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© Getty Images
0 / 31 Fotos
Food Network once accidentally aired porn - In 1997, during the show 'Two Hot Tamales,' the network accidentally cut to a tape of hardcore porn for about a minute. It's a federal offense to broadcast porn, but nobody was caught and the network was never punished.
© Shutterstock
1 / 31 Fotos
The secret ingredient for 'Iron Chef' isn't so secret - Chefs get three possibilities of what the secret ingredient could be, as well as time to prepare a menu and grocery list for each. They find out right before they enter the Kitchen Stadium!
© Getty Images
2 / 31 Fotos
And your challenger isn't a surprise either - Challenging chefs on the show will choose their competitor weeks in advance. The other Iron Chefs are just silhouetted stand-ins!
© Getty Images
3 / 31 Fotos
Mario Batali cut himself on his first ever show - Mario Batali accidentally grated his knuckles on a cheese grater in the pilot of 'Molto Mario.' To hide the blood—since there are no do-overs—he shoved his hands in a bowl of tomatoes until commercial break.
© BrunoPress
4 / 31 Fotos
One episode of 'Chopped' takes more than 14 hours - Though the show is just over 40 minutes, chefs arrive on set at the crack of dawn and can stay well into the evening, depending on their success in the competition.
© Getty Images
5 / 31 Fotos
There are only three 'Chopped' judges, but four plates - The fourth is used to photograph when the contestants present the dish or get chopped.
© Getty Images
6 / 31 Fotos
"Bam!" was meant to wake up the crew - Emeril Lagasse had to film several shows a day, and his crew often tired from the intense and long hours, so he invented his characteristic "Bam!" in order to keep them on their toes.
© Getty Images
7 / 31 Fotos
Masaharu Morimoto said Bobby Flay "wasn't a chef" - On 'Iron Chef America,' Flay stood on his cutting board and the Japanese Iron Chef said in his interview that his opponent wasn't a chef because "cutting boards and knives are sacred to [chefs]."
© Getty Images
8 / 31 Fotos
'Cupcake Wars' contestants aren't surprised by ingredients - The show revolves around surprising contestants with weird ingredients, but, much like 'Iron Chef,' they know the ingredients way in advance, a Reddit user reveals.
© Shutterstock
9 / 31 Fotos
Guy Fieri hides a stash of beef jerky on set - Fieri revealed that on the set of 'Guy's Grocery Games' he'll keep beef jerky behind the rice to eat between takes.
© Getty Images
10 / 31 Fotos
Anthony Bourdain and Food Network had beef - Bourdain had been vocal about his disapproval of the network's non-chef-driven content. He had actually worked for the network, but left when they wouldn't let him go abroad. Check out his top foodie destinations.
© Getty Images
11 / 31 Fotos
Alton Brown's first time on camera was for 'Good Eats' - Brown wrote the script and wanted to direct it, but his enthusiasm during the pitch convinced the production company that he had to be the host, or they wouldn't run it.
© Getty Images
12 / 31 Fotos
Guy Fieri’s offensive ogling - The creator of ‘Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives’ told City Pages that Fieri was wildly inappropriate with the women he met on his show, and that "When cutting the show, you had to tell the editors to watch Guy's eye line, because it's always on breasts."
© Getty Images
13 / 31 Fotos
There’s a shadow kitchen close to the set - Chefs cook along with what's being cooked on TV in case something gets burned and needs to be swapped out for the cameras.
© Shutterstock
14 / 31 Fotos
Paula Deen's use of the N-word - An employee accused the celebrity chef of racism and sought to sue her. In the deposition, Deen confidently admitted to using the word. Her subsequent apology videos were unsatisfying to many.
© Getty Images
15 / 31 Fotos
And then there was her dietary hypocrisy - Three years after being diagnosed—those three years being filled with the same televised buttery and sugary dishes as always—Deen announced she had diabetes, much to her viewer's disappointment.
© Getty Images
16 / 31 Fotos
Anthony Bourdain said it best - He tweeted in response to Deen's announcement, “Thinking of getting into the leg-breaking business so I can profitably sell crutches later.”
© Getty Images
17 / 31 Fotos
Robert Irvine once paid six months of home rent for a restaurant owner - The 'Restaurant: Impossible' host had just helped a restaurant get back on their feet when the owners got an eviction notice. Irvine used the episode's budget of $10,000 and paid for the restaurant overhaul himself.
© Getty Images
18 / 31 Fotos
Shows where restaurants are rescued are often scripted - A Reddit user revealed that the drama was almost always made up, that the host's outbreaks were fed to them in their ear, and that one on-screen day is usually filmed over several.
© Shutterstock
19 / 31 Fotos
'Cutthroat Kitchen' has a lawyer on set - Food Network has been burned by contestants who falsified their backstories, so they keep a lawyer around to ensure all the rules were being followed and protect them from any funny business.
© Getty Images
20 / 31 Fotos
Ina Garten turned down a Make-A-Wish kid, twice - The host of 'Barefoot Contessa' seems like a sweet grandmother, but she turned down the wish of a 6-year-old battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia twice because she was "too busy."
© BrunoPress
21 / 31 Fotos
William Shatner was the original host of 'Iron Chef' - When the show first came to America on the network UPN, the actor was armed with a glittering purple coat, a frilly vest, and a painfully small amount of culinary knowledge. It was canned, and re-pitched to Food Network, who then picked it up without Shatner.
© Getty Images
22 / 31 Fotos
Mario Batali illegally skimmed tips - A 2010 class action lawsuit was filed against him for using 4-5% of his servers' tips to pay his sommeliers. He ended up settling for a cool $5.25 million.
© Getty Images
23 / 31 Fotos
He was also involved in a sexual harassment scandal - When several women accused him of sexual harassment, Batali could not deny the allegations and instead apologized, though he tried to promote his recipes in the same message. He was fired from ‘The Chew,’ and the ‘Molto Mario’ reboot was cancelled.
© Getty Images
24 / 31 Fotos
Katy Perry employed Duff Goldman to make the cakes in her 'Birthday' lyric video - The 'Ace of Cakes' himself told Bravo it took five days and the whole team, but that it was worth it and that the singer was very sweet herself.
© Getty Images
25 / 31 Fotos
Rachael Ray once nearly set a kitchen on fire - She was filming a pilot on the set of 'Emeril Live' when she threw oil into a skillet she didn't know had been preheated for her. Huge flames shot up, and she almost cost the whole set!
© Getty Images
26 / 31 Fotos
Guy Fieri leaves his mark everywhere he eats - A stencil of the show host gets spray-painted on the wall of every diner, drive-in, and dive he eats at. It reads, "Guy ate here," and features his dark shades.
© Getty Images
27 / 31 Fotos
You would not want to cook on their first set - They had no real oven and the sinks had no drainage, so the slop had to be manually cleared between takes.
© Shutterstock
28 / 31 Fotos
Robert Irvine allegedly fudged his résumé - The chef catapulted to fame as the host of 'Dinner: Impossible,' and his résumé boasted everything from a British knighthood to cooking for several former US presidents and the UK's royal family.
© Getty Images
29 / 31 Fotos
Robert Irvine allegedly fudged his résumé - Claims surfaced in 2008 that Irvine's experience was substantially fluffed up, causing him to leave the network. He was, however welcomed back later.
© Getty Images
30 / 31 Fotos
© Getty Images
0 / 31 Fotos
Food Network once accidentally aired porn - In 1997, during the show 'Two Hot Tamales,' the network accidentally cut to a tape of hardcore porn for about a minute. It's a federal offense to broadcast porn, but nobody was caught and the network was never punished.
© Shutterstock
1 / 31 Fotos
The secret ingredient for 'Iron Chef' isn't so secret - Chefs get three possibilities of what the secret ingredient could be, as well as time to prepare a menu and grocery list for each. They find out right before they enter the Kitchen Stadium!
© Getty Images
2 / 31 Fotos
And your challenger isn't a surprise either - Challenging chefs on the show will choose their competitor weeks in advance. The other Iron Chefs are just silhouetted stand-ins!
© Getty Images
3 / 31 Fotos
Mario Batali cut himself on his first ever show - Mario Batali accidentally grated his knuckles on a cheese grater in the pilot of 'Molto Mario.' To hide the blood—since there are no do-overs—he shoved his hands in a bowl of tomatoes until commercial break.
© BrunoPress
4 / 31 Fotos
One episode of 'Chopped' takes more than 14 hours - Though the show is just over 40 minutes, chefs arrive on set at the crack of dawn and can stay well into the evening, depending on their success in the competition.
© Getty Images
5 / 31 Fotos
There are only three 'Chopped' judges, but four plates - The fourth is used to photograph when the contestants present the dish or get chopped.
© Getty Images
6 / 31 Fotos
"Bam!" was meant to wake up the crew - Emeril Lagasse had to film several shows a day, and his crew often tired from the intense and long hours, so he invented his characteristic "Bam!" in order to keep them on their toes.
© Getty Images
7 / 31 Fotos
Masaharu Morimoto said Bobby Flay "wasn't a chef" - On 'Iron Chef America,' Flay stood on his cutting board and the Japanese Iron Chef said in his interview that his opponent wasn't a chef because "cutting boards and knives are sacred to [chefs]."
© Getty Images
8 / 31 Fotos
'Cupcake Wars' contestants aren't surprised by ingredients - The show revolves around surprising contestants with weird ingredients, but, much like 'Iron Chef,' they know the ingredients way in advance, a Reddit user reveals.
© Shutterstock
9 / 31 Fotos
Guy Fieri hides a stash of beef jerky on set - Fieri revealed that on the set of 'Guy's Grocery Games' he'll keep beef jerky behind the rice to eat between takes.
© Getty Images
10 / 31 Fotos
Anthony Bourdain and Food Network had beef - Bourdain had been vocal about his disapproval of the network's non-chef-driven content. He had actually worked for the network, but left when they wouldn't let him go abroad. Check out his top foodie destinations.
© Getty Images
11 / 31 Fotos
Alton Brown's first time on camera was for 'Good Eats' - Brown wrote the script and wanted to direct it, but his enthusiasm during the pitch convinced the production company that he had to be the host, or they wouldn't run it.
© Getty Images
12 / 31 Fotos
Guy Fieri’s offensive ogling - The creator of ‘Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives’ told City Pages that Fieri was wildly inappropriate with the women he met on his show, and that "When cutting the show, you had to tell the editors to watch Guy's eye line, because it's always on breasts."
© Getty Images
13 / 31 Fotos
There’s a shadow kitchen close to the set - Chefs cook along with what's being cooked on TV in case something gets burned and needs to be swapped out for the cameras.
© Shutterstock
14 / 31 Fotos
Paula Deen's use of the N-word - An employee accused the celebrity chef of racism and sought to sue her. In the deposition, Deen confidently admitted to using the word. Her subsequent apology videos were unsatisfying to many.
© Getty Images
15 / 31 Fotos
And then there was her dietary hypocrisy - Three years after being diagnosed—those three years being filled with the same televised buttery and sugary dishes as always—Deen announced she had diabetes, much to her viewer's disappointment.
© Getty Images
16 / 31 Fotos
Anthony Bourdain said it best - He tweeted in response to Deen's announcement, “Thinking of getting into the leg-breaking business so I can profitably sell crutches later.”
© Getty Images
17 / 31 Fotos
Robert Irvine once paid six months of home rent for a restaurant owner - The 'Restaurant: Impossible' host had just helped a restaurant get back on their feet when the owners got an eviction notice. Irvine used the episode's budget of $10,000 and paid for the restaurant overhaul himself.
© Getty Images
18 / 31 Fotos
Shows where restaurants are rescued are often scripted - A Reddit user revealed that the drama was almost always made up, that the host's outbreaks were fed to them in their ear, and that one on-screen day is usually filmed over several.
© Shutterstock
19 / 31 Fotos
'Cutthroat Kitchen' has a lawyer on set - Food Network has been burned by contestants who falsified their backstories, so they keep a lawyer around to ensure all the rules were being followed and protect them from any funny business.
© Getty Images
20 / 31 Fotos
Ina Garten turned down a Make-A-Wish kid, twice - The host of 'Barefoot Contessa' seems like a sweet grandmother, but she turned down the wish of a 6-year-old battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia twice because she was "too busy."
© BrunoPress
21 / 31 Fotos
William Shatner was the original host of 'Iron Chef' - When the show first came to America on the network UPN, the actor was armed with a glittering purple coat, a frilly vest, and a painfully small amount of culinary knowledge. It was canned, and re-pitched to Food Network, who then picked it up without Shatner.
© Getty Images
22 / 31 Fotos
Mario Batali illegally skimmed tips - A 2010 class action lawsuit was filed against him for using 4-5% of his servers' tips to pay his sommeliers. He ended up settling for a cool $5.25 million.
© Getty Images
23 / 31 Fotos
He was also involved in a sexual harassment scandal - When several women accused him of sexual harassment, Batali could not deny the allegations and instead apologized, though he tried to promote his recipes in the same message. He was fired from ‘The Chew,’ and the ‘Molto Mario’ reboot was cancelled.
© Getty Images
24 / 31 Fotos
Katy Perry employed Duff Goldman to make the cakes in her 'Birthday' lyric video - The 'Ace of Cakes' himself told Bravo it took five days and the whole team, but that it was worth it and that the singer was very sweet herself.
© Getty Images
25 / 31 Fotos
Rachael Ray once nearly set a kitchen on fire - She was filming a pilot on the set of 'Emeril Live' when she threw oil into a skillet she didn't know had been preheated for her. Huge flames shot up, and she almost cost the whole set!
© Getty Images
26 / 31 Fotos
Guy Fieri leaves his mark everywhere he eats - A stencil of the show host gets spray-painted on the wall of every diner, drive-in, and dive he eats at. It reads, "Guy ate here," and features his dark shades.
© Getty Images
27 / 31 Fotos
You would not want to cook on their first set - They had no real oven and the sinks had no drainage, so the slop had to be manually cleared between takes.
© Shutterstock
28 / 31 Fotos
Robert Irvine allegedly fudged his résumé - The chef catapulted to fame as the host of 'Dinner: Impossible,' and his résumé boasted everything from a British knighthood to cooking for several former US presidents and the UK's royal family.
© Getty Images
29 / 31 Fotos
Robert Irvine allegedly fudged his résumé - Claims surfaced in 2008 that Irvine's experience was substantially fluffed up, causing him to leave the network. He was, however welcomed back later.
© Getty Images
30 / 31 Fotos
Surprising scandals and fascinating facts behind the scenes of Food Network
It’s not all risotto and butter pies
© Getty Images
Everyone loves food, so the idea behind the Food Network was bound to succeed. But with such huge success comes some pretty shocking secrets just beyond the camera's view. Check out this gallery to find out everything the network probably doesn't want you to know.
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