Here's Why You'll Never See Bad Food On Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives
Guy Fieri has been tooling around the country in his vintage Camaro since 2007 for his long-running Food Network favorite, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. That's 32 seasons of everyone's favorite spiky-haired, backward-sunglasses-wearing host digging into an array of food trucks, mom and pop shops, and burger stands throughout the 50 states. For any given episode of Triple D, there's an extensive vetting process. Fans of Fieri can submit their Triple D worthy joints by email (via Food Network) and producers reach out to local food writers and grill them about which hometown favorites should be featured on the show. Using this method ensures the cream of any given restaurant scene rises to the top. In the 13 years of Triple D, to date, Fieri has visited a staggering 1,200 dining establishments (via Diners, Drive-ins and Dives Locations).
Keeping reviews purely positive is a win-win for the show and the restaurants that are featured on Triple D. Cheat Sheet explains that the producers of Triple D warn owners that their businesses will be forever changed, oftentimes upping profits by 200 percent (via Thrillist). But given the sheer number of establishments visited combined with the innumerable dishes sampled, it seems statistically impossible that Fieri hasn't come across a less than wow-worthy dining experience in all of his years of culinary exploration. Let's get to the bottom of why viewers aren't privy to Fieri's unsatisfactory eating experiences.
If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all
As it turns out, Fieri is a fan of the classic adage, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" (via Good Reads). In an interview with The Sporkful, he told host Dan Pashman point-blank, if a meal doesn't cut it for Fieri personally, the footage hits the cutting room floor i.e. it will never be aired on the show.
Digging deep into Fieri's fanbase on Reddit, Cheat Sheet found plenty of insight as to why compliments abound on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives along with a few ways to tell whether or not he's fibbing. Redditor EatYoself made this astute observation: "When Guy doesn't like things, he gives the most generic descriptions possible. My favorites are 'that's pork alright' and 'you definitely cooked that chicken.'" Another keen Reddit observation hones in on a subtle aspect of Fieri's on-screen mannerisms. "You can tell he REALLY likes something when he takes more than one or two bites of it or finishes it," writes chat_chatoyante.
But at the end of the day, the restaurants featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives are getting screen time for a reason. Reddit user belgaintatwaffles explains: "The reason the establishment is even on Triple D is because of its good reviews over many years. Why would they F*** it up when he gets there?"
Just because Fieri doesn't like the food, doesn't mean it's bad
While you'll never see outright bad food featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, that doesn't mean Fieri likes everything he eats. While Reddit users may have taken to pausing and playing back key scenes to inspect every word and facial expression the Food Network star makes in an attempt to decide if the establishment and dish has really lived up to its hype (or is worth a possible future road trip to eat) Fieri has admitted that the chefs can also sometimes tell when he's not blown away.
According to Eater, in an interview with Brian Koppelman for the podcast The Moment with Biran Koppelman, Fieri opened up to the filmmaker about that uncomfortable experience, saying "We'll go to commercial, and they'll go, 'Well, did you like that?' And I'm like, 'Yeah it was good.'" Fieri says that many chefs are upset he wasn't amazed by their dish, but that it's an unrealistic expectation for him to be wowed by everything he eats. "Don't be offended," offers Fieri to any hypothetical chefs nursing their wounded pride, "I don't like every song that's on the Rolling Stones album." Fieri adds that he willingly gives advice to anyone looking to improve their dishes, so even if you do notice some less-than-enthusiastic descriptions coming out of the star's mouth or that Fieri only takes a bite before cutting to the next scene, it might not mean the dish is just okay. The restaurant may have gotten some feedback from the comfort food aficionado and taken it to heart, creating a new version of the dish that is truly out of this world.