Rumors Swirl About Where Bobby Flay Will End Up Next

Bobby Flay surprised everyone when he decided to cut ties with Food Network. People reported that the celebrity, who has starred on multiple shows on the channel since 1994, decided to break away from the network over a money dispute. The chef wanted to secure a new contract of $100 million, and according to Flay's side of the story, Food Network wouldn't budge. As a result, the channel decided to move forward without Flay, and fans everywhere have started guessing as to what might happen to the chef and his vast array of cooking programs. Forbes speculates that Flay may jump to another channel or streaming platform by the end of the year.

The star looks to secure a better contract than his contemporary, Guy Fieri, who currently rakes in $80 million via his contract with Food Network. Flay has an uphill battle ahead of him if he wishes to surpass Fieri, as the latter currently maintains a higher social media follower presence and has whipped up a ton of goodwill and programming over the past year. Netflix, Hulu, HBOMax, Amazon, Discovery+, and Peacock all have the potential to secure the celebrity's new contract and have the chance of hosting new shows starring Flay. Since Discovery owns Food Network, it might be a bit of a stretch to see Flay start appearing on original programming on Discovery+, but you never know in the world of entertainment.

A new era for Bobby Flay

You might have the chance to see Bobby Flay on his own network entirely. Guilty Eats speculates that given his star power, Flay has the chance to go solo and create a service specifically dedicated to his own programming. If the chef pivots to work with a streaming service, Netflix and Peacock also strike sources as obvious frontrunners. Meanwhile, Reddit has independently started speculating on where Flay plans to head. One user believes the chef's time with Food Network won't end so suddenly, saying, "I'm thinking Food Network will cave and throw money at him, he pretty much made the channel for them."

Another user speculated, "That said, I agree with others here who think that one of the streaming services will pounce if that doesn't happen — Netflix, Amazon, Apple TV+, Hulu could all be contenders there. I could see Bobby doing something similar to Gordon Ramsay's 'Uncharted' series, where he travels around and learns about the cuisine of different places, or really a lot of different types of food/cooking shows aside from competition."

No one knows where Flay might go next, but one Redditor might have summed up the situation best: "Feels like that would be the end of the old-time Food Network era. Alton and Bobby are the last ones to leave. I will miss Bobby."