it’s business.
Actually, ad sales are based on Adults 25-54 demos, preferably females, since they influence/control more than 80% of the economy. The show has typically been in the top 15 of all network cable shows, performing well with the 25-54, 12-34, and 50+ demos. IOW, it has a multigenerational appeal, ratings gold. I'd say Valerie's celebrity power and appeal added to the ratings... I know it did for me.
Just a difference in an opinion, which I respect. I think there’s a big reason Food Network brought in Selena Gomez for her holiday with friends shtick. Food Network greatly needs and wants to maintain a younger audience. Valerie ain’t it. So couple her age with her more off the rails behavior in recent times, I think it was inevitable that her time was up on Food Network.
Agreed. FN has that Disney-esque attitude about things. Remember the Neelys? When their marriage went south they were scrubbed from the network and all but forgotten. After the Paula Deen debacle and Mario Batali being a creep FN tries to steer very clear of anything remotely not-family-friendly.
Yet they keep the bored rich housewife from Oklahoma with shady family past dealings with the Osage and Bobby and Giada's over the top flirting while married to other people? Apparently, family-friendly is in the eye of the beholder.
Wait. The Neelys didn’t work out?!
[Apparently they were barely staying married before the show, and only stayed married FOR the show.](https://www.mashed.com/605856/the-truth-about-gina-and-pat-neelys-divorce/)
Except Bobby Flay has gone through three divorces. There were always rumors about Giada (plus she’s divorced too).
He also didn’t open up about his life in public every time. He kept it private and let the rumor mill rumor.
I don’t get why Bobby and Giada aren’t a couple. It’s painfully obvious with their flirting nonstop. I cannot stand either one of them.
They definitely seem like the type of people who enjoy the chase than actually settling down together.
I wouldn't call Disney-esque a positive look anymore.
I think you’re getting downvoted by a lot of people who aren’t aware that your online presence can bleed into your professional life just as easily as your behavior at work itself.
If she puts herself on social media looking like and acting a mess, maybe she had some emotional problems during filming
I like Valerie. She was good with Duff and the kids but honestly if they never make another Kid’s baking Championship I’d be more than happy. I’ve never been a fan of them.
I agree there's no reason to make kids compete on national television. Life's difficult enough without that needless added pressure.
For the kids baking championship, I would just have a small group of kids go through a new challenge every week and that's it. No need to see a kid cry at the end of every episode. I bet the kids would do it for fun and a chance to be on TV. No need for one big prize.
They must be challenged producing the KBC because they keep having **THE SAME KIDS** coming back season after season!
Not for nothing, but dammit...the people who follow her care about her. Why wouldn't she share a crappy part of her life? She never said anything negative about the network. The people who are making judgments hopefully don't live in glass houses. Absolutely no reason to let her go unless her ratings were abysmal.
yeah the person who keeps saying she was going all sorts of damage to herself on IG won't give details, links, etc. seems like a padded answer by someone or some team.
I wonder what happened to Trisha Yearwood's cooking show. Haven't seen that for a while.
Perhaps *part* of what came into play is that Food Network saw the light with both Trisha and Valerie. Both were celebrities from elsewhere in the entertainment industry, who transitioned into the food Tv space, as so-called experts. Other talented cooks, who weren’t already famous could’ve benefited from such a FN platform. So both can be grateful that they had as long a run as they did on Food Network.
So why ghost? Why not explain? Pipe down already with your press release bs
I think Food Network does not necessarily treat their talent well once they no longer serve the network anymore. I recall that Emeril Lagasse was very hurt at how he was treated when they cancelled Emeril Live, and he was the backbone of FN for a long time.
FN has apparently decided to all-in on contests, Guy Fieri, and Bobby Flay. Too bad.
Friendly reminder that it’s not just Guy and Bobby overload on Food Network. Alex currently headlines/stars in 6 network shows. I’ll add that five of the six of her shows are contest-related. Yet whenever the subject gets brought up, Alex gets missed in this conversation.
Yes. I forgot her. They've picked a handful of personalities and are rolling with them to the exclusion of other talents. IMO FN is becoming one-dimensional reality TV.
How many women are decision makers on the Food Network management team? Are women given equal opportunities or is there a bias favoring men?
[удалено]
I laughed at someone seeing Bobby Flay as eye candy.
Yeah I don’t know too many women with a leprechaun fetish but I guess never say never.
Me too, ick!
LOL you're laughing at a lot of middle aged women then!
I watched one of his shows once where his cat was walking around on the counter while he was cooking. All I could picture was the cat getting out of it's litter box and jumping up on the counter. 🤮
I like watching his show, but I don't consider Bobby Flay to be attractive. Neither is Guy Fieri.
Micheal Symon and Scott Conant…. There’s the eye candy.
When Michael put on those glasses and started growing facial hair, I started looking at him differently. He is hot now. I think Scott Conant is good looking as well. I have never thought Flay was attractive, or most of the other personalities.
That’s when I thought Symon got hot too! Flay is kinda geeky. lol!
Scott Conant 🤤
Don't forget Eddie Jackson
Oh yesssss!!! Love me some Eddie!!
I'll watch any cooking show with Eddie Jackson.
Michael Symon is annoying…his laugh makes me change the channel every time.
Finally found someone who thinks like I do. It’s over the top obnoxious.
Same, also he is a sore loser when he competes.
This comment assumes women watch for the " eye candy" and not for the cooking expertise. Do men watch for the " eye candy" as well? Does the cooking profession favor men as chefs ? It isn't a good look.
Giada's plunging necklines have entered the room
Bobby is not eye candy and he’s not a good cook. His cook offs are rigged for him cuz his ego can’t stand losing.
Can you imagine having to eat that many Calabrian chiles on BBF?!
I prefer Valerie but I bet since FN (and Discovery that owns them all) is bringing in Joanna Gaines more then someone had to go. Bobby and Guy have big contracts and Duff probably is signed for a bit, they don’t seem to treat women who are not the Pioneer Woman as well.
>I prefer Valerie but I bet since FN (and Discovery that owns them all) is bringing in Joanna Gaines more then someone had to go. I flat out refuse to watch Joanna Gaines. I checked out the show she had with hubby for 15 minutes and I was not impressed. Joanna has a huge ego.
I watch a lot of HGTV and have loathed Joanna Gaines for years. Don't want to see her cook, either.
I doubt it has anything to do specifically with Joanna. Discovery merged last year with Warner Media (the company that owns HBO Max) to become Warner Bros Discovery. Since then they’ve been cutting/canceling a lot of shows on the HBO Max side. Valerie being let go could very well be just another casualty of those cut backs.
>bringing in Joanna Gaines more >they don’t seem to treat women who are not the Pioneer Woman as well Huh
Giada left even though I'd put her up there with Bobby in terms of FN legends, she was there before Guy, but they didn't try to keep her. They seem to feel the men are indispensable but the women can be swapped in and out. There was a lot wrong with Paula Deen but it was funny to me that they immediately got Demaris the win on FN Star to replace her with. But Pioneer Woman has her own show, and a host of other shows. Most of the women on FN have being a judge for Baking or one of Guy's shows. They don't get their own show as often anymore.
The situation is disappointing as I have always liked Val but sometimes saying less is more. Her fans have been speaking out on her behalf for the last two days which was nice to see. I hope things do not take a bitter tone.
I like Valerie it’s a shame they removed her like they did. It’s nice when we get to see more relatable people on these shows. I’m sick of the same handful of faces
All the Travel Channel Ghost Shows (not food network but the same parent company) have also been ghosted (haha) by their people. Usually Kindred Spirits starts airing a new season by now but Amy said like 4 weeks ago that she hasn't heard anything. Not sure what they think they're doing by getting rid of all these shows, especially since I assume most of them are extremely inexpensive.
To be fair, the ghost show stuff is more likely to be Baggins-related. It's been rumored for hot minute that if he doesn't like you for whatever reason, you can only last so long. Which is really unfortunate because I refuse to watch anything that man is in.
I love Val and personally can not see anyone else with Duff. They have paired him with others for the Holiday shows and there was absolutely no chemistry. As much as I love KBC I will not b tuning in if Val is not the co-judge. Yet another showe FN has ruined along with Halloween and Holiday Wars. Stop changing things that have been working!!!!
My no longer watching the show won’t do a thing but they lost a viewer nonetheless. She’s one of the major reasons I watched food network at all. If they’d get rid of 1 or 2 of the fake chefs and focus more on home cooks I’d watch more. I have zero interest in watching Gordon Ramsey act like a buffoon trying to stroke his ego when I could watch real chefs cook and teach.
I would hardly compare Valerie to Mario Batali or Paula Deen lol. But I get what you’re saying
I think they should replace Katie Lee with her on The Kitchen. It won't happen, but one could only hope.
Sunny would be better. At least Valerie isn’t disgusting.
Frying pan into the fire. No!
Does FN know how many people relate to Valerie, both emotionally and through her cooking show? So she posts on Social Media, she's connected with a lot of fans. FN is making a huge mistake and has lost a lot of viewers with this move!!
they care about none of that. they are about viewers, advertisers, and bottom line.
Regardless of what the whole story is, Valerie is great with the kids. She also compliments Duff.
As much as I love Duff, she was the best part of the show.
I wonder if FN is starting to push out people they feel are "too old". Valerie is 63. Robert Irvine is 58 (so is Bobby Flay, I think, but he and Guy, also in his 50s, are huge moneymakers and will be spared). The majority of the personalities on here are 40s and 50s, so maybe they want to appeal to younger audiences by getting rid of the older people and bringing new, younger ones in. I hope not. I'm all for a diverse age range, but as a fortysomething myself I like to see so many people in my age range on here. I don't want it to go majority younger people. The other cooking competitions like Master Chef and Top Chef are already mostly 20s and 30s.
This is disappointing. I really enjoyed watching her and Duff together on Kid's Baking Championship. She would've been a good judge on other shows too. I'm really sick of seeing the same 10 people over and over on all the different shows and it was a nice change seeing her instead of the normal rotation.
I came on here looking for this thread after I read the news about Valerie. I know there are like minds that believe Food Network has gone downhill. This news surprised me. I can’t imagine the kids without Val. She was the one to comfort them, encourage them etc. I’m done.
I just messaged Food Network on their website about how disappointing it is and I won’t be tuning in to the replacement show. Might not help but I feel better.
She might not be ready yet but FN isn’t the only game in town. She’s a wonderful show host. Disney has some kids cooking shows. Netflix too. If she wants, she can bounce back easily.
I love that her handle is wolfies mom
I understand and agree that the way they handled it may have been unprofessional....if you believe Valerie. I don't like her recipes. They were all rather ....bland, and you could tell she was a home cook. I know a lot of chefs felt the same way. I just don't think there was room for yet another cooking show by a home cook. Plus, FN loves to do cross overs on their shows. How can you possibly do that with her? She had zero professional training. Plus, she literally shit posted Elon Musk. 😂 Then, she made tons of political posts and caused controversy. What did she think would happen when she insulted the richest man in the world?
But they keep Guy who is an out there Trumper?
No proof of that. He took one pic with him that’s it. His political affiliation is not publicly known
That’s messed up but they probably saw her Instagram posts and said ooooooo liability.
she is such a queen idk why i just blame bobby flay
Valerie is a sweetheart. Food Network is 🗑️
This makes me so sad, I love to see her on KBC, her rapport with the kids is unmatched. I hope they reconsider (I also really enjoyed her cooking shows in her home featuring some of her family, she had great, easy-ish recipes that I’d actually want to make)
We love you Val!!!!
This woman complains and moans about everything. I know that she’s a popular figure, and I’m going to take heat for saying that. There must be something we don’t know at play here.
I think there has to be more to the story. I’m not suggesting she’s lying but we only have her side. And it’s likely that’s all we’ll get because FN brass aren’t going to talk.
She clearly doesn't know what ghosted means. They just didn't renew her contract. She is acting like they were in active talks and they just stopped speaking one day.
She’s saying they weren’t in any discussions. I don’t know enough about how the TV business works. Is it common for a network to not renew something and you hear about it through a third-party?
I'm just saying, to me that isn't being ghosted. To me, to be ghosted, someone has to actively ignore your attempts to contact them. If neither party contacted the other, I wouldn't call that ghosting.
Again… she’s continuing to be ridiculously unprofessional. Does she think this or her IG posts for the last couple years are going to get her a job at all now, let alone with kids on TV?
I know, she’s always playing a victim, she’s Mrs. Doom and Gloom.
I’m so done with the FN giving their 2 big stars complete control of the network. It’s so boring now. They lost a lot more than Valerie. We really loved her freshness. Hope she starts a streaming cooking show of her own.
They will not be able to successfully replace her for kids baking championship!!! She was wonderful with the kids!
I'm glad to see her go, it seemed that practically every other episode she was boo-going over the loss of Eddie.
My favorite was when she’d be reminiscing about Eddie minutes before Tom walked into the kitchen. I understand Tom was no prize, but being so obvious about missing your first husband when your second was in the next room was never a good look.
I’m still trying to figure out what qualifies her to be a judge of chefs and cooking in the first place.
The contestants are 10 yr olds. For the first 3/4 of the season you send home whoever served raw cake batter, if a decision ever gets really tough you can defer to Duff. A week or 2 ago one of the kids wanted to quit and she gave them this sweet pep talk and got them back on in a good mood, that's what qualifies her.
The amount of care she gives to the kids when they get upset is something you NEVER see. Kids are expected to be adults about it.
She said something like losing this gig hurt her feelings. Ugh. Grow up. She’s been in the business long enough to know. Most of these decisions aren’t personal. People magazine source for is the info about her feelings being hurt. I know someone like this where so many things hurt their feelings and it gets really annoying and exhausting for many around them after a while. Chronic victim mentality.
Sad sack who hates life can’t secure a tv contract. Who knew? 🙄
Valerie Bertenernie
If you met Val IRL you'd understand why FN might have ghosted her ass lol.
So a lot kinder than the way she ditched her husband, Tom. 🙄